Book Description
In this startling new book, New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer, provides a warts-and-all portrait of the Prophet of Islam and draws out what his life implies for reforming Islam and repulsing Islamic terrorists. Spencer relies solely on primary sources considered reliable by Muslims and evaluates modern biographies to show how Muhammad has been changed for Western audiences, lulling them into consoling but false conclusions.
Customer Reviews:
Oh political bias..........2007-10-04
While it is certainly true that Spencer utilizes recognized primary sources to construct his arguments, he fails entirely to place the sources in context, or interpret them in a manner consistent with the vast majority of Muslims. I find it heavily amusing that he believes so strongly in Islam's intolerance that he includes it in his title. The reason for this amusement is that up until modern times (Ottoman Empire forward), Islam was arguably the most tolerant of the three religions of the book. In addition to this, Islam is the only one of the three which allows for Muslims, Christians, and Jews to be judged equally (Al-Baqarah 112). When compared to Christianity's views on salvation, and its history of Conversion by the sword (1st-5th crusades, Spanish Inquisition), Islam looks quite tolerant.
take Spencer with a grain of salt. His citations of the hadiths, Qur'an, and other primary sources may be correct, but his conclusions are massively off. You would be better off reading the Qur'an yourself and making your own decisions, as it is fairly obvious that Spencer is merely playing off of America's current ignorance of Islam to paint a picture consistent with our stereotypes.
A Very Eye Opening Book!.......2007-10-03
This is a very eye opening book about the founder of one of the world's most dominant religions. The author uses Muslim references to obtain his facts. He also quotes Muslim scholars and what they have to say. It is not a long book, but it is packed with very informative and very eye opening information about Muhammad and his followers. This book will help people understand the ideas and motivation behind why so many Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere can be dangerous. This is not a book on Muslims today, as a rule, but does greatly help one understand why many radical Muslims act as they do. It is an easy read and very informative. He explains why the Jewish people are looked down upon along with the Christians, and goes into why the various areas like Medina and Mecca are so important to Islam. I think this is a very good book for anyone wanting to greater understand the reasoning behind Islam, and the man that founded it.
Wht Everyone Needs to Know.......2007-10-01
This is a detailed exploration of the meaning of the Qur'an, and the sayings of Muhammad. Spencer informs the reader that the Qur'an is not set down in chronological order. Rather, it is arranged from longest verse to shortest verse.
As the word of God, the Qur'an can never be amended by man, but verses can be abrogated by God. God can change His mind, and make earlier verses void. However, those same voided verses must remain in the Qur'an, as God did not direct that the voided verses should be removed.
Spencer guides the reader through this confusion, by explaining which verses are still in effect. The reader needs to obtain one of the translations of the Qur'an, referenced by Spencer, inorder to be able to to lookup the Qu'ranic verses to which he refers.
The peaceful verses of the Qur'an, with regard to the treatment of nonbelievers, date from the Meccan period, when Islam was struggling to get established. Those verses of the Qur'an, added after Muhammad fled to Medina, exhort the believers to make war upon the nonbelievers, and to spread the religion by force.
Those who mantain that Islam is a religion of peace, are referenceing verses which have been abrogated, or voided,and are no longer in effect.
A must read for anyone seeking to understand Islam.
A Must Buy for those Intolerant of Islam and Muslims........2007-10-01
This is a good book for anti-Islamic enthusiasts. But if one is looking for a good book on Islam and Islam's Prophet Muhammad, I'm afraid one will have to look elswhere.
Firstly, many non-scholars who write books about Islam will not use normal hermeneutical principles when reading and interpreting Quran passages, even if they are biblical scholars who believe the Bible must be interpreted according to specific principles. For instance, several there are passages in several chapters of the Quran that give rules for defensive warfare. The early Muslim state was attacked by the rulers of Mecca who didn't want to remove the idols from the Kaaba because of the prestige Mecca had being the focus of worship for all the tribes of the Arabian Penninsula. Thus, the Meccan rulers declared war on the early Muslims, continuing the persecution against the early Muslims on a larger scale now that there was an Islamic state in Medina. It was not until then that Muslims fought any wars. Some chapters of the Quran will have passages without conditions when discussing warfare, but these passages must be interpreted by those passages which have conditions. Certainly, not all who call themselves Muslims follow that interpretative principle. But then, not all Christians have at all times and places have followed the traditional Christian view of a just war, either.
Secondly, after the death of Islam's prophet, the Islamic Government soon became imperialist. The Myth is that Islam was spread by the sword. However, later caliphs (successors to the Prophet) conquered lands so they get get the taxes from the Christians and Jews and Zoroastrians and others, despite the Quranic teaching that warfare must be defensive. Traditional Sunni Muslims usually believe their were only 4 very good Caliphs, the first 4 after the death of Islam's Prophet (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali Ibn Talib). Traditional Shia Muslims believe only Ali Ibn Talib (cousin of Muhammad and husband of his daughter Fatima) was a very good caliph. After the murder of Ali, the Caliphate became a dynasty of the Ummayad family. The first Ummayad ruler, Muhawiya, was the son of Abu Sufyan, the leader of the Meccans who became a Muslim after a treaty between the Muslim State and Mecca was broken by agents of the Meccans. Muhawiya's son, Caliph Yazid, demanded fealty from Ali's son Husain and would not let Husain and his followers go into exile. When Husain refused to give fealty to a Caliph that Husain believed openly did not emulate the Prophet, Yazid's army fought and killed Husain small group of follows and all but one of his sons. In the time of the Ummayad dynasty, the name of Ali was cursed within the Islamic caliphate. Many histories which came to be used by Sunni Muslims were written at the time of the Ummayads that sometimes have different accounts of early Islamic history than in the Shia books. These books are considered "authentic" by the Sunnis but are not considered to always be reliable by Shias.
