Book Description
what does it mean to be a conservative anymore?
With the Iraq war, the rise of Christian fundamentalism, exploding government spending, soaring debt, insecure borders, and an executive branch with greater and greater power, Republicans and conservatives are debating this question with more and more urgency.
The contradictions keep mounting. Today's conservatives support the idea of limited government, but they have increased government's size, power, and reach to new heights. They believe in balanced budgets, but they have boosted government spending, debt, and pork to record levels. They believe in individual liberty and the rule of law, but they have condoned torture, ignored laws passed by Congress, and been indicted for bribery. They have substituted religion for politics, and damaged both.
In The Conservative Soul, Andrew Sullivan, one of the nation's leading political commentators, makes an impassioned call to rescue conservatism from the excesses of the Republican far right, which risks making the GOP the first fundamentally religious party in American history. Through an incisive look at the rise of Western fundamentalism, Sullivan argues that conservatives cannot in good conscience keep supporting a party that believes in its own God-given mission to change people's souls, instead of protecting their liberties. He carefully charts the arguments of the new conservatism, showing why they cannot work in today's America, why they fail the test of logic and pragmatism, and why they betray the conservative tradition from Edmund Burke to Ronald Reagan.
In this bold and powerful book, Andrew Sullivan criticizes our government for acting too often, too quickly, and too expensively. He champions a political philosophy based on skepticism and reason, rather than certainty and fundamentalism. He defends a Christianity that is sincere but not intolerant, and a politics that respects religion by keeping its distance. And he makes a provocative, heartfelt case for a revived conservatism at peace with the modern world, dedicated to restraining government and empowering individuals to live rich and fulfilling lives.
Customer Reviews:
Sullivan's recantation.......2007-06-27
Andrew Sullivan explains at some length, and with some digression, how
he became disenchanted with what he calls the fundamentalist wing of the
current Republican party. His brand of conservatism is Burkean; he considers that the prevailing ideology of the current administration is
not conservative at all, but springs from a tradition of literal evangelism. Some chapters are better than others. The chapter
on sexuality seems labored and occupies more of the book than it should. On the whole, it is an honest and thoughtful book and would be useful reading for people who shared Sullivan's early enthusiasms for the Rovian revolution.
Disappointed.......2007-06-24
Without question, Andrew Sullivan is one of my favorite writers. Even when I do not agree with his analysis of a situation, be it political or philosophical, I find him to be interesting, thoughtful, and passionate. And when it comes to the Bush Administration and the handling of Iraq and other facets of the conflict with Islamic terrorists, I have to say that a good deal of his attitude (though not, I think, development of ideas) has mirrored my own over the course of the past several years. So I was very much looking forward to reading his most recent book, The Conservative Soul. I am also disheartened to say that I was tremendously disappointed. Although there are some interesting nuggets of good ideas buried in the book, I find that on the whole it was sloppy, muddled, disorganized and -- I'm sorry to say -- not very well written. Although I would highly recommend that everyone read Sullivan's blog and essays, I would not recommend this book.
Honest & Direct.......2007-06-04
Great book! Andrew Sullivan spoke at my local library and he was loved by all. Had him sign this book for my collection.
Competing Definitions of Conservatism.......2007-05-18
Andrew Sullivan's book is a thoughtful, well-crafted critique of current Republican party conservatism. His view, essentially, is that what is currently termed conservative is, in fact, the promotion of a fundamentalist Christian agenda that is not conservative at all, certainly not the conservatism of his heroes, Reagan and Thatcher. He argues that "fundamentalist vs. conservative" is not a continuation, but a usurpation. He claims that a shift has occurred changing conservative emphasis from freedom to "remoralization."
Although this book is lucidly written and cogently argued, I reject its thesis that in order to return to true conservatism, the influence of the Christian right must be removed. The fundamentalist impulse in politics is in response to intolerant political correctness, the radical relativism of the Hollywood left, media elites, and the kook fringe left (now the base of the Democrat party). It is reasonable to believe in moral absolutes; Sullivan espouses values closer to libertarianism. The Republican party does not have to be "fundamentally religious" to believe that there is such a thing as right and wrong; it has always believed so.Conservatism is not based on theory but on practical observation of life. I surmise that Sullivan is one of the many today who confuse freedom of religion with freedom from religion. Freedom vs. Morality (p.128) is not freedom from morality. I don't agree with even mildly linking Osama Bin Laden with the American religious right, although Sullivan is by no means alone in this distorted view, Al Gore and many in the media do it too. Sullivan exaggerates when he draws a distinction between visions for America; no rational person wants to remake the U.S. in Iran's image.
This is not supposed to be a harrangue from me; I enjoyed the book. For the reluctant, you don't have to agree with everything he proposes to learn from this book. It is nonjudgemental in tone; you won't be offended.
Highly Recommended.......2007-03-24
This is one book that has had a huge influence on my political philosophy. Both the author and I grew up in conservative homes, grew up in Christian homes, and voted for G.W. Bush in 2000. Before I picked up the book, that's where the similarities ended.
Sullivan is truly a fascinating man. A homosexual, British, Catholic who voted for John Kerry in 2004. Sullivan lives with HIV and I say that only to say that it doesn't stop him from living life to the fullest, from speaking passionately about the America he still believes in, his adoptive country. That is where the differences begin. But as I read his book I felt his ideas resonate with me strongly.
The term conservatism has been taken over in the last 15 years or so and abused and Andrew Sullivan's mission is to take it back. If you lament what conservatism used to be, and dream of what it truly can be, this is the book for you. His main theme is that our politics should be a politics of doubt, that is, a realization that individual humans don't have all the answers for everyone else at any point in time. Thus the beauty of the freedom that has been written into our constitution here in America.
