Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

Average customer rating:

Wonderful

Quick Read...Makes some GREAT points!

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

Fish!

Fish!

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
Stephen C. Lundin , Harry Paul , and John Christensen
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786866020

Amazon.com

Here's another management parable that draws its lesson from an unlikely source--this time it's the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, recently widowed and mother of two, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen describe as a "toxic energy dump." Most reasonable heads would cut their losses and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? But the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace. While some may find the story line and prescriptions--such as "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present"--downright corny, others will find a good dose of worthwhile motivational management techniques. If you loved Who Moved My Cheese? then you'll find much to like here. And don't worry about Mary Jane and kids. Fish! has a happy ending for everyone. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

Download Description

In this engrossing parable, a fictional manager is charged with the responsibility of turning a chronically unenthusiastic and unhelpful department into an effective team.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful.......2007-10-10

A powerful message in a tiny package. Why not accept/promote attitudes that promote efficiency and growth?

Quick Read...Makes some GREAT points!.......2007-08-13

This book is a quick read for anyone...the story was interesting enough to keep my attention all the way through. Even though this book was depicting more severe circumstances than I have faced, I could still find ways to relate to the information. It's a nice reminder to practice good work habits every day!

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results.......2007-07-16

The book is good for the use as a morale booster in the workplace. It is easily adaptable to a variety of environments.

Fish!.......2007-02-26

Received complete order in a reasonable amount of time and without any problems. Would order from them again.

Fish! .......2007-02-20

Good, and a light read. The ideas are powerful and worth taking time to think about.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Average customer rating:

A very thought-provoking book for people trying to grow their business.
"Good" is not "good enough".
Good To Great
My Business Bible
Still applicable in 2007

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
Jim Collins
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0066620996
Release Date: 2001-10-16

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards

Book Description

The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning.

But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

The Study
For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

The Standards
Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.

The Comparisons
The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good?

Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't.

The Findings
The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:

Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.
The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.
A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.
The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.

“Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.”

Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

Customer Reviews:

A very thought-provoking book for people trying to grow their business........2007-10-02

This was a very interesting book for me to read. I have to imagine that I am in a pretty narrow target market for this book, though the concepts may be broadly applied. I work for a small business and can see many opportunities to put this book's findings to work.

The book tells the various stories of companies that made a transition from a market participant to market leader and saw sustained success for at least 15 years. The author was able to identify a few common factors between these companies, and he and his research team present them as a model for us to follow.

I had but one small issue, which is probably not information that contributes to the rest of the research. They detail radical decisions made by upper management, sometimes completely changing the face of an established business. I figure there must be a largely disproportionate number of business that fail when they made the same or a similar move. I would have liked to see some detail behind how those successful companies came to make that decision. The decision itself was largely overlooked.

Like many "business" books, I feel that much of what was written here was largely common sense. They weren't necessarily ideas that I have had or would have come up with on my own, but as I read them they seemed mundane in analysis. It made the reading slow going, but there was a silver lining -- for instant gratification, each chapter ends with a few pages of main concepts extracted from the text.

There was some very insightful research in Good to Great. The common elements identified were relevant and practical. It would not be an easy model to follow, but if it were it would defeat its own purpose to isolate those corporate characteristics that set successful companies apart. If you have ever wondered what steps you should follow to take your company from Good to Great, this is a book you should read (even if it is just the chapter summaries).

"Good" is not "good enough"........2007-10-02

"Good" is not "good enough". When organizations and/or individuals settle for "good" as "good enough" they set themselves up to become obsolete. "Good to Great" looks at those organizations that decided never to settle for "good enough" and became "Great". How about you? Are you striving to become great at what you do, or have you settled for being good enough to get by? Does the organization that you work for have a plan to move from good to great? Are you a part of the change that will take your company to the next level or do you believe that your company is "good enough" right where it is?

I believe there is more value to be gained by pushing good organizations to become great than trying to turn mediocre organizations into good ones. The data presented in "Good to Great" shows just how much value can be gained by those willing to make the leap to Great. The book also shows you what principles of business those companies that made the leap had to adopt.

My favorite chapters are chapter two (Level 5 Leadership) and three (First Who...Then What). Level 5 Leadership address the benefits of having personal humility combined with a strong will to build something great. We have to many leaders at the top that have let their egos become more important than the organizations they run. "Good to Great" explains how the leaders of those companies that made the leap avoided the ego trap while having great ambitions for building something exceptional. Everyone who wishes to become a leader that makes a difference should read this chapter.

"First Who...Then What" does a good job of showing how great companies put "talent" at the top of the agenda. Any leader who wants to build a strong organization must put "talent" at the top of their agenda. Jim Collins address two critical issues companies need to address when it comes to recruiting and developing their talent. He shows us why it is important to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. And then goes on to explain how great companies get the people in the right seat. How many people in your organization are in the wrong seat? How many should be taken off the bus entirely? Companies are not good at hiring the right people and then are terrible at assigning them to the right job. This chapter is a must for anyone involved in the hiring of talent.

I also recommend spending some time at jimcollins.com. I have visited and revisited this site to get more information on the concepts presented in "Good to Great". Buy the book, then go to the website and start your own journey from good to great.

Larry Kevin Adams
theactionator.com

Good To Great.......2007-09-28

Our company is taking the advice of the book to heart. We have formed our "hedgehog" group and all are excited. We want to work in an environment of greatness. The book shows us the way. We have 7 of our employees who have agreed to "donate their time" at lunch several times a month to help us identify our circles. I would recommend this book to any company or organization that truly wants to have their maximum impact in the arena in which they operate!