Some examples of differences between one Sunni history or another, and one Sunni history and Shia history follow: Some Sunni histories say that Muhammad had a speck of "black" taken from his heart by the Angel Gabriel. Shias state that never happened. Some Sunni books state that that Muhammad didn't know he was supposed to be a Prophet and also that he was afraid and thought he was demon-possesed. Not so according to Shia books. One Sunni history states that Muhammad consumated his marriage to Aisha the daughter of future caliph Abu Bakr when she was 9 years old. What many anti-Muslim scholars will not tell you is that other Sunni histories say she was 14 or 15 years old, and that Shia books say she was 18, and that Muhammad was not really interested in marrying her but did so to please Abu Bakr and his party. Now, why would histories that paint Muhammad in a bad light be written during the Ummayad dynasty? Perhaps to undermine Ali and Husain and their supporters (who became know later as the Shia Muslims).
Thus, The Truth about Muhammad does not really give the whole truth about Muhammad. Why not buy the classic Sunni histories and read them for yourself. They are available in English translation. One can buy Shia books that discuss Muslim history from the Shia viewpoint (although not all the histories have been translated into English).
However, for those who don't want to understand Muslims, one can read this book. There are those who call themselves Muslims who don't want to try to understand Christianity or the West. What happens when one group doesn't want to understand the other? I believe the answer is too obvious to state here.
Muhammad was a con artist.......2007-10-01
Perhaps it was the sequence of presentation, but I marvaled at the great number of revelations allegedly from Allah,conveniently acquired that Muhammad used to find answers to simple daily problems. I can't believe that. It is too convenient for the man.
Book Description
Islam expert Robert Spencer reveals Islam's ongoing, unshakable quest for global conquest and why the West today faces the same threat as the Crusaders did--and what we can learn from their experience.
Customer Reviews:
Shows common myths wrong but too many omissions and quite a bit of ranting.......2007-10-06
Following upon the runaway success of its guide to American history, Regnery Publishing decided to follow it with a guide to Islam, which fitted in with the paranoia about jihad taking over the West at the time.
"The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)" covers much the same territory as the author's former book Islam Unveiled. Having read about Muslims' own viewpoints of Islam through investigating the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, Spencer both in Islam Unveiled and this book provides a clear corrective to people who seemed reasonable people when I first read them but are in fact apologists for Islam. His illustration of the amount of violence in the Qur'an is in fact something I knew of very well from reading my father's copy as a child, but Spencer's illustration of how Muslim theologians actually regard the most violent verses as overturning less violent ones is something quite new (to me) and shocking.
His overview of the Crusades is essentially a repeat of Islam Unveiled, though for those who read other aspects of the period's history it seems strangely incomplete and not looking at other events of the time like Christianisation of northern Europe. There is also a lot of repetitive ranting about how Muslim rulers' apparent tolerance of other religions resulted from them relaxing Sharia law: Spencer makes no effort to explain why they relaxed it or failed to follow it (or even why they ended such practices). In a similar vein is his explanation of how Islam wiped out Zoroastrianism and Nestorian Christianity consequent upon its eastward spread. This may be a good explanation; however, there are two glaring omissions in this context.
The first is the absence of a chapter or two on the response of Hindu and Buddhist Asia to the spread of Islam. Given Spencer's statement that Hindu India is the only nation apart from the West that has successfully resisted jihad, this is surprising. The second is a discussion to the spread of Islam in southeast Asia between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Given that Islam in southeast Asia is often quoted (despite the terrorism in Indonesia today) by many who deny that Islam is by nature intolerant and violent, this omission is all the more serious. Spencer also does consider that modernisation is already seriously weakening traditions in most Muslim nations today, so that some of his claims about the Islamic future of the West come off as too familiar.
All in all, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)" does offer some remarkably obvious correctives to myths about Islam and the Qur'an, as well as some almost-terrifying revelations about Islam and its founder. Its tone is at times very ranty, however, and there are a number of facets of Islamic history that the book omits to mention.
Hate some more people...thats all we need.......2007-09-28
This book reinforces the medias hold on our society...once you have been fed something for so long (in this case that Islam is bad) it is quite easy to belief when people start picking apart pieces...i embraced Islam 1 1/2 years ago and it was the best decision i have ever made...i do not prescribe to some of the most socially damaging behaviours of our time drinking/premarital sex/overindulgence in material possessions/environemenatl damage....Islam has put all these things in perspective for me and has given me a foundation and guidance as to how to achieve these things.....
I love all people and respect their beliefs and literature like this CREATES FURTHER DISTANCE BETWEEN HUMANKIND......like we need anymore hate and discrimination....
PIG Islam.......2007-09-24
Not as good as I thought it would be. Does not provide much insight, but makes you want to learn more.
OH MY GOD!.......2007-09-21
A MUST READ for every person living in Western Civilization! This book exposes this 'religion' as the expansionist political movement it is and the underground quiet revolution that is taking place using our legal system, our schools, our media, our gullibility and the mathematical inevitabilty of population demographics to impose their will on our society.
Even right thinking Muslims who practice only the spiritual and moral precepts by which they live their lives I doubt know the underlying and nefarious principles of Islam. And if they do shame on them for not publicly rejecting them.
Eye opening reading. Spend the money to buy this book. The more you know about Islam will allow you see through the politically correct smokescreen that the Islamist apologists (CAIR), our media and our government is putting forth. Our civilization and the future of your grandchildren are at stake. Buy it but more importantly read it cover to cover and then pass it on to a neighbor or friend.
Informative.......2007-09-18
A good read that's well argued. To anyone presenting Islam as peaceful, this book cross references the koran frequently and to good effect. Also explains a bit of history prior to the crusades that is commonly omitted from contemporary debate.
Average customer rating:
- A Fine WWI book
- Good read, but unfulfilling
- Simply Unforgettable
- Best book on WWI
- All Quiet
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All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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ASIN: 0449213943
Release Date: 1987-03-12 |
Book Description
Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other--if only he can come out of the war alive.
