Customer Reviews:
Helpful Book.......2007-06-27
Helps provide a clear model for analyzing companies and developing corporate strategies. In many ways, it is a more accessible take on Porter's Competitive Strategy.
Key concept, straightforward and short.......2007-06-24
Treacy and Wiersema make the case that the value of a product or service to a customer can be categorized in terms of efficiency (eg. low cost, on-time delivery), innovation (eg. latest technology or fashion) and/or customer intimacy (eg. customized solutions). They go on to argue that delivering each kind of value requires a different organization and culture, and hence the most successful companies are those whose business strategy is focused on delivering a particular kind of value to the customers that appreciate it the most, while remaining competitive in other areas. The analysis is accompanied by case studies of AT&T Universal Card, Intel and Airborne Express. The core idea of the book is valuable and 200 pages is plenty to explore it in detail.
Foundational Approach to Strategy.......2007-06-03
ALthough this book has been in print for over a decade, it is one I constantly come back to when helping clients organize their thinking about how they can compete.
I have been a Michael Porter fan for decades. However, when he describes competing by being a differentiated producer, it often left folks scratching their heads about what that meant. Treacy and Wiersema defing "customer intimacy" in a way that was effective in helping companies define how they could pursue differentiation. I have found that this particular strategy has applied all the way down to 1 to 1 marketing.
So the definitions and examples for three competitive strategies are clearly articulated, but also frameworks for implementing these strategies are provided as well.
All-in-all, a clear, compelling and implementable framework for competitive strategy.
This should be a text book.......2007-02-28
Best Marketing book I have ever read, I will keep this book forever. This is a must read for anyone in the marketing field. This book provides great examples along with real life examples.
Staying focused on core value proposition.......2007-02-26
The book reemphasizes the importance of product or service leadership, customer intimacy, and operational excellence. Organizations willing to be "anything for a buck" will find they loose touch with their customers quickly as they thinly apply talent and resources to serve everyone averagely.
Unity of purpose is also essential; a successful firm must act together to consistently and successfully compete. The book is good reading for managers and marketing professionals that need to review their business focus and the alignment of tasks, processes and competencies supporting that focus. The book offers materials to be used in team exercises.
Average customer rating:
- ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY.........
- Not for me
- Another Solid Connelly Effort
- So-So but it ties up the plot line from The Poet and other books
- Good Read
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The Narrows (Harry Bosch)
Michael Connelly
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
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Lost Light
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ASIN: 0446611646 |
Book Description
FBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she's dreaded for years.The Poet has returned.Years earlier she worked on the famous case tracking the serial killer who wove lines of poetry into his hideous crimes. Rachel has never forgotten the Poet-and apparently he has not forgotten her. Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch gets a call, too, from an old friend whose husband recently died.The death appeared natural, but this man's ties to the hunt for the Poet make Harry dig deep.What he finds leads him into the most terrifying situation he has ever encountered. So begins the most deeply compelling, frightening, and masterful novel Michael Connelly has ever written, placing Harry Bosch squarely in the path of the most ruthless and ingenious murderer in Los Angeles's history. This spectacularly dramatic and shocking novel will have Michael Connelly's readers desperately hungry for the next book from 'one of America's best writers' (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Download Description
Special eBook Feature: Excerpt from The Poet by Michael Connelly. FBI agent Rachel Walling finally she gets the call she's been dreading for years. The Poet has returned. Years earlier, she worked on the famous case tracking the serial killer who wove lines of poetry into his hideous crimes. Rachel has never forgotten the Poet - and apparently he has not forgotten her. Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch gets a call, too, from an old friend whose husband recently died. The death appeared natural, but this man's ties to the hunt for the Poet make Harry dig deep. What he finds leads him into the most terrifying situation he has ever encountered. So begins the most deeply compelling, frightening, and masterful novel Michael Connelly has ever written, placing Harry Bosch squarely in the path of the most ruthless and ingenious murderer in Los Angeles's history. This spectacularly dramatic and shocking novel will have Michael Connelly's readers desperately hungry for the next novel from "one of America's best writers." (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Customer Reviews:
ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY................2007-09-09
Most Michael Connelly fans will remember FBI profiler and heart transplant survivor Terry McCabe, from the book Blood Work (and some may have seen the movie of the same name starring Clint Eastwood), as well as L.A.P.D. detective Harry Bosch (The Closers, Trunk Music, etc.) currently retired from the department and working as a P.I.. Then of course there is Robert Backus, villain extraordinaire with a penchant for the poetry of Edgar Alan Poe, who horrified us with his dirty deeds in The Poet.