My Business Bible.......2007-09-24

If I have a bible for business, this is it. First who then what is the only way to go!

Still applicable in 2007.......2007-09-19

I enjoyed the thought provoking aspect of this book. The different levels of leadership, the hedgehog concept are the two takeaways from this book.

How many of us fall into the trap of being everything to everyone? Most I suspect from the findings presented in the book.

Read this book to find out how you can strive to be a Level 5 leader. I found the book very insightful. Jim Collins and his team hit a homerun!

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

Average customer rating:

5 Stars Plus
Inspiring, moving, excellent
This is a template on how to eliminate terrorism
Wow
This is a life changing book

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
Greg Mortenson , and David Oliver Relin
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143038257

Book Description

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban's backyard

Anyone who despairs of the individual's power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan's treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson's quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

Customer Reviews:

5 Stars Plus.......2007-10-10

I agree with some of the critisms that the prose distracts from the narrative. Additionally, there is too much of the author and not enough of "Dr. Greg". However, all of the negatives are superceded by a HUGE positive-- that this is an inspirational story of one man making an incredible difference in people's lives. C.A.I. will now go on my list of charities.

Inspiring, moving, excellent.......2007-10-10

This is one of the best books I've ever read. I haven't been able to stop thinking or talking about it since I finished. It's incredibly well written, suspenseful and very moving. It inspired me to increase my efforts to help others. I agree whole heartedly with the underlying premise of the book - that peace comes from education and that those who are left in poverty with no tools for overcoming this will naturally turn to the path of least resistance - the path of hatred, terror and war. Another thing I really appreciated about this book was that I could give it to my grandma - it doesn't have any profanity or other such material that would make me embarrassed for her to read.

This is a template on how to eliminate terrorism.......2007-10-10

I adore this book and believe that education is the answer. One person can make a difference.

Wow.......2007-10-07

Simply the most moving story I have ever read. This will renew your faith in humanity.

This is a life changing book.......2007-10-06

I have recommended (and given) this book to many of my friends and all three of my book clubs. Some people found the beginning a little tedious but I did not. I enjoyed the background material and have decided that, when I grow up (I'm already 52), I want to be Greg Mortenson. I admire him and think his wife must be a saint. I learned a lot, and more importantly, felt a lot while reading this book. It is very inspiring. As Americans, we have so much to learn before we offer to help.

In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing

Average customer rating:

IN AN INSTANT
Up from the trenches
One of the best books I've ever read!
Interesting book
In An Instant

In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing
Lee Woodruff , and Bob Woodruff
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400066670
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

In one of the most anticipated books of the year, Lee Woodruff, along with her husband, Bob Woodruff, share their never-before-told story of romance, resilience, and survival following the tragedy that transformed their lives and gripped a nation.

In January 2006, the Woodruffs seemed to have it all–a happy marriage and four beautiful children. Lee was a public relations executive and Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight. Then, while Bob was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him.

In an Instant is the frank and compelling account of how Bob and Lee’s lives came together, were blown apart, and then were miraculously put together again–and how they persevered, with grit but also with humor, through intense trauma and fear. Here are Lee’s heartfelt memories of their courtship, their travels as Bob left a law practice behind and pursued his news career and Lee her freelance business, the glorious births of her children and the challenges of motherhood.

Bob in turn recalls the moment he caught the journalism “bug” while covering Tiananmen Square for CBS News, his love of overseas assignments and his guilt about long separations from his family, and his pride at attaining the brass ring of television news–being chosen to fill the seat of the late Peter Jennings.

And, for the first time, the Woodruffs reveal the agonizing details of Bob’s terrible injuries and his remarkable recovery. We learn that Bob’s return home was not an end to the journey but the first step into a future they have learned not to fear but to be grateful for.

In an Instant is much more than the dual memoir of love and courage. It is an important, wise, and inspiring guide to coping with tragedy–and an extraordinary drama of marriage, family, war, and nation.

A percentage of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury.

Customer Reviews:

IN AN INSTANT.......2007-10-05

TOTALLY ENJOYED THE CD OF THIS BOOK. A HEARTFELT STORY OF LOVE, PAIN AND RECOVERY.

Up from the trenches.......2007-09-29

This is a story of remarkable courage and love. Medicine and therapy have come a long way, but the personal strength of one person doing the hard work, and another staying by their side, is (I believe) what brings people back to a life worth living after so tremendous a trajedy. Other books about brain trauma: The Shiloh Renewal and I'll Carry the Fork! Recovering a Life After Brain Injury

One of the best books I've ever read!.......2007-09-26

What a wonderful & informative book. I really enjoyed all of the background information. It was a very touching love story. Having gone through 3 brain surgeries myself and my daughter's brain surgery also, gave me a fraction of knowledge on the recovering brain, but the book certainly gives an abundance of information. I've always thought Bob was absolutely fantastic, but I really enjoyed Lee's side of the story. Bravo and Good bless you both Bob & Lee!!!

Interesting book.......2007-09-09

Interesting book - I read it because I was curious what had happened to Bob Woodruff after his injury, because the of the lack of information regarding his condition. It is interesting to me that insiders in the media can control what information gets out about them personally; however others are not so fortunate - their names, faces and not-so-flattering images are splashed across news screens every day.

The book was interesting, but I felt that Lee Woodruff ends up protraying herself as a selfish wife who is annoyed first at her husband's career and then annoyed at the inconvenience his injury caused their family. She describes herself several times as a "single parent" because Bob travelled so much. As a real-life single parent, this completely offended me. A single parent not only cares for their children alone, they also support them alone. A single parent is not a wife of a guy with a six-figure salary who happens to work a lot. If Lee had left these comments out, the book would have been much more palatable.