"The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first trank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Customer Reviews:
A Fine WWI book.......2007-08-05
This view in the trenches of WW I was memorable for me, having little knowledge of WW I when I read this book. I was expecting more about what led to WW I, but was happy to read the account of the young German soldier who was not involved or terribly informed about the politics. After reading this, I read "Storm of Steel" by Ernst Junger. Remarque spends more time illustrating the ugliness and the horror, which I think is endemic in any war. His gift of description is strong, and is worth reading, but not if you want to know about the grand picture. This is about the nitty gritty daily experiences of war.
Good read, but unfulfilling.......2007-07-30
Somehow this summer became the summer of WWI books for me because I have read both All Quiet and A Farewell to Arms over the past several weeks. It was interesting to read both of these books back-to-back because of the different tones and writing styles of both authors. All Quiet left me feeling unfullfilled because it really doesn't have much of a plot and the characters are underdeveloped and many are forgotten at the end. Additionally, it was like the ending just happened, again without much development or resolution. Nonetheless, it painted a pretty effective picture of life in the trenches during WWI. A Farewell to Arms is much more romantic and a more fulfilling book however.
Simply Unforgettable.......2007-07-20
" We are at rest five miles behind the front". So begins one of the world's great literary treasures. What could I say that hasn't already been written ? I have read this novel since I was in grade school , and have revisited it every few years for the past five decades. As I grow older and think of comrades and friends now long gone , I can appeciate it's sublime beauty as the greatest anti-war novel ever written.
Best book on WWI.......2007-06-19
Every war has that one book since the Industrial Revolution has inspired at least one great anti-war piece of literature. This book is probably it for WWI. It focuses on Paul, a young German who goes to serve in the German army during WWI. The book begins with him in school being fed propaganda about the glory of war. The book ends with his death in the hated trenches. In between, he loses his innocence, nerve and eventually his sanity. He, and we the reader, witness incredible pain, suffering, tragedy, and in doing so, come to understand that war is always fought by the common people, but rarely for their good. This book is unique in that the protagonist is a German soldier, rare for an English language classic. But regardless of the nationality, the experiences here were common to all soldiers. I highly enjoyed this book, and consider it the best fiction work about WWI.
All Quiet.......2007-06-07
All Quiet on the Western Front provides a glimpse into World War I from the German's perspective. My favorite aspect of the book was that at no point did it glorify war, which is something I tend to find problematic in film adaptations of war. Brilliant piece though it's disheartening as one of the classes from the local high school are reading it for school - to say the least from my experience with them at work, I don't think they're as nearly excited about it as I am.
Book Description
Conspiracy theories about Sept. 11, 2001 continue to spread. Now, in a meticulous, scientific and groundbreaking new book, Popular Mechanics puts these rumors to rest. The magazine’s editors analyze the 20 most persistent claims underlying 9/11 conspiracy theories—and conclusively disprove each one. The result is a triumph of hard fact over conspiratorial fantasy.
Customer Reviews:
hey.......2007-09-20
so i haven't read the book, i will tell you that, but i think it's funny how John McCain helped write it. That guy needs to be off the balot and in jail for sure. Not all CT's are crazy either. They are family memebers who didn't get a proper investigation from the gov't. The Gov't doesn't care about them or the investigation and they call it a horrible attack on America. Bin Laden isn't even wanted for it. He i wanted for bombing in 198 or something on an american embassy killing maybe 200.
Anyway, read "Debunking 9/11 Debunking" wesome "truther" book
Propaganda and a waste of money. .......2007-09-20
Buy a copy of Debunking 9/11 Debunking by David Ray Griffin before buying this pack of lies. You can save your time and money and learn what Popular Mechanics says and OMITS in building their case against the truth. Hearst Publishing is still in the business of propaganda. Wake Up.
Reads like propaganda.......2007-09-14
I wish just once somebody would publish an objective book or collection of writings about this topic. The afterward is particularly insulting to the millions of concerned citizens with legitimate questions. Anyone can see that this book was written with an agenda. If this book doesn't give you ammo for you hate-spewing debunking arsenal, it might actually convince you that there are suspicious circumstances to consider.
Junk Science.......2007-08-29
This analysis doesn't even rise to the level of being wrong. You don't have to be a structural engineer to know that a steel-framed building cannot "pancake" at free-fall speed. You don't have to be a metallurgist to know that jet fuel won't leave pools of molten metal weeks after the fire is out. If you cherry-pick your "facts" you can make Stalin look like a boy scout or Mother Theresa look like the devil. This book starts with the conclusion and then tries to prove it. If you want an analysis that starts with the facts and works towards a logical conclusion, try any (or all) of David Ray Griffin's books.
Hint: don't drink fluoridated water........2007-08-24
I really wanted to fall for the "Official" fairytale. Sorry. Anyone who read this steaming terd and didn't find it insulting to their intelligence must be jacked up on fluoride. Do you know Prozac is 97% sodium fluoride? Do you know Hitler used it to sterilize and dumb down people? Do you know it is toxic waste from nuke power plants and aluminum production? You DO know your government puts it in YOUR water supply and toothpaste? Tell you what, figure out how MINOR structural damage and jet fuel pulverizes tons of concrete and EVERYTHING inside these giant skyscrapers into a fine dust before it can hit the ground, each with 47 welded and riveted massive core columns (approx 2/3 of its footprint!) Spraying sheitloads of human bone fragments atop the many adjacent buildings only to be discovered and reported years later and I will forget all about the bazillion lies, scandals and "coincidences", the complete failure of NORAD. Better stop, too much too list. Get a frikkin' clue retards, this is a cover-up hit piece AND do some homework to discover who owns Popular Mechanics Magazine. Better yet, buy the books of the great scholar David Ray Griffin instead, he easily destroys these brownshirt bootlickers using simple and sound logic.