In The Narrows, Connelly brings together all the characters from these previous novels and adds another, FBI agent Rachel Walling, to the mix as she and Bosch attempt to determine whether the death of Terry McCabe is "by natural causes" as reported on his death certificate or, as his wife suspects, was in fact a deviously planned and executed murder.
Connelly is famous for his character driven plots and of course the world weary Harry Bosch is the driving force in this investigation. Connelly does however deviate from his previous works by delivering the story from the perspective of three characters rather than just one. Throughout, he completely involves the reader by leading us into the labyrinth, throwing us a curve here and there, and slowly feeding us clues that culminate with a solution to the mystery.
Although, in my humble opinion, not the best book Connelly has ever written, it is a solid mystery/thriller that is head and shoulders above a lot of the material currently rolling off the presses at some publishing houses.
Not for me.......2007-09-01
This book was given to me as a gift. I'm not an experienced reader of the Mystery genre and yet this book still felt like it was churned from a formula. The characters felt more like clichés than interesting people that I cared about. I'll stay away from any more books by Connelly and leave them for others to enjoy. Folks who had the same reaction as me may enjoy a great mystery by Michael Chabon titled: The Yiddish Policeman's Union.
Another Solid Connelly Effort.......2007-08-13
This is my third Connelly novel and my first featuring Harry Bosch. I did not realize that it was a sequel until I was well into the book--otherwise, I would probably have tackled "The Poet" first.
As with the other two Connellys I have read, "The Narrows" reads well and keeps the reader fully engaged. I read it in a couple of sittings because I could not put it down. In fact, I was near the end when an airplane trip ended, and I sat in the baggage area finishing it before going to pick up my car.
Having said that, I still rate "The Lincoln Lawyer" as the best of the three I have read with "Chasing the Dime" as number two. Both of those books had more depth than this, which is pretty much just an exciting, well written serial killer detective story. (Of course, there is nothing wrong with an exciting, well written serial killer detective story.)
So-So but it ties up the plot line from The Poet and other books.......2007-08-12
I've read and enjoyed all of the Harry Bosch novels and the Poet but this was my least favorite of the series. Frankly, I had a hard time finishing this book and I ended up skimming through the last chapters. This is the first and only time that I found myself rolling my eyes at the plot of a Michael Connelly novel. I got the distinct impression that Connelly was just trying too hard to tidy up several plot lines in The Narrows. Still there are many of Michael Connelly's wonderful character vignettes and artfully described settings to reward the reader.
I thought that Connelly pulled off the mixed narration with chapters of Harry in first person and a third person narration for the events involving others. I did not find it annoying.
Fans who prefer The Poet over the Harry Bosch series may find The Narrows more enjoyable since it brings back the Rachael Walling character. If you are an obsessive Harry fan, it is also worth reading since it ties up some loose ends in Harry's personal life.
Good Read.......2007-06-11
I liked this book a lot. I have read three others in the Bosch series and I liked this one the best. Complex mystery that keeps you involved. Very few slow spots. Reading "The Poet" first is not required, nor can I see how it would make reading this book better. If you like Bosch, you will like this book
Book Description
Through the Narrow Gate is Karen Armstrong's intimate memoir of life inside a Catholic convent. With refreshing honesty and clarity, the book takes readers on a revelatory adventure that begins with Armstrong's decision in the course of her spiritual training offers a fascinating view into a shrouded religious life, and a vivid, moving account of the spiritual coming age of one of our most loved and respected interpreters of religious.
Customer Reviews:
The Religious Life.......2007-02-12
Karen Armstrong has written a most marvelous account of her life within a very strict order of English Catholic nuns of the 1960's. Her description of the torments she endured has caused me to regard with renewed respect and affection the nuns who taught me in the 1950's. How odd that we boys who were in class with the nuns for hours each day really had no idea of what kind of lives some of them led in the hours before and after school. The moral, spiritual, and intellectual gifts they bestowed on us daily are inestimable, even though at the time we were probably more interested in whether or not they actually had hair under their wimples!