If you know of a conservative or a fundamentalist, who is thick-headed, blindly passionate about their views, not willing to consider error in their own perspective or listen to sound reason, this is the book that just might break them down. So do be careful.
Other Information: It is a quick read with large margins and double-spacing and it is a page-turner. It is the kind of book you will want to pass on to your friends and family.
Customer Reviews:
a novel worthy of reading.......2007-08-16
This book poignantly describes the challenges of trying to assimilate into a new culture while maintaining the old. Alvarez does an exceptional job capturing the difficulty of trying to fit in, while trying to follow the beliefs and culture of the old country.
This is definitely a book to consider, for it will reveal the complications of assimilation, the love for our family, and the bond of sisterhood. Overall, this is a novel that provides insight towards a new culture.
Poor little rich girls. .. ........2007-08-15
I found this book to be well enough written but the story was so-o-o whiny. Somehow I had trouble empathizing with these poor little rich girls who have to move away from their fancy lives but soon enough spend summers back on the island, go to New England boarding schools and live well again, albeit with fewer servants.
The Girls Who Lived.......2007-08-10
Ms. Alvarez writes about her two homelands, the Dominican Republic and the United States, with such believability that I kept checking to see if I was reading a memoir rather than a novel (it's the latter). Her most famous work, In the Time of the Butterflies, is her imagined account of the lives of historical people who gave their lives in resistance to General Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican in the first half of the 20th century. "Garcia Girls" covers some of the same period, but tells the story of girls who lived, eventually to emigrate to the U.S. to struggle in different ways.
The structure of the novel takes some getting used to as Alvarez writes from now to then--starting with vignettes about grown women and working her way back to stories about their early childhood in the Dominican. She also switches voices among the four sisters--each has a distinct personality and life, but their similarities had me checking back sometimes to remind myself exactly who was speaking.
Fans of Ms. Alvarez who haven't read this book should do so. Newcomers might better start with "Butterflies" and then try "Garcia Girls", given that the latter switches among both place and narrator ("Butterflies" does the latter as well), and works its way back in time. "Butterflies" also gives some historical perspective about life under Trujillo that is important to understand to appreciate the travels of the Garcia family. Both books are appropriate for teenagers as well as adults.
A Good Read.......2007-05-29
I was assigned to read this book for my college class--the history of the women's movement. It was very good and funny. I laughed out loud in many places. I finished the book in two days which is good for me since I am a slow reader. It held my interest the entire time.
"Subtle...Powerful..."?.......2007-05-26
I don't really know what to say...But I feel disappointed that I didn't find How The García Girls Lost Their Accents to be the wonderful work that is proclaimed in the editorial reviews.
There are without a doubt some lines and parts that display Alvarez's talent with words...I enjoyed the very first episode of Yolanda and her craving for guavas. Some of the vignettes centering on Yolanda, I think, are some of the best in the book. But even then, there was something missing, and it was that I didn't connect with any of the characters as real people.
The sisters, we are told, all have different personalities, but essentially the only things that differentiate them in the reader's mind are their names. Carla, we are reminded many times, is the analyst in the family, the psychologist, which we can see in her comments, but she doesn't have a real voice; she isn't a real person. Mami, Papi, the aunts and uncles and the whole García family didn't come to life for me. At times, some of them were on the verge of coming off of the paper, but they never really did. Everything that is good in the novel is hard to appreciate as it is dampened by the rest.
Alvarez's exploration of some ideas, such as the displacement that immigrants experience, are not really effective...Sometimes she states things that we never really get a sense of and understand because we cannot sympathize with the characters. I think it is ultimately because of this that some parts feel contrived or not quite artfully done. As a whole, it is like a skeleton of a book. The organization of the vignettes (backwards in time) is creative but unmeaningful, and the vignettes themselves don't intertwine successfully to give us a "bigger picture" or insight or any sense of connection; rather, they are isolated, and as the narrator changes from 3rd person to Yolanda, the narration sounds the same. It doesn't captivate.
Right now I am more than halfway through the book, and I don't feel that it is worth finishing. I hope that How the García Girls Lost Their Accents isn't representative of Julia Alvarez's work...I should pick up another of hers but definitely do not feel motivated to at the moment...
For an American immigration story, The Joy Luck Club and The Namesake are two great novels!
Book Description
A gripping intellectual adventure story,
Sailing from Byzantium sweeps you from the deserts of Arabia to the dark forests of northern Russia, from the colorful towns of Renaissance Italy to the final moments of a millennial city under siege….
Byzantium: the successor of Greece and Rome, this magnificent empire bridged the ancient and modern worlds for more than a thousand years. Without Byzantium, the works of Homer and Herodotus, Plato and Aristotle, Sophocles and Aeschylus, would never have survived. Yet very few of us have any idea of the enormous debt we owe them.
The story of Byzantium is a real-life adventure of electrifying ideas, high drama, colorful characters, and inspiring feats of daring. In Sailing from Byzantium, Colin Wells tells of the missionaries, mystics, philosophers, and artists who against great odds and often at peril of their own lives spread Greek ideas to the Italians, the Arabs, and the Slavs.
Their heroic efforts inspired the Renaissance, the golden age of Islamic learning, and Russian Orthodox Christianity, which came complete with a new alphabet, architecture, and one of the world’s greatest artistic traditions.
The story’s central reference point is an arcane squabble called the Hesychast controversy that pitted humanist scholars led by the brilliant, acerbic intellectual Barlaam against the powerful monks of Mount Athos led by the stern Gregory Palamas, who denounced “pagan” rationalism in favor of Christian mysticism.