Amazon.com
"One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit," Harry G. Frankfurt writes, in what must surely be the most eyebrow-raising opener in modern philosophical prose. "Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted." This compact little book, as pungent as the phenomenon it explores, attempts to articulate a theory of this contemporary scourge--what it is, what it does, and why there's so much of it. The result is entertaining and enlightening in almost equal measure. It can't be denied; part of the book's charm is the puerile pleasure of reading classic academic discourse punctuated at regular intervals by the word "bullshit." More pertinent is Frankfurt's focus on intentions--the practice of bullshit, rather than its end result. Bullshitting, as he notes, is not exactly lying, and bullshit remains bullshit whether it's true or false. The difference lies in the bullshitter's complete disregard for whether what he's saying corresponds to facts in the physical world: he "does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are."
This may sound all too familiar to those of use who still live in the "reality-based community" and must deal with a world convulsed by those who do not. But Frankfurt leaves such political implications to his readers. Instead, he points to one source of bullshit's unprecedented expansion in recent years, the postmodern skepticism of objective truth in favor of sincerity, or as he defines it, staying true to subjective experience. But what makes us think that anything in our nature is more stable or inherent than what lies outside it? Thus, Frankfurt concludes, with an observation as tiny and perfect as the rest of this exquisite book, "sincerity itself is bullshit." --Mary Park
Book Description
One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, "we have no theory."
Frankfurt, one of the world's most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt proceeds by exploring how bullshit and the related concept of humbug are distinct from lying. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all.
Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
Customer Reviews:
One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much.......2007-10-07
... of the substance that HGF writes a whole book, within limits, about, but that we poor Amazon reviewers are not allowed to use.
Within limits, because the book is so short, that a full quotation (minus the word, of course) could count as a rather long review. That is so, because the book is entirely self-reflective, it writes about itself. It moves in perfect circles and ignores all limits of seriousness and keeps this righteous attitude throughout. I love it.
The most remarkable achievement is that it manages to charge 10 bucks for itself, plus transportation charges, the latter amounting, in case of a single book parcel to China, to a quite unproportional amount of money and weight/volume of packing material. One could say, the book duplicates its contents via viral infections in Amazon charges and packing material.
Does this count as non-sexual replication? Or am I talking something that must remain unnamed?
Philosophical B.S. - Tossed it in the Garbage.......2007-10-01
Was hoping to find a good practical guide to spot B.S. tactics. Instead got philosphical-speak. Title is ironic. I feel like I was B.S.'d into buying the book. First to toss of dozens of business and behavior books I've purchased over the past couple of years.
To BS Or Not To BS.......2007-06-12
When I first heard about this book, my initial reaction was to wonder why the famous professor hadn't used his prestige to write about something important, namely, sophistry. For the most part, BS is merely exaggeration--we recognize it; and we know how to deal with it. Sophistry, on the other hand, is more subtle, seductive, sneaky, and snaky. The best sophistries are not quickly recognized as the deceptions they are.
Look at all these reviews. Many serious people have written with utter seriousness about Professor Frankfurt's low-calorie confection. Which tells me that sophistry is on a roll.
I read this book twice, in order to write an essay about it. Finally, the whole tiny tome seems to boil down to a few bizarre conceits, which are themselves sophistries, most infamously: liars care more about truth than people who BS; and sincerity itself is BS. Oh, really? Not unless you simply ignore the definitions of the words. In that same world, 2 + 2 nicely rounds off to 17.
My overwhelming impression is that this is a splendid book for students majoring in philosophy and, indeed, all students of philosphy. They can deconstruct this book--boldly wading into thickets of stately language, laying rough hands on delicate nonsequiturs--and thereby become better thinkers. Think of it as a primer, a rite of passage, an inoculation.
Tread Warily.......2007-06-01
Although Mr Frankfart writes with clarity on a most unsavory topic, as a teetotalling, non-smoking Southern Evangelical born-again Christian, I strongly object to this book's vulgar, unbiblical title. I know of no televangelist who would utter such an expression, except perhaps Benny Hinn in a moment of justified righteous indignation when preaching about Catholics or caterers who forget to load smoked salmon aboard his private jet. On a positive note, however, it is reassuring to see that Amazon, in its role as a vocabulary vigilante, does not permit reviewers to write bu lls hit in their comments. Such a breach of propriety would be impossible.
Surprising.......2007-05-09
This short little book on a subject little thought of in intellectual circles provided a surprising amount of inspiration. This book is a fascinating journey into the meaning of truth, lies and BS. It was surprisingly thoughtful and like anything thoughtful it fertilized more thought. At least for me it did. I think it was worth the investment in money and time.
Average customer rating:
- Painfully poignant
- Keeps me laughing
- Favorite Book of All Time
- What a story!
- War is hellarious
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Catch-22
Joseph Heller
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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ASIN: 0684833395 |
Amazon.com
There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.
Yossarian says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."
"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."
Mirabile dictu, the book holds up post-Reagan, post-Gulf War. It's a good thing, too. As long as there's a military, that engine of lethal authority, Catch-22 will shine as a handbook for smart-alecky pacifists. It's an utterly serious and sad, but damn funny book.
Book Description
Catch-22 is like no other novel. It is one of the funniest books ever written, a keystone work in American literature, and even added a new term to the dictionary.
At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war. His efforts are perfectly understandable because as he furiously scrambles, thousands of people he hasn't even met are trying to kill him. His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions that he is committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule from which the book takes its title: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.
Catch-22 is a microcosm of the twentieth-century world as it might look to some one dangerously sane -- a masterpiece of our time.
Customer Reviews:
Painfully poignant.......2007-10-06
It seems most criticism of this book on the site asserts claims of dull repetitiveness and trite anti-war arguments. Even Yossarian however admits that the war against Germany had to be fought (of course to know this you would have had to get past the first hundred pages as so few of the critics have).