In An Instant.......2007-08-23

This book was excellent. I thoughthly enjoyed it. My sister is not reading it.

Average customer rating:

yeah, I'd recommend it
Fiction, Fable, Fantasy
What a fantastic ride!
From interest to anger
An Entertaining and Unique Piece of Art

Life of Pi
Yann Martel
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156027321

Amazon.com

Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."

An award winner in Canada (and winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize), Life of Pi, Yann Martel's second novel, should prove to be a breakout book in the U.S. At one point in his journey, Pi recounts, "My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time." It's safe to say that the fabulous, fablelike Life of Pi is such a book. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Book Description

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?

Customer Reviews:

yeah, I'd recommend it.......2007-10-10

I kinda would like to rate this book a 4, because there are a few things I didn't like. I didn't like everything getting 'over-explained' in the end. That wasn't necessary. It was like the author didn't think the reader was smart enough to keep track of what was going on. That did a real disservice to the book.

And I didn't like all the start - I mean, too much opinion that seemed like an rookie blog.

But, I did recommend the book, and I wanted my Mom to read it and talk to her about it. So, what does that say? I don't do that too often. So, I gotta give it a five.

Read it and tell me what you think. :)

Fiction, Fable, Fantasy.......2007-10-10

Yann Martel's Life of Pi is at the least, a first rate adventure yarn. Even the simplest reader needs just to suspend a small amount of disbelief to join in the fun. There is enough texture to the writing-detail of place and experience-that the book is almost cinematic. You could imagine this being filmed as a simple 'survival in a lifeboat' story.
What makes this such a wonderful tale is that each little piece-the man-eating island, the orangutan, Pi's wonderful real name, is jolting and provocative. It's hard to hear the stories without connecting them to some other fantasy or alternative reality.
At the end, Pi's rescue and redemption are really nothing more than the technique of fantasy applied to the story itself. I'm sorry for the folks who were disappointed that this wasn't one kind of book and I hope they get a chance to experience the pleasure of it being a very good fable, fiction and fantasy.

----Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The and the slightly fabulous bang BANG: A Novel

What a fantastic ride!.......2007-10-07

A great book should not only answer questions, but lead us to ask questions about the very nature of our lives: our perceptions and beliefs. This book delivers all of that and more. Life of Pi is an amazing literary journey that carries the reader through the life of a young boy as he experiences life and becomes a man, a postmodern bildungsroman. It's all here: relationships with parents, God, nature, humanity, love, adventure, a quest for meaning, and a survival story. This is the stuff life is made of!

Martel is an apt storyteller, and this tale drips with allegory, symbolism, and skillful description. I didn't want it to end. I felt so connected to the story and characters, unlike any story I've read recently. I'm so grateful for the journey. Wow.

From interest to anger.......2007-10-05

This book plays on the reader's gullibility. I was willing to believe up to the man eating island. Then I just got upset. Is this book supposed to help me find God or is it supposed to prove that I am gullible enough to believe in a "better" story? Where do you find 16 year old boys who spend pages philosophizing on tigers while their own life is in great danger? The Boy Scout in my enjoyed the survival story of Pi, but the amazement of survival becomes overshadowed by things that don't add up. It made me lose sight of the meaning of the story. Then part 3 comes along and I am more confused about which of two unbelievable stories I am supposed to believe. It reminds me of Jesus' parables where even his direct reports couldn't understand. It leaves me asking "Why?". Why don't you just give me a story that clearly supports your point?

An Entertaining and Unique Piece of Art.......2007-10-05

I literally just finished reading this book a few minutes ago, and the first thing I did was come to this site to see what others said about it. I think this is going to be one of those pieces that grows on me the further away I get from it, like how I felt about the movie American Beauty, which by the way turned out to be one of my favorite movies after all.

My first feeling after I was done with it was of shock, but the longer I sit here, thinking about it and reading the negative "1 star" reviews, the more I find myself defending and liking it. All the people that said it was "unbelievable" in their reviews need to seriously get a grip. This is a work of FICTION, and an interesting and entertaining one at that! When did we start berating artists for creating works that are unbelievable? So should we bad mouth the movie ET for depicting a boy flying around on his bike with an alien, or the Harry Potter series for assuming that there can actually be wizards and witches living amongst us in secret? Come on, those are some of the most beloved works in pop culture history, and they, like Life of Pi, are FICTON. Isn't that why we read and watch fiction? To be entertained with a good story and take our minds off of our mundane lives? Besides, that's exactly what Pi was trying to tell the Japanese men at the end....sometimes we all just need a good story to make us forget all the bad stuff that we have to endure in the real world. At least that's why I enjoy it.

With that being said, I thought the Life of Pi was a very entertaining read. Yann Martel does a great job of infusing his own brand of philosophical musings about God, country and family into a straight good old fashioned piece of adventure themed story telling. If you're squeamish or have a hard time dealing with violence and extreme situations, then you probably won't be able to get too into this book. I found myself grimacing a few times actually, but it's not worse than most of what you find on the Discovery Channel on any given afternoon. Also, if you don't enjoy a fluid, sometimes digressive, often ambling narrative and prefer the style of more straightforward prose such as that of Dean Koontz, then this might not interest you as well.