I've noticed some confusion in these reviews about several aspects of Catholic religious orders of those days. First, despite having no contact for long periods of time with "seculars" - i.e., civilians - Karen was not in a order of "cloistered" nuns. Cloistered sisters do truly cut themselves off completely from the world and, if I can be so bold as to describe them, they live a life governed by "ora et labora" - work and prayer. In fact, though, as strict as they were, Karen's order was primarily an order of teaching sisters.
But there is a much more important concept that many people seem not quite to grasp, and that is that all Catholic youth of those days - at least in my experience - were taught that the most perfect way to be a true follower of Christ was to share in his suffering. That is why those nuns were treated - and treated themselves - as harshly as any Marine Corps recruits would ever be treated - only the nun's harsh treatment was to continue all her life. Certainly, most youth who took Catholicism very seriously must have given thought at one time or another to entering the religious life. We were always told to examine ourselves to determine if we had a religious vocation, but we were also warned that it was not a calling for everyone. In any event, to decide at a young age to become a nun, brother, or priest - to dedicate one's life to doing good - was not understood by many of us to be the same as dedicating one's whole existence to God. When young people make the decision to enter the religious life they often do not know what that really entails. Some religious communities are extraordinarily strict, others less so. The particularly strict order to which Karen belonged was obviously intent on making sure those young girls found out immediately that the religious life was not a game, that sharing in Christ's suffering was not to be an abstract concept but a concrete reality. Those young nuns were to put up with the sadism of some of their superiors in the same way as Christ had to endure the sadism of his tormenters. They were not only to tolerate it but to welcome it and even seek out even more spiritual pain and physical hardship. (As the British often jokingly say about the paddlings they endured in school, "Please sir may I have another?") This concept of self-denial is probably not well understood in our modern climate of "personal fulfillment."
The total abnegation of self, of one's personal desires, of pride, of the hope for friendship and love, was the goal of the harshness they inflicted upon themselves. Their goal was to die to themselves in order to reach God. If you do not grasp this concept I think you'll miss the heroism inherent in the story of Karen and her fellow nuns. Naturally, that kind of life is not for very many of us, as Karen eventually found out for herself. It may be totally misguided or, by modern standards, even pathological, but it's the way some people have reached true holiness.
I'm very happy for myself and for all her readers that Karen Armstrong eventually chose to leave the convent and to follow another path in life. This book is not only a gift from her but, through her, a gift to us from all those other nuns who took - and take - the road less traveled. A truly wonderful and enlightening gift.
Captivating Story of Internal Conflict.......2007-01-27
As this is a book relating to Catholicism, it is fitting for me to start the review with a confession. I bought this book not because I was interested in it, but because I wanted to read its sequel - The Spiral Staircase - and felt I should read this book first. I was not interested all that much in the story of becoming a nun and my only curiosity was how Miss Armstrong would find anything interesting to say about it.
Well, I was off the mark. Karen Armstrong's recounting of her 2 years in the convent (and subsequent disenchantment with the process) are fascinating. Most of the action in this story takes place inside the subject's head as she tries to wrestle with being human in a place where humanness is to be shed (as one must renounce worldy desires, thoughts, and feelings to be close to God).
Karen Armstrong does a magnificent job of depicting what this conflict is like. The process of becoming a nun, as Armstrong describes it, is a rigorous program of self-denial. One is not to complain, be tired, be mournful, be happy, be questioning, or let onesself feel any of the things that come with the territory of being human. Rather, it was taught that the pinnacle of the spiritual life was the abillty to shed one's humanness, to think and feel only about one thing - God.
Armstrong also tells of a very hierarchal system where to question one's superiors is to question God (as one's superiors are closer to God than onesself; that is why they are superiors). With accuity of word, Karen Armstrong recounts how she was constantly made to feel insignificant and imbecilic by her superiors. At the same time, feeling bad about this was attributed to her weak spirit and - so it was called - her selfishness.