The book is about capitalism, relationships, friendship, duty, service, love and the eternal paradox inherent in each. There is something human in this book that touches us as the reader in the depths of their humanity and throws us naked from the tree of knowledge (and good and evil too!) into the world around us. Enjoy the fall!
Keeps me laughing.......2007-09-26
This book is absolutely hilarious. I didn't expect that I would like it, but I have found it extremely enjoyable. Despite the age of the book, the humor is pretty relevant considering the situation of the world today. This is definitely turning into one of my favorite books.
Favorite Book of All Time.......2007-09-25
Simply brilliant. Requires some effort, but it is so worth it. Amazingly ironic and truthful throughout, I can read this masterpiece again and again. Highly highly recommended.
What a story!.......2007-09-22
Catch 22 was written before MASH became a TV show. This book has action and tells what goes on when our soldiers are not fighting. Make love,not war!
War is hellarious.......2007-09-15
A very, very funny book. Damn sad too, when you see that nothing's changed in 50 or 2,000 years. We're still killing strangers in the name of our flag while the men who send us to be killed make vast fortunes from the deaths of endless innnocents.
I'm guessing they don't make recruits read this during base camp.
It would empty out rather quickly...
Average customer rating:
- Even The Little People Are Free
- The enunciatory present
- I'd rather stick my hand in a blender than read this again
- Mimicry, Mockery, Menace
- Even though this is one of the most highly regarded ...
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The Location of Culture (Routledge Classics)
Homi K. Bhabha
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0415336392 |
Book Description
Terry Eagleton once wrote in the Guardian, 'Few post-colonial writers can rival Homi Bhabha in his exhilarated sense of alternative possibilities'. In rethinking questions of identity, social agency and national affiliation, Bhabha provides a working, if controversial, theory of cultural hybridity, one that goes far beyond previous attempts by others. A scholar who writes and teaches about South Asian literature and contemporary art with incredible virtuosity, he discusses writers as diverse as Morrison, Gordimer, and Conrad. In The Location of Culture, Bhabha uses concepts such as mimicry, interstice, hybridity, and liminality to argue that cultural production is always most productive where it is most ambivalent. Speaking in a voice that combines intellectual ease with the belief that theory itself can contribute to practical political change, Bhabha has become one of the leading post-colonial theorists of this era.
Customer Reviews:
Even The Little People Are Free .......2007-06-04
Bhabha writes dense, pretentious prose, which is commonplace now among the humanists who feel inferior to scientists, but he does have something to say. This little book does two things: it is in the end a celebration of literature (and not of theory for its own sake) and it defends the little brown people, such as Indians, against the claim of others, such as Edward Said, that whites oppressed them by denying them a voice. Bhabha argues in effect that the oppression created a new voice that subverted the oppressors. Bhabha has little patience for the sob-sister school of academic discourse which seeks out victims of racism. This is a sustained critique of liberal academic bad faith.
The enunciatory present.......2006-02-16
In The Location of Culture, Bhabha argues for a fundamental realignment of the methodology of cultural analysis away from ontology toward the "performative" and "enunciatory present" (p.178). Such a shift, he claims, provides a basis for the negotiation of cultural difference rather than its automatic repression or negation in the face of irreconcilable oppositions. Bhabha's emphasis on the enunciative production of meaning places the emphasis of critical inquiry on issues of representation or signification, thereby producing "a temporality that makes it possible to conceive of the articulation of antagonistic or contradictory elements" (p.25).
This argument represents a critical attack on the Western production of binary oppositions, traditionally defined in terms of centre and margin, civilised and savage, enlightened and ignorant. Bhabha questions the easy recourse to consolidated dualisms by repudiating fixed and authentic centres of truth, suggesting that cultures interact, transgress and transform each other in a much more complex manner than typical binary oppositions allow.
According to him, hybridity and linguistic multivocality have the potential to intervene and dislocate the process of domination through the re-interpretation and re-deployment of received discourse, thus re-focusing critical attention towards the "agonistic space" (181) which exists on the borders of difference, along the edges of alterity, where cultures meet. Bhabha celebrates cultural heterogeneity and the subversive effects of hybridisation.
I'd rather stick my hand in a blender than read this again.......2004-05-26
The fact that this book is influential is generally beyond argument. What astonishes me, however, is that so many people had the endurance to sit through the horrific writing; the author's style is obnoxious in the extreme. The first paragraph, for example, notes that the question of culture is the "trope of our times," characterized by "a tenebrous sense of survival." These concepts are not mind-bending. An everday, or as Homi would say, "colloquial" vocabularly would sufficiently articulate his thesis, yet he seems hellbent on packing his work with obscure language like he needs show off or prove something. Again, his ideas are influential, but he makes reading them as painful as possible.
Mimicry, Mockery, Menace.......2003-01-21
Ambivalence is a key term in Bhabha's Location of Culture. Accordingly, Bhabha's prose might be considered poetry or gibberish, but certainly not scholarship. There is no thesis, no argument, no evidence. That is not to say that Bhabha wouldn't be capable of such writing. Every once in a while, the reader can catch a glimpse of Bhabha's Other: the lucid thinker of post-colonialism. In order to compensate for the lack of clarity, structure and, yes, basic congruity between subjects, verbs and objects, Bhabha enacts the thoughts he fails to express. Indeed, his text is a performance of itself. Take, for instance, his chapter on mimicry. Whatever intelligent thoughts other scholars have derived from this concept, you will not find them in Bhabha's book. But he indeed shows you what he means, as he goes through the motions of scholarship. First, he makes a number of general statements that sound like a thesis. Then he puts a in a few convoluted sentence structures that make no sense-grammatically or otherwise. And finally he slams in a quote or two to prove a point-what point doesn't matter, for he did not make one in the first place. As a reader you will have to decide whether his work is a mimicry (in his definition "almost but not quite") of scholarship or its menace (according to Bhabha, 'not at all but still a little'). About one thing, though, he leaves no ambivalence: he "quite simply mocks its power to be a model." Harvard volunteered to be the evidence.