Within a few decades, the light of Byzantium would be extinguished forever by the invading Turks, but not before the humanists found a safe haven for Greek literature. The controversy of rationalism versus faith would continue to be argued by some of history’s greatest minds.
Fast-paced, compulsively readable, and filled with fascinating insights,
Sailing from Byzantium is one of the great historical dramas–the gripping story of how the flame of civilization was saved and passed on.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining biographical sketches that shaped the world after 1453.......2007-08-28
This readable history of the historical waves emanating from Byzantine influences is an indispensable work. The style is partly biographical sketches and partly telling of a story making it easily accessible and useful to novice and professional historian alike. The biographical flavor provides the structure for history as events involving human beings with complex characters and mixed motivations acting on the society in their time. The story-telling aspect provides the glue that sweeps the characters and their influence through their geographical dispersions to reveal their influence in Russia, western Europe, and Islam.
An enjoyable read for any historian looking for hints of the Byzantine in the world today. Well done.
Tremendous work.......2007-08-14
This is a great work about an empire that was - and indeed still is - important in our world today. Back when I took a course in Classics in college, my professor lectured us on the importance of the Byzantine Empire, and yet, how few people understand it, and can convey the importance. The author, in my view, has done a truly tremendous job of condensing history down into a very readable, non-intimidating book, which conveys the entire history of Byzantium, from its founding in 500 A.D. to its end in 1493 A.D. The author commands an encyclopedic knowledge of the Classical world, as well as an ability to write. I can't say enough about this work of history. And anyone who might think this is ancient history and doesn't affect us: the history of the clash and cooperation between Islam and Christian civilizations continues to this day (of course). As the author mentions, if the walls of Constantinople had not been so well designed, the Muslims might well have put Europe in a pincer movement in 750 A.D. Instead of being stopped by Charles Martel at Poitiers in France, and turned back, the Muslims might have conquered all of Europe. We would be speaking Arabic now. Yes, it is relevant ! At the same time, the author shows attempts made inside the Arabic Muslim world (which stretched from Spain to Afghanistan) to integrate Greek rationalism and Greek knowledge. Averroes was a famous Arab philosopher who not only championed rationalism, but also kick-started the European Scholastic movement. Unfortunately, Averoes lost out in the Arab world, and the reaction to rationalism, in 850 A.D. began, and continues to this day as Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. We feel the reverberations to this day...
A very valuable work, at once encyclopedic, and very accessible.
A Great History of a Lost Empire.......2007-06-18
I have always had a fasination with byzantium. This book as well as John Julius Norwich's series of books has helped to appreciate this lost empire more than ever. I especially liked the end of the book where it is just abruptly ended. In a way it made me cry a little to see what could have happened to the world if Byzantium had never have existed. I feel that more people should read this book and be aware of the several contribution that Byzantium has bestowed upon out modern world.
Forget Byzantium at Your Peril!.......2007-05-19
Ignorance of Byzantium (in two senses: lack of knowledge and lack of attention) has confounded Islamicists and Western European historians alike in the past 100 or so years. Colin Wells offers a concise and cogent description of the role Byzantium,including exiled or conquered Byzantines, played in the preservation and transmission of ancient Greek science and philosophy to the Muslim empires of the pre-Crusade "golden age" and directly to Western Europe chiefly by way of Italy. For nearly a thousand years, Byzantium WAS Rome, the hinge of civilization, linking rising and sinking cultures from the Visigoths of North Africa to the Vikings who called themselves Rus, from the humanists of Renaissance Florence to the Nestorian Christians of Syria, the primary translators of the Greek classics into Arabic.
Yet despite the significance of the material presented, it's a fun book, a quick read, written in a relaxed and simple style, accessible even to people who couldn't locate Byzantium on the map. (Hint: "Istanbul is Constantinople, now you can't go back to constantinople...")
Cultural and religious dispersal.......2007-04-20
This is not a "history" book in the exact sense of the term, if you think of "history" books as a linear progression of events. What this author has done is written a very valuable work detailing how the Byzantine Empire spread its culture and religion to its neighbors. The book is divided into three parts, each one showing the effect of Byzantium on 1: Western or "Latin" Christianity, 2: the states in the Balkan area, and 3: what eventually bcame Russia. It's a fascinating tale, extremely well told, and reveals to us that, even though 1453 saw the political end of the Empire, its influence in many different aspects spread and remain even today in many areas. These are subjects rarely, if ever, covered in this context, and should be required reading for anyone interested in obtaining a well-rounded knowledge of Byzantium.
Average customer rating:
- Just Okay...Too Many Contradictions.
- great book
- Easy read. Information you can find online.
- Terrific
- You don't have to go on a low-carb diet to benefit from this book!
|
How I Gave Up My Low-Fat Diet and Lost 40 Pounds (Revised and Expanded Edition)
Dana Carpender
Manufacturer: Fair Winds Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Low Fat
| Special Diet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Diets
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Low Carb
| Diets
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Low Carbohydrate
| Special Conditions
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Low-Fat Diet
| Special Conditions
| Diets & Weight Loss
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes: Instant Recipes for Dinners, Desserts, and More
-
500 Low-Carb Recipes: 500 Recipes from Snacks to Dessert, That the Whole Family Will Love
-
200 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes: Healthy Dinners That Are Ready When You Are!
-
500 More Low-Carb Recipes: 500 All New Recipes From Around the World
-
Dana Carpender's Every Calorie Counts Cookbook: 500 Great-Tasting, Sugar-Free, Low-Calorie Recipes that the Whole Family Will Love
Accessories:
-
Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 1592330401 |
Book Description
How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds! is a breezy, chatty, non-technical, fun-to-read explanation of low carbohydrate dieting -- why it works, the surprising health benefits, and most importantly, how to "do" the diet. Or, rather, diets,since the book details three very different main approaches to controlling carbohydrates (including the Basic Low Carb Diet, similar to Atkins or Protein Power, and the Mini-Binge Diet, popularized as The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet), plus several variations, finally summing up the basic principles which tie them all together. The point is to give the reader the tools necessary to construct a new way of eating that will fit his or her body, psyche, and lifestyle, thus allowing them to stay slim, energetic, and healthy for life.