Armstrong's story ends when she voluntarily leaves the convent after experiencing much too much. Here she tells of the schock of living in a 'regular' world after years of physical and emotional seclusion.
This is much more interesting a book than i had originally thought it would be. Owing to Armstrong's ability to describe the internal struggle between her desire to be human and her desire to devote herself to God, Through the Narrow Gate has an incredible forward motion. As The Spiral Staircase picks up where this book leaves off, I cannot wait to read the latter half of Karen Armstrong's remarkable journey.
Hail Mary Excellent!.......2006-11-18
In this, [Book One of Two], written twelve years after Karen Armstrong left her life as a nun, she describes the genesis of her vocation or "calling" and reveals how reluctant her parents were about letting her embrace a life of ascetism. She was a mere seventeen years old at the time.
What follows is a chronicle of what it was like to go through the rigors of becoming a nun. The nine months as a postulant, the two years noviceship, the two years of the scholasticate.... the mind-numbing discipline of achieving full-fledged nunnery-ness (my word).
She was one of the last people to go through the old system before it was reformed by the Second Vatican Council and Pope John XXIII. In what I consider extreme generosity, she admits that her own immaturity was the cause of many of her difficulties, but ultimately what happens is that Karen finds out that she is simply not suited for the life of a nun.
In the convent, God was conspicuous only by His perceived absence, and confessing this to her superiors was not helpful. It only sent her back into herself and confirmed her theory that God's silence was her own fault. In all of the seven years on the inside, never once did she "hear from God" nor realize the pre-convent aspirations of her heart. It is a powerful story of religious devotion gone awry.
I could talk forever about how IMPORTANT I think this book is.
An excellent read!
A compelling story of abuse in the search for Divine Love.......2006-09-06
I applaud Karen Armstrong for having the guts to write this book. Although I am guessing that it was cathartic for her to review this period in her life, she wrote quite dispassionately about her experiences. It is remarkable to me that she did not play the role of victim. In fact, she showed more love and compassion to those who abused her than those who were supposed to guide her on the path to love.
Her autobiography details the influences that led Karen to choose the life of being a nun. Years later, she is able to describe her youthful idealism is choosing such a life. Woven throughout the story are her reflections years later after she had chosen to leave the order.
Through the Narrow Gate could be viewed as an indictment against the Roman Catholic Church or any other organization that thrives on abuse. Karen does not take that tact. She views everything as a lesson to be observed and learned from.
The book was riviting. Karen laid out the familial, cultural and religious framework which made her susceptible for the horrors that she experienced during her training. It was barbaric and humiliating. Anyone going through it in these modern times would have sued.
The book is truly an insiders view of what used to transpire behind the convent walls pre Vatican II. Thank goodness for those reforms.
As I read Through the Narrow Gate, I felt challenged to review my own belief systems. I thought about my upbringing in Catholic schools and my religious training. I contrasted this with my current understandings. There was quite a chasm there for me. This was an unexpected benefit from the book.
This book is not an expose filled with lurid details designed to titillate. It is the story of a love affair gone wrong, an abusive system and a woman seeking love and peace.
A harrowing inside look.......2006-03-14
Karen Armstrong has written a compelling memoir of her time in the convent in formation to become a nun. She wants this life so badly that she will forsake everything, including her own mind, to attain a perfect relationship with God. This is what she was told she must do. She did this despite gut feelings to the contrary, despite physical illness, and despite slowly dying inside. In fact, she believed this was a sign of progress.
The cruelty of her superiors, whether intentional or not, truly shocked me, even in the era before Vatican II reforms. That someone is put in such supreme authority over others (the superiors are seen as direct agents of God, to be obeyed no matter what) is just inviting abuse, even if the superiors believe they are acting correctly. The austerity of the order (which is not named) also seemed misguided. By denying themselves friendships, intellect, and enjoyment of God's creation, they seemed to be missing the whole point of a relationship with God.
As someone who was raised Catholic, I found this a very eye-opening tale. I do hope that the sort of abuse Ms. Armstrong suffered is the exception rather than the rule in religious life. And I'm amazed that she came out of her experience without more bitterness. But her story reminds all of us that blind faith in any human authority figure is very dangerous indeed.