Even though this is one of the most highly regarded ..........2003-01-11
...theory books of the 1990s, its fame and reputation seem overblown. None of the other reviews posted here have really stated what Bhabha tries to accomplish in "The Location of Culture," so I'll give it a crack, even though I'm no expert on postcolonial theory.
To save you all some time, many of Bhabha's key points are made in the first two pages of his book. For instance: "In-between spaces provide the terrain for elaborating strategies of selfhood--singular or communal--that initiate new signs of identity, and innovative sites of collaboration, and contestation, in the act of defining the idea of society" (p. 1-2). Elsewhere, in-betweenness is easily the key concept in the book, as well as the notion of HYBRIDITY. The reason the modernist model of Colonialism is doomed to fail is not only because it needs the Other (the colonized) to validate its own supremacy (and to fulfill its desires), but also because it engages in what Bhabha refers to as "contra-modernity": modernity in "colonial conditions where its imposition is itself the denial of historical freedom, civic autonomy and the 'ethical' choice of refashioning" (p. 241). Bhabha finds that by examining the borderlines between Colonial power and Colonial oppression, a truer history of global populations can be obtained. In one of the finer passages in the book, Bhabha examines a scene from Salman Rushdie's controversial 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" and descibes how the postcolonial body--shaped by an outside nationalist culture--is representative of the colonizer, yet the colonizers "can never let the national history look at itself narcissistically in the eye" (p. 168).
Now let me preface my explanation by saying this is what I THINK Bhabha is getting at. It's not that his prose is "confusing," as other reviewers have stated here--although it is exceedingly "academic" (and there is nothing wrong with that, in and of itself)--but it is mired in the theoryspeak of the West that Bhabha seems so insistent upon de-centralizing. Bhabha uses the theories of the European male elite with so much blind faith that it easily undermines much of what he is trying to accomplish. Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Derrida are all over this book. These "founders of discourse" (as Foucault called Marx and Freud--and could posthumously call himself given his exhaltation in the academy after his death in 1984) represent an alternate (i.e. "left") critical practice, yet completely dominate Western discussions of theory in literary circles. Is not Bhabha, an Indian scholar, colonized by these minds?
Also, Bhabha's insistence upon in-betweenness at times really seems to undermine his (apparent) intentions. He seems, on the one hand, to claim that it is precisely through in-betweenness that the oppressors dominate the oppressed. Yet, it also seems that this in-betweenness gives the oppressed the opportunity to resist the oppressors. We seem to be back at step zero. Is anything really being said here?
He should have followed better the example of Frantz Fanon, who appears early and often as a primary source in "The Location of Culture." Fanon was surely no stranger to the Western tradition, but was able to write in a critical-poetical-personal style that was accessible to non-academics, a style that had real fire. Bhabha, with all his emphasis on the work of postcolonial theory--which, in his words, seeks to "revise those nationalist or 'nativist' pedagogies that set up the relation of Third World and First World in a binary structure of opposition" (p. 173)--continually relies on the concept of "doubling" (likely a Lacanian theory) as well as his notion of in-betweenness (or liminality, as he calls it) in such a manner that no distinct point of view really emerges. The theoryspeak seems to subsume any important observations he might be willing to make.
While this book has some wonderful moments in it, I would estimate that about 25 of the books 250 pages really says something. I'm worried that this book has been canonized because the mainly white scholars that run the Academy need their theories stated in a dense manner by an Indian man to give them validity. I know that kind of thinking is very conspiratorial, but it is only a concern. I've not read any other Bhabha, or other postcolonial theorists like Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak or Arjun Appadurai, but I cannot recommend this an easy gateway into this material. I would recommend the writings of Fanon, though his writing precedes the moment of postcolonial theory by some three or four decades, as a better introduction.
Book Description
Information... Knowledge... Understanding... Wisdom...
From the ancient classics to the masterpieces of the 20th century, the Great Books are all the introduction you`ll ever need to the ideas, stories and discoveries that have shaped modern civilization. This collection of 517 classics in 60 beautifully bound volumes is color-coded into four subject categories: literature, history, philosophy, and science. And since this edition includes works from 20th century authors, it`s the most up-to-date collection of the Great Books ever.
Product Details
Reading and understanding great works by history`s outstanding minds has always been considered the substance of a liberal education. The Great Books of the Western World has been acclaimed as the greatest publishing venture of the 20th Century. The set now consists of 60 volumes, with 517 works by 130 authors spanning 30 centuries, on a total of 37,000 pages containing 29 million words. Among the Great Books` 130 authors, 47 are writers of imaginative literature; 29 are masters of mathematics and/or the natural sciences; 28 are historians or social scientists, and 28 or more are philosophers and/or theologians. (This totals 132 because William James and Alfred North Whitehead have made contributions in both of the latter two subject categories).
Volume Details
Volumes 1 and 2 of this collection is the Syntopicon, a unique two-volume guide (not sold separately) that enables you to investigate a particular idea and compare what different authors have to say about it. The Syntopicon comprises a new kind of reference work -- accomplishing for ideas what the dictionary accomplishes for words and the encyclopaedia accomplishes for facts. Also included is the Great Conversation, featuring fascinating background information, extensive timelines, photos, and quotes from the classic works and their authors.