The only other book I've read recently that reminds me of this one is the very popular Cormac McCarthy Pulitzer Prize winner and Oprah Book Club selection, The Road. They both chronicle the journey of a boy (in The Road's case, a boy and his father) beating unbelievable odds and inconceivable circumstances to try and survive after a catastrophic event. Both are also written in a way that makes you feel as if you are experiencing the distress of the main characters, but in opposite ways. The Road has short, grammatically incorrect sentences that convey the urgency and erratic behavior of the parent and child on the run and trying to stay alive. In Life of Pi, the author sometimes rambles on in a nonsensical way, the same way your brain would function if you were suffering from hallucinations while nearing death on a lifeboat in the Pacific for over 200 days. I think that the authors' styles are what take both of the stories from just a couple of unremarkable novels you'd find in the discount bin, to truly memorable works of art.

In fact, I'm finding it very discomfiting that so many people gave it such bad reviews. I read through some of them, and I think the negative things they had to say about it says more about them than Martel's work. One review says they wish they were illiterate so they wouldn't have had to endure it and it made them vomit and want to scratch their skin off in the shower like a drug addict. Gee...I don't think I have to explain myself on that one. Others said it was boring, which makes me question our society's attention span more than anything because many of those same reviewers said they didn't even finish reading it. These same people are the ones that stopped watching the tv show Lost at the beginning of last season for the same reason. Well, if they would have just stuck around for a little while longer, in both cases, they would have been in for a pleasant surprise.

*Spoiler Alert in this Paragraph only*
Also, a common theme in the bad reviews was their distain for the ending. I thought that the ending was what really made the book something special. While anyone with half a brain would know that his original story had to have been false, whether he knew it or not since his delirium was quite advanced at some of his lowest points, the fact that he actually gives an alternate version of the story to the Japanese men, felt like a big payoff to me. I'm the kinda gal that likes to know what really happened...it helps me to bond with the characters and ultimately enjoy the story more in the end.

I was starting to get really upset with all the "1 star" reviews, until I did the math. A staggering 78% (as of today) gave it 4 or 5 stars which means they liked or loved it. Well, knowing that at least restored a little bit of my faith in the general public, because though it's not perfect nor the best thing I've ever read, it definitely doesn't deserve to be called horrible.

If you read a lot, like I do, and are looking for a unique story told in a distinctive style, and have an open mind, then definitely give this one a try.

Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

Average customer rating:

Excellent
Not Terribly Engrossing
Nice book about synesthesia
A beautiful book!
Amazing

Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
Daniel Tammet
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Born on a Blue Day is a journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today -- guided by its owner himself. Daniel Tammet sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him almost unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man.

Daniel has a compulsive need for order and routine -- he eats the same precise amount of cereal for breakfast every morning and cannot leave the house without counting the number of items of clothing he's wearing. When he gets stressed or is unhappy, he closes his eyes and counts. But in one crucial way Daniel is not at all like the Rain Man: he is virtually unique among people who have sev- ere autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life. He has emerged from the "other side" of autism with the ability to function successfully -- he is even able to explain what is happening inside his head.

Born on a Blue Day is a triumphant and uplifting story, starting from early childhood, when Daniel was incapable of making friends and prone to tantrums, to young adulthood, when he learned how to control himself and to live independently, fell in love, experienced a religious conversion to Christianity, and most recently, emerged as a celebrity. The world's leading neuroscientists have been studying Daniel's ability to solve complicated math problems in one fell swoop by seeing shapes rather than making step-by-step calculations. Here he explains how he does it, and how he is able to learn new languages so quickly, simply by absorbing their patterns. Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it's like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human -- our minds.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-10-10

As a mother of a child with high functioning Autism I found this book extremely interesting. However, even if I had no direct connection with Autism this book is very good. It is wonderfully written; engaging and quick to read. I appreciate Daniel Tammet sharing his story and highly recommend it to anyone.

Not Terribly Engrossing.......2007-08-07

The introduction for this book, in which Tammet describes his savant skills and his synesthesia, is really the most interesting part, and one wishes that the remainder of the book could have been so. As it is, it is a memoir about a life that, despite the curiosity of his Asperger's syndrome and his talents, is actually rather ordinary.

It is interesting to hear him describe the mental manifestations of his mild autism, but as the book moves on, it actually does not effect his life as much as you'd think. When you see him on television programs, in fact, you would hardly guess the mental stress he undergoes to interact with people.

Until late in the book, no one seems particularly interested in Tammet's outstanding language and math abilities, which seems a shame. The memoir has been produced precisely because he has been discovered, but I can't help but think that a different kind of book would have been a better, more interesting way to learn about Tammet. While his brain is fascinating, his life story isn't nearly so.

Nice book about synesthesia.......2007-08-03

This is a nice first person narrative about synesthesia. I enjoyed reading another person's perspective of synesthetic problem solving by means of spontaneous, intuitive pictures. I know of synesthetes that have had to go through extensive occupational therapy to heal hypersensitivities to light, sound, etc. I wonder how he just got over it at some point.

I rate this book a 5 star because it is rare to find a book about synesthesia written by the people who live it and know it best.

A beautiful book!.......2007-08-01

This is really a beautiful book. I really mean beautiful. Yes it is a great book and a great read, but the difference between this book and other great reads is that this is truly a beautiful book.

The author will take you right into his mind and will show you how he visualizes the world around him. You might think he is a genius, capable of feats we mere mortals are incapable of. For example, he can perform extraordinary math in his head. He can calculate the number Pie (22 divided by 7, or 3.14.....) to more than 22,000 digits in his head! In fact, he holds the world record! Give him any numbers, such as 34,768 multiplied by 67,879, and he'll spit out the answer in an instant, faster than it would take you to enter the digits in a calculator.