Customer Reviews:
Just Okay...Too Many Contradictions........2007-09-03
Dana Carpender uses the entire book explaining all of the other carb diets out there. She doesn't explain much about the diet she is on. That would have been helpful.
I was irritated from the beginning of the book Dana was degrading this television commercial with a child in it who says something about changing up on the flavor of juice drinks because her "tongue gets tired" and Dana flies off the handle saying that the kid should be "lucky" to have food everyday. Doesn't Dana know that the advertisers wrote the script for the kid and the kid didn't make up those words on her own? Could Dana really be that stupid and naive?
Dana never gives an outline of how to orchestrate your own diet or what she exactly does. She basically says, "Here are all the low-carb diets out there. Pick your own and good luck."
She doesn't indicate what she does directly with any specifics. Does she each 100 carbs per day? 50 carbs? Less? It would have been useful to know what SHE does. It's so vague that you really don't know.
Then she says at the beginning of the book that low-carb living has to be a LIFESTYLE and you have to prepare yourself to NEVER eat pastas, white flour, potatoes, and cereal again. However, later on she says that you should have about 6 "cheat" days in a year including your birthday, Christmas, etc. Huh? Which is it? Again, she really isn't specific on what SHE does. First she'll say that she "never" eats cereal, sweets, etc. then says that she has her "cheat" days too. Okay...
I had such high hopes for this book and felt let down. I wished she outlined her own diet instead of everyone else's out there. The title of the book, as I recall, is "How I gave up my low-fat diet and lost 40 pounds" and NOT "How you can pick and choose one of these MANY low-carb diets and maybe you'll lose weight depending on whether you choose the right diet."
I do, however, recommend her two "500 Low-Carb Recipe" books. I have them both and they are excellent!
great book.......2007-07-21
This book has been a great help for me. I have tried a few diets, but have not felt as good as I do with this one, both physically and mentally. I have totally changed my diet. I have been on it for 3 weeks and not cheated once.
I have a new perspective on food and am leading a better and healthier life thanks to Dana Carpender. I also have her 500 recipes book and have now ordered her carb count book too.
Easy read. Information you can find online........2007-07-15
I read this book after I jumped on the low-carb bandwagon and it was a good, personalized rehash of what you might read in any of the popular low-carb guides; cut the refined garbage and eat "real" food.
Carpender is a very readable author and I made it through the book in a couple of hours. Granted, I skimmed through much of what she wrote because I already knew it, but I enjoyed the read nonetheless.
I give the book only 3 stars for two reasons: (1) the information is nothing terribly new or difficult to find online and (2) there are no before/after photos. I suppose that is just a personal preference but it's nice to see that something works by seeing "proof" in the book!
If you are looking to lose weight and want a fun, non-threatening, non-scientific introduction to eating lower-carb, this is a great book for the job.
Personally, I recommend either of George Stella's books. He writes in a very friendly, personable way that I really enjoy.
I'd recommend getting this one from the library!
Terrific.......2007-07-07
This book was just what I needed. I feel absolutely wonderful since starting this about 4 weeks ago. I'm also 14 lbs. lighter.
You don't have to go on a low-carb diet to benefit from this book!.......2007-07-02
In this book, author Dana Carpender presents information about low-carb eating in a straightforward, easy-to-read manner. Although the book is mainly geared towards helping people shift to a low-carb lifestyle--which the author clearly advocates--I believe that it is also a useful reference manual for those, like myself, who don't plan to give up their carbs just yet. Since I'm not overweight or otherwise unhealthy, I don't think a low-carb diet is necessary for me. However, I do know that monitoring my carb intake is important for maintaining my weight, and that's why I found this book to be so helpful.
Carpender does an excellent job of breaking down all of the major low-carb diets. She herself follows what she calls "The Basic Low-Carbohydrate Diet," which is typified by both Dr. Atkins and Drs. Eades, authors of Protein Power. However, she also reviews several variations on this basic plan, including the GO-Diet (this one appealed to me), the Zone, the Carbohydrate's Addict's Diet, and others, even a vegetarian version. Particularly helpful to me was the emphasis on protein (a great shake recipe is included) and fiber, as I know that my higher intake of these two essentials will aid me in reducing my carb consumption. In this way, Carpender is promoting sensible ways of eating that are appropriate for everyone, not just low-carb dieters.
Regardless of whether you are planning to go on a low-carb diet or not, Carpender's book will definitely challenge your past assumptions about what is "healthy" and help you to make better food choices for the future.
Book Description
Bill Alexander had no idea that his simple dream of having a vegetable garden and small orchard in his backyard would lead him into life-and-death battles with groundhogs, webworms, weeds, and weather; midnight expeditions in the dead of winter to dig up fresh thyme; and skirmishes with neighbors who feed the vermin (i.e., deer). Not to mention the vacations that had to be planned around the harvest, the near electrocution of the tree man, the limitations of his own middle-aged body, and the pity of his wife and kids. When Alexander runs (just for fun!) a costbenefit analysis, adding up everything from the live animal trap to the Velcro tomato wraps and then amortizing it over the life of his garden, it comes as quite a shock to learn that it cost him a staggering $64 to grow each one of his beloved Brandywine tomatoes. But as any gardener will tell you, you can't put a price on the unparalleled pleasures of providing fresh food for your family.