Special colors on the Great Books` spines guide you quickly to the four subject areas - GREEN: Novels, Short Stories, Plays, and Poetry
Volume 3 Homer
Volume 4 Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes, Aristophanes
Volume 12 Virgil
Volume 19 Dante, Chaucer
Volume 22 Rabelais
Volume 24 Shakespeare l
Volume 25 Shakespeare ll
Volume 27 Cervantes
Volume 29 Milton
Volume 31 Molière, Racine
Volume 34 Swift, Voltaire, Diderot
Volume 45 Goethe, Balzac
Volume 46 Austen, George Eliot
Volume 47 Dickens
Volume 48 Melville, Twain
Volume 51 Tolstoy
Volume 52 Dostoevsky, Ibsen
Volume 59 Henry James, Shaw, Conrad, Chekhov, Pirandello, Proust, Cather, Mann, Joyce
Volume 60 Woolf, Kafka, Lawrence, T.S. Eliot, O`Neill, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Brecht, Hemingway, Orwell, Beckett RED: Philosophy and Religion
Volume 6 Plato
Volume 7 Aristotle l
Volume 8 Aristotle ll
Volume 11 Lucretius, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus
Volume 16 Augustine
Volume 17 Aquinas l
Volume 18 Aquinas ll
Volume 20 Calvin
Volume 28 Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza
Volume 30 Pascal
Volume 33 Locke, Berkeley, Hume
Volume 39 Kant
Volume 43 Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche
Volume 55 William James, Bergson, Dewey, Whitehead, Russell, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Barth BLUE: History, Politics, Economics, and Ethics
Volume 5 Herodotus, Thucydides
Volume 13 Plutarch
Volume 14 Tacitus
Volume 21 Machiavelli, Hobbes
Volume 23 Erasmus, Montaigne
Volume 35 Montesquieu, Rousseau
Volume 36 Adam Smith
Volume 37 Gibbon l
Volume 38 Gibbon ll
Volume 40 J. S. Mill
Volume 41 Boswell
Volume 44 Tocqueville
Volume 50 Marx, Engels
Volume 57 Veblen, Tawney, Keyne
Customer Reviews:
The best of the best all in one volume.......2007-08-18
These books are worth their weight in Gold. You can find most, if not all, of these writings for free on the internet since there is no copyright anymore; however, if you are looking for physical books then this is the way to go. Very well made and if you go to the Britannica website you may a good deal or at least a payment plan for the hefty price.
Poorly Organized.......2007-08-15
I had heard of the Great Books Project some time ago but had never actually had a chance to see these translations until this past semester at my school library. They were located on the top floor right next to the bathroom so I sort stumbled into them by accident one night. After sifting through a few of these I can't say that I was anything other than supremely disapointed. It was a noble attempt on Adler's part but it just didn't pan out for a number of reasons.
I'm not one of these diversity crackpots and I personally think schools that use this collection (albeit losely) as a foundation for their curriculum (St. John's in Annapolis particularly) are vastly more rigorous, comprehensive, and rewarding than those of practically every other American University. Four years of science, three of mathematics, three of intensive Greek and French, weekly seminars in Western Literature and Philosophy. It's no wonder that this environment produces among the highest acceptance rates into top professional and graduate programs in the country.
However, as I mentioned before these schools use Adler's collection as more of a suggestion than anything else mostly because this hodgepodge of some 37,000 poorly translated and at times even obsolete pages of loseleaf paper couldn't possibly offer the coherence required of a college program.
To be fair though this was not Adler's intention with this collection. Still, one is left wondering what exactly Adler's intention was with all of this. One would assume that the intention was to get these books into as many homes and minds as possible. That's a great idea in principle but if folks aren't interest in reading these books individually what would lead you to believe that assembling them in one giant mass makes them more intriguing? Certainly he couldn't have done this to make the books more affordable ($1000+)...oh dear God, I believe he did.
I found the translations to be cumbersome, utterly oblivious to the language of the author's time and location, and unnecessarily small in size. Oh and the paper is of extremely low quality as well at least in the series I read out of.
These are all problems but what I find most unfortunate is the lack of coherence to the whole thing. First off, WHERE are the history books? Aside from the two big Greeks there are absolutely none to be found in the entire collection. Tens of thousands of pages with no history whatsoever to put any of into context for the young reader who I'll assume is the target audience of this collection.
Secondly, I support the attempt to expose the general public to the beauty of mathematics and especially science. But seriously, is there any point in adding something like Newton's Principia to this collection other than to show off? Really, what percentage of the population can make sense of a book like that? Cambridge prints short introductory texts to dozens of subjects in the sciences that are more relavent to that 99.99% of the population that doesn't have an advanced degree in Physics of Mathematics. Next.
Third, if you're selecting works based on influence then how do people like Kierkegaard, Marx and Nietzsche only get one of work apeice included whereas folks like Chaucer, Pascal and Ibsen get numerous selections? How can it be that Pascal has had more influence than a man whose philosophy spawned worldwide panic, violence and revolution for most of the 20th Century?
Finally, if you're going to try and produce a comprehensive collection of the Greatest the Western World has produced why not select each authors most notable contributions to that legacy. Nobody remembers Thomas Mann for "Death and Venice." Nobody remembers Joyce for "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man."
But then again I could be wrong. Regardless, I am still going to give this book 4 stars for fighting the good fight against relativism, multiculturalism and the general degeneration of the human race.
Great contents, but.......2006-09-01
Bid a new set from ebay and it arrived in two boxes. It has great contents, but:
1) The books are small in dimension, so print is small and not easy to read.
2) The paper is thin.
3) Need more pictures.
4) Some volumes are quite thin. It will be better either adding more contents, or combine volumes to make the whole set more manageable.
5) The set is listed at $1,195, which translates to about $20 per volume. Judging from the quality of the book, printing quality should be no more than $5 per volume. They should reduce price to make it more accessible.
Finest compilation of the writings of the most brilliant minds over the centuries past ever.......2006-08-17
These books were first published in 1952. Only 500 sets were published that year, a Private Library Collection it was called, and sold for $500.00 per set. My father was one of the original purchasers, and he passed them down to me when he died. (It's still even in its original custom made bookcase!)
This entire set contains the writings of the most brilliant minds over the centuries past, carefully compiled by the publishers, with a ten-year reading plan that will give the reader the most valuable of all gifts: knowledge. A must-read for any true scholar!