Book Description
Wall Street is a funny business. All you have is your reputation. Taint it and someone else will fill your shoes. Longevity comes from maintaining that reputation.
Ask Jack Grubman, the All-Star telecom analyst from Salomon Smith Barney; uber-banker Frank Quattrone at CS First Boston; Morgan Stanley's Mary "Queen of the Net" Meeker; or Merrill Lynch's Henry Blodget.
Well, they probably won't tell you anything. But have I got some great stories for you.
Successful hedge fund manager Andy Kessler looks back on his years as an analyst on Wall Street and offers this cautionary tale of the intoxicating forces loose in the world of finance that overwhelmed sober analysis.
Customer Reviews:
Great, Easy Read!.......2007-04-30
I loved this book. All investors and traders should read it and learn from it. But above all it is such an easy read. It tells the interesting story of Kesslers life in the stock analyst world and confirms what I always thought. They are not as smart as people think.
Tale from an Analyst who is lucky enough to make it to become a VC.......2007-03-19
Andy Kessler wrote this book from a first-person narrative, and as a result, made the book very easy to read. I read it after reading Dan Reingold's" Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst" then Charles Gasparino's "Blood on the Street". Reingold clearly has "skin on the game" and his tendency to focus on the technical aspects of an analyst's job shows, while Gasparino gave a far better high-level perspective than Reingold. Andy, however, appeared to be able to stay independent of the bankers while at the same time being able to benefit from stepping away to becoming a successful VC. As such, while he is able to look at the implosion happening at Wall Street with great behind-the-scenes understanding of what's going on, and at the same time having intimate knowledge of some of the analysts with the biggest name, because he got out early and found something better, the tales appear to be more aloof than either of the other two books. Nevertheless, it is still an interesting read.
Entertaining and educational.......2007-02-14
This is one fo the MBA's books that can actually shed some light on Wall Street. Think of it as counter-balancing the "shows" which the I-Bankers put on the US campuses.
An interesting look at the Wall Street tech world.......2006-08-08
This is an interesting story of a man who got caught up in the world of technology on Wall Street but managed not to get swept away by it. Kessler's story is fascinating-he was an electrical engineer who was hired on by a large Wall Street firm as an analyst when he didn't even know what an analyst was! He got into it mostly for the money, it seems, but did well as an analyst despite making calls that went against the consensus. In his early days (the mid 80's), and later at Morgan Stanley, he met some interesting figures who would play a large part in the tech bubble and blowup of the 90's. As an analyst he refused to compromise himself, and eventually quit Wall Street and started a hedge fund in California. Because of this he was able to avoid the bursting of the tech bubble and escape with his reputation intact (unlike many of his contemporaries). He also had great foresight in his hedge fund, and didn't suffer nearly as much as most people on Wall Street who were heavily invested in tech.
Kessler's story is interesting and many of his anecdotes are entertaining. Where this book falls short, I think, is that it is less a cohesive memoir and more a string of anecdotes and exploits. Much of the book almost gives the impression that one is sitting at a bar listening to Kessler tell stories. That's all well and good, but more detail and a better plot flow would have made this book much better. There is a good deal of name dropping, which is to be expected I suppose, but I didn't find it excessive. Overall this is a decent light read-nothing groundbreaking or memorable here, but worth a casual look.
Amusing, valuable.......2006-08-06
A really funny, close-in look at Wall Street in the dot-com era, told from the perspective of a man who was snatched away from a techie job. A Must Read book when you consider that a lot of the same market hype is back again. Never forget.
Book Description
When Link Williams, a college-educated twenty-six-year-old African-American man, falls for Camilo Sheffield, a wealthy married white woman, things will never be the same in the sleepy New England town of Monmouth, Connecticut. Set in the 1950s, this unforgettable classic deftly evokes a tragic love affair and offers a window onto the powerful ways in which class, race, and love intersected in midcentury America.
Customer Reviews:
great novel.......2006-03-22
Such a great novel. I will read it again, but this time slover and with notetaking.
forbidden love in new england.......2001-01-31
this one is about a interracial couple in connecticut in the 1950's...ms petry manages to handle this story with a cool handle never allow it to become merely tabloid fodder..some of the other plots that were interesting was link's relationship with bill hod, who was practically his father and the butler who marries a promisculous heavy-set black women...