How can he calculate so fast? What is his secret? The author, Daniel Tammet, sees numbers as shapes, colors and textures. He also experiences emotions by visualizing numbers. He says, "If a friend says they feel sad or depressed, I picture myself sitting in the dark hollowness of number six to help me experience the same sort of feeling and understand it. If I read in an article that a person felt intimidated by something, I imagine myself standing next to the number nine...By doing this, numbers actually help me get closer to understanding other people (p. 8-9, Hodder 2006, paperback). On page 11, he says, "Some nights, when I'm having difficulty falling asleep, I imagine myself walking around my numerical landscapes. Then I feel safe and happy. I never feel lost, because the prime number shapes acts as signposts." He further adds, "Five is a clap of thunder or the sound of waves crashing against rocks. Thirty-seven is lumpy like porridge, while 89 reminds me of falling snow...The number four is shy and quiet...Prime numbers feel smooth, like pebbles."

The author also knows how to speak 11 languages (he even invented one of his own), and he can speak a language fluently from scratch in a week. He learnt Icelandic in one week during a TV interview in Iceland! He says, "Seeing words in different colors and textures aids my memory for facts and names."

In case you are wondering, Tammet sees days of the week as colors. Wednesday, the day he was born, is `blue'; thus the title of the book, `Born on a Blue Day'.

Is the author a genius?

Daniel Tammet has Savant Syndrome, an extremely rare form of Asperger's that gives him almost unimaginable mental powers, much like the Rain Man (Kim Peek) portrayed by Dustin Hoffman. But he is unique among people who have severe autistic disorders in being able to live a fully independent life. He travels by air alone and visits many countries for interviews, research, and to appear on TV. His first flight abroad was to Lithuania where he worked as a volunteer English teacher. It was there he realized that he could live an independent life. He also traveled to America on his own to film the documentary Brainman.

One reviewer said that statistics recently released placed one out of every 150 births as an autistic child. This is by no means a small number. But not all autistic children have the abilities of Tammet or Peek. It is believed that there might be fewer than 100 worldwide!

So what makes Tammet and Peek different from other autistic people, and particularly us?

Tammet's Savant talents likely resulted with a short bout with epilepsy at the age of 4. Scientists studying Tammet and other Savants believe that something in the brain triggers the Savant abilities. If scientists can pinpoint this trigger, can they make us all into supercomputers? The research into the brain is still ongoing, and I must say, is quite fascinating. A lot of it is explained in this book.

However one should not forget that we too have many abilities that we take for granted, such as our ability to communicate clearly (most autistics don't have this ability); understand each other; cope with our surroundings etc...

This book is an insight into what it is like to be a high-functioning autistic. The author explains his life from birth (as related by his parents) to the present time (2006). Some scenes are very touching, like the death of his cat, the illness of his father, and the loneliness he experienced. Other scenes are really funny, like how he didn't like shaving because he was very sensitive to the sound of the blade on his skin (his boyfriend Neil later shaved for him, and taught him to use an electric shaver which he liked using). In fact, sounds bother him, and he often plugs his ears with his fingers. He also says that he eats exactly 45 grams of porridge for breakfast each morning. How does he know this? Well, he actually measures his porridge!

He sometimes sleepwalks. As a child, his parents always made sure his room was tidy at night, for fear he would stumble on something while sleep walking.

He explains how since an early age he was attracted to males, and how he approached his first crush while in high school. He was politely rejected. He then met his true love through the internet years later. He didn't know how to tell his parents. When he finally mustered the courage and the words to face his parents, he was surprised that they immediately supported him. All they wished for was his happiness. He eventually moved in with his boyfriend Neil. They are still together today.

He explains how difficult it is to love as an autistic, and how autistics view love. There is also a chapter on his views on religion which I found inspiring. He says, "...my moral values are based more on ideas that are logical, make sense to me and that I have thought through carefully, than on the ability to `walk in another person's shoes'. I know to treat each person I meet with kindness and respect, because I believe that each person is unique and created in God's image." (p. 282).

He now joins scientists in exploring his mind. He does not mind being a guinea pig as long as there is a benefit to mankind. Imagine one day we can think like him. Imagine being able to solve any mathematical problem! I think it was Einstein who once said that we only use 5% of our brain. What if we can unlock the other 95% of our brain? Imagine being more powerful in processing information than the fastest computer! This is not a dream. People with Savant Syndrome can do just that. The Rain Man (Peek), for example, memorized over 7,000 books, and is able to retrieve any information with page numbers from any of these books!

I love reading books, and I am proud of my thousand plus book library. Imagine having the power to actually put this library in my mind! It would be like all the books in my library are scanned into my brain, giving me a Google like search within my own brain! Will scientists, with the help of Savants, help unlock the full potential of our brain?

Tammet is now a famous man. He has appeared on several Television shows such as with David Letterman and 60 minutes. Together with his boyfriend Neil they began an internet-based company specializing in teaching languages, which has become extremely successful and popular with millions of hits a month.

This is a beautiful book. You will live through the author his life story from his birth to the present time, and unlike other memoirs and biographies, you will find yourself living inside his mind.

One reviewer put it this way, "Being `normal' is nothing extraordinary. Being born Daniel Tammet was truly extraordinary!"

We are all different, and must all respect and love each other. This was my last thought as I read the last sentences of this book. He says, "Everyone is said to have a perfect moment once in a while, an experience of complete peace and connection, like looking out from the top of the Eiffel Tower or watching a falling star high in the night sky...I imagine these moments as fragments or splinters scattered across a lifetime. If a person could somehow collect them all up and stick them together he would have a perfect hour or even a perfect day. And I think in that hour or day he would be closer to the mystery of what it is to be human. It would be like having a glimpse of heaven." (p. 283-284).

This book will change your outlook on life. Do yourself a favor and read this book, and you'll know the meaning of beautiful!