Customer Reviews:
Great book gift for green thumbs (and brown thumbs).......2007-08-09
I HATE gardening, but thoroughly enjoyed reading Alexander's odyssey of his quest to build his dream garden. Very funny account of epic battles with weeds, rodents, and bugs as he tries to prevent his little "hobby" from ruining his life. Your gardening friends will love this book (and non-gardeners will too!)
A tasty little story.......2007-08-02
His wife's insistence on an old fixer-upper of a house means the author can have the garden, orchard, and even meadow he's always dreamed. Once the house is livable--and everyone in town knows it has to be repaired to be livable--the owners start on the grounds. Landscape contractors, who are always late and leave their backhoe to winter in the author's yard, promise a garden to be proud of--and then bring plans for some very ordinary rectangles.
Not to be daunted, Alexander picks heirloom plants to grow his produce. He is determined to have the same fruit and experiences he remembers from his father's gardening. Organic gardening should be easy when he has only four trees and a small garden. He can pluck off the hungry worms and organically protect his crops from predators of all types.
After learning how much time is involved in using the organic bug sprays--first you find the caterpillar, then you spray him--how much it costs to put in something other than grass walkways, and that some animals are not deterred by six thousand volts, he gets down to serious gardening.
His wife and children begin to question his sanity. His plants don't always grow the way he expected. Who knew growing roses would kill the corn? Sitting down to calculate the cost of his succulent heirloom tomatoes gives him a jolt he thought he'd only get from his electric fence. Did his dad really do it this way? Had he been hoodwinked about how much fun this all was? When did the hobby become a second job?
You needn't be a gardener to enjoy the humor in this book. The history of tomatoes and potatoes, and insights on the Anasazi Indians thrown in with ridding the garden of Superchuck, the groundhog, is true fun for the reading. Cultivated entertainment.
Armchair Interview says: Humor and hoeing, planting and waiting, bugs and bug sprays flow together to give you an enjoyable read.
Enjoyable memoir of a man and his garden.......2007-07-26
I am by no means a gardening expert, more of a beginner, but I enjoyed this memoir of one man's obsession with and relationship with his garden. I found it informative and funny. I took as much what not to do, as what to do, from the book. I mean, you can see the excessiveness of his spending and learn from it as much as you can learn from the ways he fights pests on his fruit trees. I read books like this for inspiration and I was inspired by his mistakes and successes. All in all it was an enjoyable light read.
For the Gardening Obsessed.......2007-07-26
This book speaks to every obsessed gardener in America. The majority of the public, however, won't get it. They put in a few pansies, water them when they think of it and go on with their lives. But a few of us have an insatiable drive to work the soil, wage a constant war with the elements and beat off ravaging beasts just so we can be overwhelmed with too much produce.
Our neighbors think we're nuts--why would someone put themselves through all that labor and expense to get something they could buy at the corner market for $0.85 a pound? (Yeah, well I don't get the mountain climbing thing either.)
I like Alexander's writing--it was cute and witty and perfectly illustrated a man trying to work in his career, family and home improvement projects around his gardening obsession. All 2,000 square feet of it.
Although organic gardeners will be disgusted with how often Alexander reaches for the spray can, most will be able to relate to his journey.
A really cute read but I can't review the recipes as I didn't try them out yet.
As an animal lover..........2007-06-28
... I too was distressed by the chapters where the authors obsession defies his place at the top of the food chain and his "logical" abilities. When the local fauna decide that his exorbitantly expensive garden is the local salad bar, he goes on the war path and attempts to destroy everything alive that is not a plant.
While this is somewhat disheartening, it is also illuminating. I place this book alongside ElectroBoy on my bookshelf, and alongside The Omnivore's Dilemma, because it makes such a natural segue between the two.
William Alexander is truly obsessed with his garden. What ought to be a nice, pleasant way to pass time and to get some exercise and food turns into a dangerous obsession, resulting in damage to his finances, his health, his psyche, and his marriage.
It is amusing, in parts, however.
Read it, if only to see what lengths people will go to in order to save their hobby. It is an interesting study, really. Probably not a book I will read again, but it is one that I will think of from time to time.
Harkius
Book Description
BLOW is the unlikely story of George Jung's roller coaster ride from middle class high school football hero to the heart of Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel--the largest importer of the United States cocaine supply in the 1980's. Jung's early business of flying marijuana into the United States from the mountains of Mexico took a dramatic turn when he met Carlos Lehder, a young Columbian car thief with connections to the then newly born cocaine operation in his native land. Together they created a new model for selling cocaine, taking it from a drug used by the entertainment elite, to a massive and unimaginably lucrative enterprise-one whose earnings, if legal, would have ranked the cocaine business as the sixth largest private enterprise in the Fortune 500. The ride came to a screeching halt when DEA agents and Florida police busted Jung with 300 kilos of coke, effectively unraveling his fortune. But George wasn't going down alone. He planned to bring down with him one of the biggest cartel figures ever caught.... A riveting insider account of the lurid world of international drug smuggling and a supercharged drama of one man's meteoric rise and desperate fall, Bruce Porter chronicles Jung's life using unprecedented eyewitness sources in this critically acclaimed true crime classic.AUTHORBIO: Bruce Porter, a former newspaper reporter and editor of Newsweek, teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has also written for the New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Connoisseur, among other publications.
Customer Reviews:
Kind of blows.......2007-09-03
This book drags all the way through. I was hoping to hear more of the 'horrors' of the times in prison and the nastiness of the creeps that George Jung had to deal with (including himself) in the drug business. This book falls flat.