Timeless Writing.......2000-09-05
The Narrows was written in 1953. Amazing. Timeless love story of a Dartmouth grad of history who happens to be black and a rich married heiress who happens to be white. Their lives intersect one night in Harlem and continue down a dangerous road of love, passion, and retribution. The star of the book is Link Williams, a young man adopted at the age of eight by Abbie Crunch and the Major. When the Major dies, Link feels invisible and finds a new home in the Last Chance bar where Bill Hod becomes his surrogate father, teaching Link what it means to be a man, a black man.
He grows up strong and intelligent, but faltering in one area. The area of love. The woman that he chooses, the one he wants to marry unbeknownst to him is already married. Worst of all she is white. This breaks many hearts, the people who have loved him and taken care of him, Abbie Crunch, Weak Knees, Bill Hod, and the rest of the Last Chance patrons where Link is the heart and soul, all watch as he make this fatal mistake.
Phenomenal writing, literature, pure art without the sensationalism that is prevalent in our books today.
Average customer rating:
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Narrow Road to the Interior (Shambhala Centaur Editions)
Matsuo Basho
Manufacturer: Shambhala
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The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets (Shambhala Centaur Editions)
ASIN: 0877736448
Release Date: 2006-11-14 |
Book Description
Basho is best known in the West as the author of Narrow Road to the Interior, a travel diary of linked prose and haiku that recounts his journey through the far northern provinces of Japan. This volume includes beautiful Japanese-style illustrations by Stephen Addiss.
Book Description
In the account which he named The Narrow Road to Oku, Basho makes a journey lasting 150 days, in which he travels, on foot, a distance of 600 ri.
This was three hundred years ago, when the average distance covered by travelers was apparently 9 ri per day, so it is clear that Basho, who was forty years old at the time, possessed a remarkably sturdy pair of walking legs. Nowadays with the development of all sorts of means of transportation,
travel is guaranteed to be pleasant and convenient in every respect, so it's almost impossible for us to imagine the kind of journey Basho undertook, "drifting with the clouds and streams," and "lodging under trees and on bare rocks."
During my countless re-readings of The Narrow Road to Oku, I would bear that in mind, and the short text, which takes up less than 50 pages even in the pocket-book edition, would strike me as much longer than that, and I would feel truly awed by Basho's 2,450-kilometer journey.
I chose The Narrow Road to Oku as the theme of the exhibition marking the thirtieth anniversary of my career as an artist. As somebody who has been illustrating works from Japanese literature for many years, the subject naturally attracted and interested me. But once I'd embarked on the project, it
wasn't long before I realized I'd chosen a more difficult and delicate task than I ever imagined, and I wanted to reprove myself for my naivete.
Last year, to mark the centenary of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's birth, I produced a set of 54 pictures for his translation of The Tale of Genji. This was a formidable undertaking, as I had to grapple with the achievement of a literary genius whom I had personally known. But if producing a single picture
to represent each chapter in The Tale of Genji was a matter of selecting a particular "face," or "plane" to represent the whole, producing a picture to represent each haiku in The Narrow Road to Oku was without a doubt a matter of having to select one tiny "point"-a mere "dot." One misjudgment in my
reading, and the picture would lose touch with the spirit of Basho's work, and end up simply as an illustration that happened to be accompanied by a haiku. I had to meticulously consider every word in those brief 17-syllable poems. Then, if I was fortunate, from the vast gaps and the densely packed
phrases a numinous power would gather and inspire me: at times I felt as if I was experiencing what ancient people called the "kotadama," the miraculous power residing in words.
A self-styled "beggar of winds and madness," Basho originated and refined a unique genre of fictional travel literature, which used poetry that enabled one to render, empty-handedly, all of creation. But Basho also left us the following poem:
Journeying is the flower of elegance
Elegance, the spirit of travelers long gone:
The places seen and recorded
by Saigyo and Sogi -
All those are the heart of haikai.
I believe that I could ask for no greater favor from my painter's brush than that I too be able to glean the merest fragment of what the saint of haiku Basho saw, and be able to reproduce it in my work.