Amazing.......2007-06-27

Daniel Tammet gives an amazing insight into the way he experiences the world. A great book for everybody who enjoys diversity and wants to extend his or her horizon.

Other than that: a book hard to summarize because it first seems so different but when you think about it it just describes a person's life - with problems specific to someone on the autistic spectrum, but also with a lot of everyday challenges of a boy growing up. The way he looks at and analyzes the first 20 years is very special though.

Groups: Process and Practice (with InfoTrac®)

Average customer rating:

Group therapy made easy
group process text
Organized, thorough textbook for group therapy
Great Book
Groups: Process and Practice

Groups: Process and Practice (with InfoTrac®)
Marianne Schneider Corey , and Gerald Corey
Manufacturer: Thomson Brooks/Cole
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Social Work | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Theory and Practice Of Group Psychotherapy
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR Fourth Edition (Text Revision)
Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions
Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice
Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods (7th Edition)

ASIN: 0534607950

Book Description

Drawing on their extensive clinical experience in working with groups, Marianne and Gerald Corey provide a realistic approach to the blending of theory with practice in group work. This best-selling text has been updated with new examples, guidelines, insights, and ideas that demonstrate how group leaders can apply the basic issues and key concepts of the group process to a variety of groups. Offering up-to-date coverage of both the "what is" and the 'how to' of group counseling, the Seventh Edition features a greater focus on group work with children, the elderly, issues in both women's and men's groups and in school settings.

Customer Reviews:

Group therapy made easy.......2007-09-17

Easy to read and follow. A great resource for learning the first time or needing a refresher

group process text .......2007-08-07

This book is a must in the field of counseling. Clear, thorough, and concise. Also, Amazon shipped so quickly I had it before many in my class who had ordered from different vendors.

Organized, thorough textbook for group therapy.......2006-08-01

Marianne and Gerald Corey have written a well-organized text. The information was provided in a logical order and in an easy-to-read format. It covers group process as well as basic practical advice for the group leader - how to form a group, screen clients, where to meet, how long the meetings should last, etc. The group therapy taught in its pages is based on a thinking, feeling, and behaving model that can be integrated into group practice with other theoretical orientations.

This book was used in a masters counseling class on groups, and half our class was based on our own experiential group. The sections on the different stages of a group were particularly pertinent as it mimicked our experience. My only complaint with this text is that in the final four chapters, there were perhaps too many group proposals. I tired of reading all of them but that could have been end-of-semester inertia.

Great Book.......2006-07-14

The book was great and helped me understand the porcess but my professor was also great. Great professor and great book=knowledge!!!!!!!!!

Groups: Process and Practice.......2005-09-30

It was in good shape, but it took along time to get to my home.

A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive

Average customer rating:

A Child Called "It" review
Will make you cry, a must read
I couldnt put the book down
Dave Pelzer is one courageous guy
h-oookay.....

A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive
Dave Pelzer
Manufacturer: HCI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Special Needs | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Dysfunctional Relationships | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family
A Man Named Dave: A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness
The Privilege of Youth: A Teenager's Story of Longing for Acceptance and Friendship
A Brother's Journey : Surviving a Childhood of Abuse
Ghost Girl: The True Story of a Child in Peril and the Teacher Who Saved Her

Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers
philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 1558743669

Amazon.com

David J. Pelzer's mother, Catherine Roerva, was, he writes in this ghastly, fascinating memoir, a devoted den mother to the Cub Scouts in her care, and somewhat nurturant to her children--but not to David, whom she referred to as "an It." This book is a brief, horrifying account of the bizarre tortures she inflicted on him, told from the point of view of the author as a young boy being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school!--but mostly it was pure sadism. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David. One wants to learn more about his ordeal and its aftermath, and now he's written a sequel, The Lost Boy, detailing his life in the foster-care system.

Though it's a grim story, A Child Called "It" is very much in the tradition of Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul and the many books in that upbeat series, whose author Pelzer thanks for helping get his book going. It's all about weathering adversity to find love, and Pelzer is an expert witness.

Book Description

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.

Customer Reviews:

A Child Called "It" review.......2007-10-01

A Child Called "It" is an amazing book about the struggles of a young boy and his abusive mother. Though this book was disturbing and cruel, I thought it was very well written and the author had a great writting style. I thought some of the most disturbing parts were when David would be burned on the stove or locked in the bathroom for gas chamber sessions. I also hated that some of his greatest memories were at his favorite vacation spot and his mother ruined those for him. I think it is important that Dave let out his feelings and experiences in this book. I hope that he has found a way to move on with his life and not let the past ruin his present and future life.

Will make you cry, a must read.......2007-10-01

A Child Called it is and insperational true story about a young boy named David Pelzer being physically abused in his own home by his own Mother. The book shows how David made his way through life dealing with his horrific mother. He keeps his motivation through being drown, being burned, beat, forced to eat the contents out of a babies diaper, and countless other things while fighting for food in order to avoid starvation. He eats food out of trash cans, steals from students, and eats out of freezers in order to survive. This child's life was a living hell, but ahd the dedication to make his way through it with courage and bravery. This story is a must read that will bring you to tears and keep you motivated

I couldnt put the book down.......2007-09-27

I could not put this book down I read it in an hour and a half without stopping for anything. This story although so heart breaking needed to be told.. For the man who wrote this telling book 5 STARS and for the book aswell

Dave Pelzer is one courageous guy.......2007-09-24

I really have to speak up here. This review is for anyone who might be tempted to think that Dave made this stuff up. I am relatively sure it's all true because my childhood was similar to his.