Very engaging! Very entertaining!.......2007-08-20
I loved the Movie, and finally read the book. The book is great! Better than the movie, partly because it's so much more in-depth. The characters are captivating (especially the star, George Jung), the story flows nicely. I learned so much about the cocaine business and what goes on in the underground world of cocaine dealing. George Jung was an incredibly risky guy. A strong-willed personality who decided he was going to make it happen. And he did just that!
If you enjoyed the movie, you will love the book!
FREE GEORGE JUNG!.......2007-01-04
If you want to understand George Jung this is the book to read. After you read this you'll have a new appreciation for how cleverly the movie was made. Sadly, the real George had some sexual habits discussed in the book that would of been better left unsaid, that don't add to the story and only tend make him sound bad. Never the less, it gives you a clear picture of how he was used as an example and given a much harsher sentence than was warrented. George Jung should be a free man today. He's more than payed his debt to society!!!!!
Blow.......2006-03-01
The up your nose, in-your-face life of George Jung, the high-school football star from small-town USA who became the American linchpin of the Columbium cocaine cartel. Jung is talked about his earlier years as a poor student, risk taker from a shaky family but the story comes to age as he takes off for California for a haze of sunbathing, sex, pot, and LSD. Soon enough George is arrested and his operation is on hold temporarily. In prison, Jung befriends a young Carlos Lehder and links up with the Medallion cartel, which gross 35 billion in cocaine sales a year. Money, Learjets, fast cars, and very wild women make this story a big success. George Jung did what he considered the best thing he would be at and took it to a level of unknown power. During the 1980's if you snorted cocaine you had an 85% you bought it from him or people he supplied to. I would recommend this book to people that can feel remorse for what a man did only for the reason he was good at it and enjoyed what he did. George Jung lived the American Dream in his own aspect and I will respect him for what he did and what he regrets.
Sloppy job, but still interesting.......2005-08-25
Aware that the movie is only loosely based on a true story, I turned to this book for a more factual account of the rise and fall of George Jung. But Jung's own account of the execution he witnessed on the Escobar ranch, to pick an example, differs as much from the one in this book as from the movie!
By page four I knew this wasn't secretly penned by Truman Capote. It is vulgar and loaded with malapropisms, for example: the word "obviate" is repeatedly used where "eliminate" is intended. Evidently no one at Harper Collins knows what the word means. "Secrete" is used for "secret." There are stretches long enough that I was able to get into the read before pausing to wonder what was meant by a non sequitur or a sentence that is not a sentence, but a slight effort by a copy editor or high school English teacher would have greatly improved the work. The editors and "fact checker" should all be serving time for criminal negligence. Terrible job.
Carlos Lehder is portrayed as a reckless megalomaniac brazen enough to unabashedly ramp up his smuggling through Norman's Cay to full tilt --really taking it to another level-- seemingly without regard for how much attention it would draw; indiscretion ultimately did the cartel in. There are interesting tales of boaters being chased away from the island, including a retired Walter Cronkite! Once a boat was found adrift in that vicinity, spattered with blood.
Surprisingly, considering the vast differences between this book and the movie, the fight scene with Mirtha driving up the I-95 one night actually did occur.
Regarding the Eastham bust, George was said to be looking at a ten-year sentence for the coke, but the book makes no mention whatsoever as to whether Richard Barile did in fact have the machine gun he mentioned at least twice to the undercover cop that evening, possession of which would carry the same sentence under federal law --not to mention what the state of Massachusetts would have done to him. There are many such places throughout the book that left me wondering why something was covered so unevenly and then just abandoned. At another point it refers in passing to George having two children, with no mention before or after of a second child being born.
Some of the "factoids" regarding aviation and firearms are hilariously inaccurate. A Hughes 500 helicopter becomes a "Huey 500." ("Huey" refers to an entirely different type of helicopter, and there's no such thing as a "Huey 500.") And once and for all, folks, a .357 magnum will not go through an engine block; that's a myth. (It just ricochets, leaving a tiny dent on the surface. Don't try this at home.)
For an enthralling account of indulgence, lust, and greed in the 1970's narcotics biz try "Underground Empire" by James Mills. It covers selected DEA CENTAC operations on different continents. Think you can't finish a thousand-page book? You wait. :-) Also, another bio of George Jung is currently in the works. And for instant gratification search the web for "Norman's Cay."
Book Description
It's not all in the delivery. Here's expert guidance on how to write a dynamic speech. Splashy slides, confident body language, and a lot of eye contact are fine and well. But if a speech is rambling, illogical, or just plain boring, the impact will be lost.
Now everyone can learn to give powerful, on-target speeches that capture an audience's attention and drive home a message. The key is not just in the delivery techniques, but in tapping into the power of language.
Prepared by an award-winning writer, this authoritative speech-writing guide covers every essential element of a great speech, including outlining and organizing, beginning with a bang, making use of action verbs and vivid nouns, and handling questions from the audience. Plus, the book includes excerpts from some of history's most memorable speeches--eloquent words to contemplate and emulate.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic- a great resource.......2006-01-27
Ultimately, what stays with an audience, is the content of your speech. Richard Dowis, a former journalist and retired senior vice president of Manning, Selvage, and Lee Public Relations provides information to help you effectively collect, organize and shape content into powerful speeches. He urges you to consider first the purpose of your speech, what you really want the audience to walk away with. Then, to fit your purpose into the format and time allotted. You must begin by researching your topic, clarifying your purpose, creating an outline and identifying a strong thesis, or unifying idea. When organizing your speech the most important consideration is that it must be logically organized. He identifies several organizational strategies you can use. For example, Chronological order, the "Big Bang" where a shocking thesis is presented up front, and Cause-and-effect which outlines the causes of a problem, describes its effect and suggests a solution. He also provides the following guidance on writing your speech:
1. Begin Well: Your opening should establish rapport with the audience, set the tone, reinforce your credibility and arouse interest in your subject. 5 categories of opening are: novelty, dramatic, question, humorous and reference/quote.