Miyata Masayuki
Customer Reviews:
A True Work of Art.......2006-11-04
While a translation can always be disputed, it is the illustrations that make this book worth the having. The incredible images are supposedly cut from paper and layered into a collage, yet some could pass for silk screen prints with their intricate detail.
Simply beautiful.......2006-04-30
"The Narrow Road to Oku" is about as close to perfection as one can get. First you have Matsuo Basho, Japan's greatest poet, chronicling his hundred and fifty day journey into Oku to visit the grave of his mother, who had died the previous year. Translating this masterpiece is Donald Keene, possibly the greatest modern interpreter and translator of the Japanese mind. If this wasn't enough, Miyata Masayuki has taken Basho's poetry and created stunning works of Kiri-e, torn paper art, that provides a visual to match the written imagery.
"The Narrow Road to Oku" was the last of Basho's five travelogues, and he finally attained the essential balance between observation and inspiration, between prose and poetry. Along the narrow road he and his traveling companion, student Kawai Sora, experienced the highs and lows of ancient Japan. The Tokugawa Shrine at Nikko, the famed Bridge of Heaven at Matsushima and the ancient Ise Shrine were all stops on this fantastic voyage. As well as these wonders, he encountered poor prostitutes and fishermen, giving them equal time to his poetic genius.
Miyata Masayuki, as he has with other books in this series such as "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and "Love Songs from the Man'Yoshu," has created delightful and whimsical artwork that enhances rather than distracts from Basho's musings. There is a hint of Ukiyo-e in his style, but not enough to consider it redundant. The art is fresh and lively. sometimes powerful and bittersweet.
The original Japanese text is preserved alongside Keene's translation, which I think is essential of a work of this type. "The Narrow Road to Oku" is 100% authentic, and 100% beautiful. Definitely a treasure in my library.
"The Narrow Road To Oku".......1999-12-24
This book is a must have for any fan of Kiri-E, or Masayuki Miyata. His illustrations are beautiful...it is easy to see why he has become one of Japans modern masters of this traditional artform. Great Stuff!
...lovely..........1999-03-29
If anyone adores the simple beauty and truth of haiku, this is the text to own. Not only are the Japanese characters printed alongside the inquisitive English translations, but the accompanying collages are breathtaking interpretations of the works. The entire book is a work of art.
Book Description
W. D. Hamilton (1936-2000) has been described by Richard Dawkins as 'a good candidate for the title of most distinguished Darwinian since Darwin'. His work on evolutionary biology continues to influence scientists working across a wide variety of disciplines, including evolution, population genetics, animal behaviour, genetics, anthropology, and ecology. This third and final volume of Narrow Roads of Gene Land contains Hamilton's key papers published between 1990 and 2000, a period in which he covered a great diversity of topics, often in collaboration with other scientists. Many of the papers in this volume continue his work on sex, and particularly its relation to parasitic disease, but other topics covered include the Gaia theory, the colours of autumn leaves, and the still-controversial hypothesis that the AIDS pandemic accidentally originated in a polio vaccination campaign in Africa. Each of the co-authored papers in this volume is preceded by an introduction written by one of Hamilton's co-authors, following the model of the previous two volumes in this series, which brings the reader closer to Hamilton's extraordinary personality and intellect, providing the intellectual and physical contexts within which each piece of research was developed. Also included are a chapter by Jeremy Leighton John on the Hamilton archive - 'Bill's last great work' - complete with irresistible pictures, and Alan Grafen's biographical memoir, which presents an overview of Bill's life and work. Together, this unique collection of papers with their biographical introductions provides a profound portrait of one of the twentieth century's most innovative scientists.
Customer Reviews:
Written to be accessible to lay readers as well as engineers.......2007-04-11
Written by historian Richard S. Hobbs Ph.D., Catastrophe to Triumph: Bridges of the Tacoma Narrows is a fascinating examination of the true story behind the Tacoma Narrows Bridge fiasco. In 1940, just 129 days after its creation, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge literally fell apart. Yet the flaws in its workmanship were apparent well before its spontaneous destruction - its undulations were so readily visible that it earned the nickname "Galloping Gertie". Catastrophe to Triumph reveals the inside story of government agencies that hired a New York firm to revise the original plans, who knew about the immediate danger, and why too little was done too late to prevent the bridge's final doom. Catastrophe to Triumph also recounts how a second bridge built on part of the original substructure succeeded while the first one failed. Written to be accessible to lay readers as well as engineers, and filled cover to cover with vintage black-and-white photographs, Catastrophe to Triumph is a gem of American monument and engineering history.