Cost effective when you consider your options..........2006-03-14
Regardless of minor squabbling over what should and shouldn't be included, this is a very good collection of western works. I'd call it great in fact, when you consider the amount you'd have to pay to purchase all these seperate, not to mention all the wading you'd do through some not-so-necessary reads.
Insert the rest of a 'look how big my words can be' and 'I read this while still in the womb' review here. I'm not feeling up to the pomp.
Book Description
In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case
against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and
reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry
of the double helix.
Customer Reviews:
God is not Great!.......2007-10-10
Superb! Finally someone has the backbone to address the troubling issues surrounding all organized religion. This work should be recommended reading on all college campuses.
Not For Everyone.......2007-10-10
Very thought provoking book. Must be open minded to read and grasp the concepts.
Enthralling, factual, compelling! A must read! .......2007-10-09
This book is well written, well thought out and I think encompasses the views of many people who believe that religion does truly poison everything. While the title itself will no doubt garner the wrath of religious people everywhere, the facts simply speak for themselves!
The Bullies Take a Beating.......2007-10-09
Here is my 2 cents worth for what its worth...
I LOVE this book. It reads easily and with much humor. I have read Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins and while I reallly enjoyed both I find Hitchens so much more... devastating.
Reading Hitchens take on GOD and the whole concept of religion is like watching the "Bully" in school, along with his henchmen, go after the little nerdy kid with the books under his arms. You think the nerd is about to get another unjust whomping only, and with much joy, you discover that the nerdy kid displays a high skill level in the martial arts! The "Bully" and his pals take a well deserved beating. They had no defense against a smart, confident, well trained adversary. So it goes here in the book "God is not Great". Hitchens pulls no punches. His knowledge of the bible and religion is so much better than the door knocking bible thumper. Great reading. I also encourage you to watch the fight on Youtube or Google. Hitchens is so much more beliveable than the bullies.
Hitchens - Stick to writing and not reading.......2007-10-09
Found content very interesting. BUT, the audio version is BAD!Read the book instead. I happen to listen to most books instead of reading them (productivity while exercising). Anyway, Hitchens decided to read his own book. He speaks a mile a minute, has an accent and does not articulate all words. Either he is cheap and did not want to hire a professional reader or else his ego is too big. After a couple CD disks, I had to go to the library, get the book and finish reading.
Average customer rating:
- Lovely!
- Magical!
- Wonderful gift for first time parents!
- On The Day You Were Born
- Book is AMAZING, CD is so-so
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On the Day You Were Born
Debra Frasier
Manufacturer: Harcourt Children's Books
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ASIN: 0152579958 |
Amazon.com
Inspired by Debra Frasier's enormously popular On the Day You Were Born, this charming photo journal invites families to celebrate the arrival of their loved one into the natural world. A star-spangled blue sky, crossed by a swath of sunshine yellow with gold birds, introduces the reader to "the very first day you arrived." Baby's picture and name go right in the middle of all the cheery yellow. Turn the page: "You were born on the round planet Earth. Was it day, or was it night?" is printed with another space for a picture and a line to write the date and time of birth against the backdrop of more starry sky with that old blue and green globe plopped in the middle and a figure of a child frolicking across the ocean. On another page, the jubilant child dances across a beach: "On the day you were born waves washed the beaches clean for your footprints. How little were your fingers? How tiny were your toes?"
By adding eight photographs and filling in a few details, parents can create a very special journal for their child, rejoicing together in all the natural wonders of the universe. Here is an ideal gift for the new parents with a vibrant connection to nature. --Emilie Coulter
Book Description
In simple words and radiant collages, Debra Frasier celebrates the natural miracles of the earth and extends an exuberant welcome to each member of our human family. Accompanied by a detailed glossary explaining such natural phenomena as gravity, tides, and migration, this is an unforgettable book. “A book filled with reverence for the natural order of the world and the place of the individual in it.”--School Library Journal
Customer Reviews:
Lovely!.......2007-09-05
I got this book because it was on sale and I am so glad that I did. Seeing it now I would definitely pay full price for it.
It is well-made, adorable, and will make a great keepsake to share with our son.
Magical! .......2007-09-03
This is a book I've given as a birthday gift many times - to new arrivals and those celebrating more birthdays as well. The text is simple yet beautiful and the illustrations provide a warm, magical layer of feeling when reading this book. Highly recommended.
Wonderful gift for first time parents!.......2007-08-31
I received this book from a good friend when my baby boy was born (our first). I thought the poetry of birth and the natural world was amazing. And the ending where a circle of loved ones welcomed the new baby whispering "We're so glad you've come," reminded me of all the love our family and friends showed our new baby. I can't read it without tearing up. It's a wonderful reminder that all life is sacred and beautiful.
While the art is tribal, not fluffy, and some of the language is advanced for a developing child, I still love this book. Not every board book should be pastels and one syllable words. But I hope this book will be a keepsake that we can read together and remember what a miracle it was that he was born. I want to foster in him the spirit of this book... that all life is connected and we need to try to live in balance with the environment that sustains our lives.
On The Day You Were Born.......2007-07-27
This is a wonderful book to give to any new child or to the grandparent of a new child. I was given one for our new grandson and immediately bought three to give as gifts. The book is something that can become a family tradition to be read on each child's birthday!
Book is AMAZING, CD is so-so.......2007-05-15
I bought this for my son before he was born, and I read it to him all the time - and never with a dry eye! I always buy it as a baby gift for anyone I know who's having a baby of their own. However, unless you find this set for a good price, I might just get the book. My husband calls the CD "hippie music" and he's right - the music is a little, um, groovy and repetitive. Though if you have a sappy friend, get it - books like this and the Giving Tree always make me cry, and if I can have the CD finish the story for me when I get choked up, so much the better.
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