2. Watch Your Language: Avoid Jargon and overly complex language. Try instead for a simple elegance. Be yourself.
3. Use Proven Techniques: The Rule of Three: Organize related thoughts into groups of three to make them more memorable and dramatic. Anaphora: repeat words or phrases at the beginning of several sentences.
4. When using statistics: make them interesting and meaningful, express statistics in terms your audience can understand, and avoid using too many raw figures in a row.
5. Closing the Speech: use your closing to reinforce your point, or to reinforce the goal of the speech. Most closings fall into seven categories: Summary, Wrap-up, Direct appeal, Thesis, Reference, Inspirational, and Humorous/Anecdotal.
6. Editing: When editing consider content, organization, style, language and grammar.
The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write One--How to Deliver It.......2005-09-09
I originally checked this out at the library and realized I needed it in my reference collection. It's well writen, informative and fun to read. The author walks you step by step through the process of writing a speech to giving it, along with useful tricks of the speech writers trade. I highly recommend it.
An Excellent Resource for Speakers.......2002-10-03
Richard Dowis spends no time lamenting this lost art. Instead he focuses his energy on its resurrection.
Dowis's background in journalism and public relations provided the foundation for his writing a remarkably readable book. His conversational style serves as a model for the language you would want to hear -- and use -- in a speech. Frequent headings and an especially legible font also contribute to the book's readability.
In _The Lost Art of the Great Speech_, Dowis addresses every conceivable aspect of this topic -- from deciding whether to accept a speaking engagement to "leveraging" a speech by converting it to one or more publishable articles. The book takes a holistic approach to speech writing. Chapters follow the process of speech preparation, including delivery as well as crafting. In addition, Dowis discusses topics such as how to write a speech to be delivered by someone else and how to introduce a speaker.
Each chapter includes pertinent excerpts from actual speeches, many taken from the business world, and also includes a full speech or a substantial excerpt of a speech by a well-known person. Many of these speeches have historical significance. Having asserted that "reading and listening to speeches is one of the keys to learning how to write and deliver them," Dowis supplies us with many examples to study.
Dowis devotes several chapters to rhetorical devices that can lift a speech from the respectable to the eloquent. To illustrate how rhetoric can immortalize a concept, he compares several versions of an idea that appeared in speeches by famous Americans.
In addition to a detailed index, _The Lost Art of the Great Speech_ includes two helpful appendices: An Editing Checklist for Speech Writers and Resources for Speakers and Speech Writers.
_The Lost Art of the Great Speech_ is a valuable resource for anyone who might have the opportunity to address a group of people. Although it does not include study questions or practice exercises, it would be an excellent book for a class of high school or college students as well as for adults who are studying independently.
This is a terrific book!.......2001-08-09
Although this book was written for business folk, it serves as a tremendous text for high school students. The suggestions are clear, the models exemplary, and the writing concise. Also, the texts of speeches that end nearly every chapter are well-chosen. AND there's a handy appendix listing resources for speakers and writers.
A Must Read.......2001-05-05
For those of you who don't like text book reads but need the information, this is the book for you. This book gives useful information and useful hints on speech writing and speech giving. It is the best of Speech Communication classes and everyday ideas for the beginner in public speaking and the expert speech writer.
Book Description
Two years after the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at the height of the French Revolution, a ten-year-old boy, his skin covered with scabies, his sanity gone, died in a Paris prison. Was this tortured child of royal birth, or had the young prince escaped? In time, the prince's surviving sister was approached by count-less 'brothers' claiming not only the dauphin's name, but also his inheritance. For the next 200 years, as rival royal dynasties vied for the French throne, this mystery went unsolved. It was not until experts discovered a mummified human heart in a crystal urn that the truth unfolded. Examining this historical mystery from every absorbing angle, Cadbury explains how modern DNA analysis uncovered a surprising answer to this centuries old mystery.
Customer Reviews:
If there is a better book about the Dauphin, please let me know.......2007-07-29
You read about how this little boy, who'd known only the best the world had to give, ended up in a sunless room, curled in a fetal position, full of puss and unable (or unwilling) to speak. This is a creepy tale that makes what happened to the son of the Tsar Alexander's son in 1917 (or there abouts...who knows for sure?) seem like a kind ending. It also gives you insight into his mother's execution and his sister's life.
A searing tale.......2007-05-23
Of all the human tragedy that marked the French Revolution, perhaps none was so acute as that experienced by the royal family. In this well-researched and engrossing book, Deborah Cadbury conveys the full measure of this tragedy in her description of the unspeakable horrors visited on the little Dauphin of France, Louis-Charles, son of Louis VXI and Marie-Antoinette. It is impossible to avoid that sick feeling in the pit of one's stomach as we read this harrowing tale, and it certainly helps explain why, to this day, many people can't bring themselves to believe that it was indeed Marie-Antoinette's "chou d'amour" who ended his days in so wretched a manner.
Cadbury also does a fine job of recounting in a very readable manner the seemingly endless procession of pretenders that began to emerge shortly after the Terror, and keeps the reader in suspense until the final denouement.
All in all, an excellent, moving book, not to be missed.
The Suffering of the Innocent.......2007-05-23
I enjoyed Deborah Cadbury's "The Lost King of France," although I would never recommend reading it at night, unless stories of small children being brutalized help one to sleep. Cadbury has a dry, logical style which makes her descriptions of the royal family's descent into hell all the more horrifying. I was perturbed when she stated that Fersen and Marie-Antoinette were probably lovers, without giving any evidence, especially when she was careful to give evidence for everything else. Also, on the cover of the book is most likely a picture of Louis-Joseph, not Louis-Charles (Louis XVII).