Product Description
"Benjamin Franklin Dillingham fell off a rented horse, and the history of modern Hawai'i was changed forever. Dillingham was a New Englander, born on Cape Cod in 1844, and he went to sea at the age of 14. After a series of adventures - including capture by a Confederate raider - and a rapid rise in rank, he landed in Honolulu as first mate aboard the bark Whistler in 1864. He was 20. After breaking his leg in the topple from the horse, he was carried to the American Marine Hospital in Nu'uanu to heal. The Whistler sailed without him, and Dillingham was an ex-seafaring man, ashore for good. "After recuperating, he found work at a local hardware store. An entreprenurial spirit bubbled within, and in a few years he had borrowed some money and was the store's owner. He also married the daughter of a local missionary and started a family. Frank Dillingham's businesses - the hardware operation and later a large dairy - struggled with heavy obligations for decades, and he was constantly searching for a "big score" that would finally eradicate his debts and provide for his family. "That score was the Oahu Railway & Land Company, a narrow-gauge operation that established sugar as a phenomenally profitable crop on Oahu. The primary line headed west from the main station in downtown Honolulu, eventually stitching together sugar plantations in Aiea, Waipahu, Ewa, Waianae, Waialua, and Kahuku. A later branch wending its way to the center of the Island served the pineapple plantations around Wahiawa. For almost 60 years - from 1889 to 1947 - OR& L trundled both freight and passengers around the island, creating great fortunes not only for the Dillinghams, but for many others as well. This book is the story of that line." quarto (12.25x9.5"), color & b/w pictures, maps, topos, bibliography, appendices,rosters with extensive pictures and commentary, annual report data.
Customer Reviews:
The Oahu railway : packed with vintage photos, maps, charts, history.......2006-03-19
If you're a rail buff you'll already know most rail books focus on the mainland railways and give little recognition to Hawaii: to fill the gap choose NEXT STOP HONOLULU: THE STORY OF THE OAHU RAILWAYS & LAND COMPANY. You can't get any more comprehensive than NEXT STOP HONOLULU, which traces the growth of the Oahu Railway from its roots when a New Englander fell off a rented horse and was stranded in Hawaii to its establishment as an opportunity for the sugar cane industry to become a profitable crop on Oahu. It comes packed with vintage photos, color illustration, maps, charts, reproductions, and history tracing almost sixty years of OR&L achievements. A truly outstanding, definitive achievement.
Right Up There With Gerald Best!.......2006-01-14
Comprehensive, profusely illustrated history of one of the less well-known railways in the U.S. I lived on Oahu from 1947 to 1968 and knew the OR&L only from the occasional line of pineapple cars crossing Nimitz Highway from the harbor to the canneries. A few mispellings of Hawaiian words, but otherwise it's a treasure.
Next Stop Honolulu.......2005-05-09
'Next Stop Honolulu' is obviously a wonderful book for railroad aficionados. For me, although the book's principal subject is interesting (the explanation of how steam locomotives work on page 66 was the first one I've ever actually found understandable), it is the general facts about Hawaii and its history and local lore that are fascinating. This is a very interesting book, with lots of delightful illustrations, beautifully reproduced, which include old newspaper articles, photographs, maps, etc. For someone who hasn't read much about Hawaii since Michener, this was an engrossing read about the railway company that linked the sugar plantations in Oahu, but with lots of additional colorful detail. Anyone who likes Hawaii or railroad history would love this book.
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- The Last Arab Jews: The Communities of Jerba, Tunisia (Social Orders : a Series of Monographs and Tracts, Vol. 1)
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
- The New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal & Hymnal/Black/No. 820/22-B
- The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (New York Review Books Classics)
- The Red Badge of Courage & "The Veteran" (Modern Library Classics)
- The Saint of Incipient Insanities: A Novel
- The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Love, Race, and War in the Nineteenth Century
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