Child abuse by parents really only came out of the closet, so to speak, in the 1990s. The myth was, and is, that ALL adult females are ALWAYS motherly. We now know that mothering is a learned skill, and is NOT instinctual in humans.

Take the story of Cinderella. It is too grotesque to think that a biological mother could be evil to a child, therefore the mother-figure is downgraded to "stepmother." For anyone who has been abused by one's mother such as myself, it is patently clear that this story is not about a stepmother -- it's about a biological mother. European culture could not face that a biological mother could betray her girl-child as in the story.

My experience of my biological mother (whom I call "anti-motter") was not unlike Dave's, only having occurred ten years earlier and in upstate New York. When I was about 18 months' old, she picked me up out of my crib and smashed me into a wall. I shouldn't be alive. By the early 1990s, these memories came flooding into consciousness. She never 'fessed up. If I did some small infraction like didn't finish my veggies, my anti-motter sent me to the cellar for 3-6 hours, and it was one scary cellar with its cold dirt floor, damp sump corner, and spiders. While other kids were out learning social skills by playing with other kids, I was forced to spend Saturdays scrubbing floors, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, starting in 5th grade.

There were no protections back then for kids. Abuse was not seen as abusive, and people in schools, libraries, neighbors, extended family did not put two and two together, and certainly did not "out" it. As the saying goes, when abuse was seen, people "minded their own business," and it just wasn't respectable to INTERFERE with other families' child-rearing techniques, and it was perceived as interference. Spanking was common. Until World War II, beatings were typical. Society in general thought nothing of treating kids harshly and without compassion. Child abuse was not on the map at all as a possibility. The "caregiver" (that is, abusive parent) could quite literally get away with murder. If a toddler fell downstairs breaking her neck and died, it was not investigated -- it was assumed to be "a terrible accident."

Anyone who doubts Dave's accounts and experiences has not been what I went through living with a brutal biological mother in the 1960s. A person could not think this stuff up if it were not true. Dave Pelzer does not seek attention -- he wants people to listen up and prevent it from happening to other kids. And it *will* happen to other kids unless we know the signs and risk stepping in as powerful adults. So just learn from Dave's many side-tales, and become aware.

Females are no more "motherly" than a rock unless they had nurturing females who treated them with dignity and kindness growing up. My anti-motter was herself battered as a child, never recovered from it, and did pass it on to her kids. Thank God neither my brother nor I had kids because we likely would have passed the hatred to the next generation. Not having kids was the only way we knew how to "break the chain of violence." Some lineages deserve to die out.

Dave Pelzer is a life-saver. He has said what I had not the courage or awareness to. He is an amazing fellow for bringing his stories into the light of day. He deserves respect, not ridicule. He is hero. If I were Catholic, he'd be a saint.

h-oookay............2007-09-23

All these five star reviews and the apparently wet faces of the readers was an impetus for me to seize the book and read it the first chance I got. I'm a sucker for tear-shedding novels, so you could understand my excitement and my all-too-ready sorrow for this "non-fictitious" little boy. Unfortunately, for my great regret, for both the work and my wasted time, what I read from that book was not at all what I expected. From the first page the story just barfed at me "I'm fabricated, synthetic as can be." The whole story has no point whatsoever, except that of morbid, preposterous describtions of events that we can't even prove to be true. Even if it were true, why would the author write about something like that? Who is he writing to anyway? What kind of helpful message is THAT to anyone? A story about falling off your bicycle & breaking your arm and learning a lesson about caution and attentiveness is more practical and useful than this piece of dross.
I could never undestand why some particular people's minds function the way they do. If you really want to read stories about survival, skip this one and read actually a book from this world, that can actually be put to use, starting from The Diary of Anne Frank.

Average customer rating:

Very clever story
Creative and entertaining - not much more
huh......?
An intellectually stimulating unique story of enduring love
Didn't quite deliver

The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Domestic Life | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Kite Runner
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Life of Pi
The Secret Life of Bees
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ASIN: 015602943X

Book Description

A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant.

An enchanting debut and a spellbinding tale of fate and belief in the bonds of love, The Time Traveler's Wife is destined to captivate readers for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Very clever story.......2007-10-09

I got this book as an audio book for my ipod, and listened to it during my my daily commute to and from work. I honestly thought it was great. It was the kind of story you can get lost in. The subject matter is interesting, and despite what a lot of the people here who didn't like the book think, I found the character development to be very engaging. I disagree completely with people who didn't like the end of the book. I felt that it was completely appropriate. Some people just want an expected, "happy" ending I suppose. If they're going to judge this book based on one aspect, that is their right...but I recommend it completely.

Creative and entertaining - not much more.......2007-10-08

Story is about a man who mostly involuntarily travels through time. He has numerous interesting encounters. He meets his wife when she was a child. Time travel is never logical if you think hard about it, but this author does a fantastic job making it as believable a possible. Despite all the time travel back and forth the story is not confusing at all and easy to follow. It is very creative and I genuinely had fun reading it.

On the downside, the character development is poor. You don't really care about the main characters. The love story is unconvincing and not particularly romantic. Go ahead and read it specially if you like science fiction but don't expect to be moved.

huh......?.......2007-10-08

I have no idea why folks are gushing over this book! Why all the hype over this drivel?
I personally adore reading anything that has a time travel story line in it, but this story was total garbage. I will admit that the first couple chapters had me intrigued but it never......well...that's just it. It never amounted to anything. The backbone of the story could have been fantastic. This book was anything BUT. Such a disappointment.

An intellectually stimulating unique story of enduring love.......2007-10-06

5 out of 5. I read this book over 18 months ago, so I need to refresh my memory. But, if you can get over the time traveler's visits to his current self, and perhaps the older man spending time with a young girl, then you will find it a rare book that leaves you wanting a love like that. Imagine meeting your true love -- and being able to share in that love before that shared love existed. A story that will evoke laughter as well as tears.

Didn't quite deliver.......2007-10-04

The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was a really uninspiring book. The premise is kind of sci-fi, this guy is randomly transported to other times and places, leaving a pile of clothes behind, and arriving stark naked wherever he arrives, and then returning to where he disappeared from, again stark naked, and hoping to find the clothes he left behind are still there...and that is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a love story entwined with all this time travel. The book did not, in my opinion, deliver the story it advertised on the cover. It implied that the two main characters, man and wife, overcame danger, etc. in order to be together. It almost got there, but remained undeveloped. Also, this is a little bit of a soapbox here, but I think that this book could have been a lot better than it was. I find that I am really annoyed by crudity of language, especially in describing relationships. Why can we not use nice words when we talk about sex in books? Does the author talk like this to her lover/husband/partner? Do any of us? (Don't answer that, really) I think that her use of language in describing the sexual relationship of the main characters made the book less than ordinary and unappealing. It could have been charming, and the love story could have been inspiring. The author is a professor for heavens sake. One imagines that she has command of the English language, or at least a thesaurus. I will not buy this book or recommend this book to others, I'd be too embarrassed.

Average customer rating:

True to it's title
Things Fall apart audio
Things Fall Apart
All you never wanted to know about yams... and other such things.
It Drags

Things Fall Apart: A Novel
Chinua Achebe
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385474547
Release Date: 1994-09-01

Amazon.com

One of Chinua Achebe's many achievements in his acclaimed first novel, Things Fall Apart, is his relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism. First published in 1958, just two years before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain, the book eschews the obvious temptation of depicting pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence. His Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, is a self-made man. The son of a charming ne'er-do-well, he has worked all his life to overcome his father's weakness and has arrived, finally, at great prosperity and even greater reputation among his fellows in the village of Umuofia. Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a prosperous farmer, husband to three wives and father to several children. He is also a man who exhibits flaws well-known in Greek tragedy:

Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.

And yet Achebe manages to make this cruel man deeply sympathetic. He is fond of his eldest daughter, and also of Ikemefuna, a young boy sent from another village as compensation for the wrongful death of a young woman from Umuofia. He even begins to feel pride in his eldest son, in whom he has too often seen his own father. Unfortunately, a series of tragic events tests the mettle of this strong man, and it is his fear of weakness that ultimately undoes him.

Achebe does not introduce the theme of colonialism until the last 50 pages or so. By then, Okonkwo has lost everything and been driven into exile. And yet, within the traditions of his culture, he still has hope of redemption. The arrival of missionaries in Umuofia, however, followed by representatives of the colonial government, completely disrupts Ibo culture, and in the chasm between old ways and new, Okonkwo is lost forever. Deceptively simple in its prose, Things Fall Apart packs a powerful punch as Achebe holds up the ruin of one proud man to stand for the destruction of an entire culture. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

This is Chinua Achebe's classic novel, with more than two million copies sold since its first U.S. publication in 1969. Combining a richly African story with the author's keen awareness of the qualities common to all humanity, Achebe here shows that he is "gloriously gifted, with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent." -- Nadine Gordimer

Customer Reviews:

True to it's title.......2007-09-22

It is amazing how a novel first published in 1959 about a Nigerian village, pre-colonization, still has relevance today. Talk about transcending time as well as cultures! Chinua Achebe is a magnificent story teller. I love authors who have the ability to transport me to worlds that seem so different from my own.

Okonkwo was a man that was obsessed with masculinity and the "power" of being masculine. Although I could see how harsh, abusive, and unyielding Okonkwo was towards his family, oddly I felt sympathy for the man. He was the product of his environment and culture. Apparently his callousness was worsened because of his fear that he should become like his father ----- a man with no title, in his culture, the equivalent of being a woman.

How many of us struggle to balance the new with the old? And how often do we question or all out resist changing times.... be it attitudes or ideas, advancements in technology, religion, policies, music, etc. Most of us reach a certain age where we would prefer our traditions be left alone. In some instances there should be no room for compromise, but in other instances perhaps there truly is improvement/advancement to be gained.

Okonkwo's struggle is exactly that. He strives to leave behind a proud legacy. However, he makes bad decisions along the way. The more he tries to make things right the more it seems that misfortune comes his way. He's angered and confused about the changes that come upon his village but that combined with his pigheaded demeanor make for a disastrous result. It's a good book to take up beyond school required reading. Achebee gives his readers a great deal to consider.

Things Fall apart audio.......2007-09-11

My son had a senior project to do over the summer, he had to read this entire book and the first day back to school, he had a test on it, my son does not do well on reading, he can read great, but he has trouble remembering what he read, so I thought if he listened to it being read to him, he could follow along better, well he did, and he done well on his test and essay, I would recommend this product to anyone with similiar problems as my son has with reading.......

Things Fall Apart.......2007-09-10

My son needed this book for school and we received in time for school. Great service!

All you never wanted to know about yams... and other such things........2007-08-08

I had to read this for my high school advanced English class. I regret ever having picked it up. I feel very lucky that my brain was not fried after reading The-book-that-should-not-be-named. In short, if you want to read a bizarre book about African people and yams, then read this book. If not, go read something else.

It Drags.......2007-08-07

While the story itself is useful in giving a student the right mindset for African studies, the story itself lacks much of the marvel of other historically-based books. While the book is pointed towards lower-classmen in high school, the true audience should be college, where adults can completely analyze and idnetify the key points and emotions of the story.

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