Many say that the book proves beyond doubt the death of Louis XVII on June 8, 1795, but it does not. The DNA merely concluded that the desiccated heart which was allegedly removed from the little victim who died in the Temple was the child of a Habsburg princess. As anyone familiar with European history knows, Habsburg princesses were legion; many not having the last name of Habsburg, but having Habsburg genes. Although it is highly probable that Louis XVII did die in the Temple at age ten after horrendous sufferings, it should be recalled that Madame Royale herself had doubts about the fate of her brother, since she had not been allowed to identify the body.
Great Read, Poorly Made Book.......2007-02-22
I purchased my soft cover copy of The Lost King of France in February 2007 through Amazon. As I began reading, the pages began to fall out of the book. The ink on the pages was thin, spotty,frequently irritating to read as one's eye stopped to make out whether a letter was an "e" or an "o." The publisher is St. Martin's Griffin. Fine work by the author - excellent read. Check it out of the library or find a hardback to buy. By the time you finish reading the paperback, you'll have a lap full of single pages and a severe case of eye strain. Paper's cheap too.
Well written.......2007-01-29
Oh , this is such a sad book, about a poor child that suffered so much---just because he was the son of Marie Antoinette. Parts of this book simply made me cry (especially at the very end of this book).
The author is AMAZING!...Wow, what a writer! I'd love to read more of her books after buying this one.
The information given inside this book (ie: on whether the "real" Boy King died in the horrible way which he did) were proven to me, in my humble opinion. The author covers all bases, in order to come up with the final conclusion on what truly happened to the poor King child.
I recommned this book if you like mysteries, biographies of famous people, and also if you like the topic of History , in general.
Book Description
In his runaway bestseller BIAS, former CBS News correspondent Bernie Goldberg took us behind the scenes and exposed how the liberal media distort the news. In 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE SCREWING UP AMERICA, Bernie took on the villains who are doing their best to cheapen our culture and wreck our country.
Now, in CRAZIES TO THE LEFT OF ME, WIMPS TO THE RIGHT, Bernie speaks for the millions of Americans who are saying: Enough!
Enough of the leftist lunatics like Rosie O'Donnell who think "Radical Christians" – whatever that means – are "as big a threat to America as Radical Muslims." Enough of the hyperbolic liberal rhetoric comparing Bush to Saddam, Abu Ghraib to the Stalinist gulag, and Mel Gibson to Hitler. Enough of the military–hating crazies who run San Francisco. ("Just what this country needs," Bernie writes, "a city with Rice–A–Roni and a foreign policy.") Enough of the hyper–partisan, ultra–PC liberal media, which often seems more sympathetic to the "victims of humiliation" at Abu Ghraib than to our troops who are dying at the hands of Iraqi fundamentalists.
And enough, too, Bernie declares, of the wimps on the right –– the gutless wonders who don't have the courage to stand up for their own principles. Enough of their pandering, trolling for votes, and outspending the Democrats.
Conservatives still believe in important things, Bernie argues, but the jury is out on the Republicans. The 2006 election was a wake–up call, and Bernie warns: If the wimps on the right fail to regain their courage, recover their principles, and reclaim their sense of fiscal responsibility, the crazies on the left just might win the White House in '08.
Customer Reviews:
Fun read, scathing for both parties.......2007-10-07
If you are a conservative angry with being betrayed by the Republicans or a Libertarian disgusted with the waste of your tax money, then I believe you will enjoy this book while learning a few things. Goldberg effortlessly tears into the Liberals irrational mania of attacking Bush more than our terrorist enemies. He critiques the New York Times for their shameless bias toward Liberals while they run front page news for weeks on an supposed injustice on the way Iraqi prisoners of war are treated,then when a soldier is kidnapped and beheaded it is buried deep in the paper and ran only one time. Who's side are these guys on? Are they insane for comparing Bush to Nazis or do they just not study real life history to understand how the Nazis really were? The author will enlighten you how the Republicans have abandoned conservative principles by pandering to groups with plenty of Pork spending of your tax dollars. The Bush administration has far approved more spending than the Clinton White House did. What are they thinking? This is why the author believes the Democrats won the 2006 six elections and why the Democrats could when the White House in 2008. This book is a call for the Democrats to start thinking again and the Republicans to grow a backbone. Amen Bernard Goldberg, while I am a Libertarian I agreed with this entire book, he also touched on the accountibilty needed in the black community and how the Jews are held to different standards than their Arab neighbors. Buy this book for a good read and to be armed with some good points to make in this war for our national politics.
Snap!.......2007-10-03
Oh, it's "comeuppance time" for those pesky liberals and those wimpy Republicans, and Bernard Goldberg is just the guy to scold both sides of the elitist aisles. The former CBS News correspondent writes what I've been thinking for five or six years--since the Bush administration and its rubber-stamp cronies in Congress started acting like free-spending, pandering liberals--in his hard-hitting yet humorous polemic CRAZIES TO THE LEFT OF ME, WIMPS TO THE RIGHT.
As a conservative libertarian, Goldberg (and millions of the rest of us) is fed up with insipid, visceral liberalism--aided and abetted by the mainstream media. The left is fair game, and Goldberg doesn't disappoint as he crtitiques liberal wool-gathering on several issues, including affirmative action, racial profiling, national security, taxation. . .even the liberal culture of hatred and intolerance.
Yet he's just getting started; Goldberg saves his best blows for the Republicans (not conservatives, mind you) who have "sold out." Abandoning their conservative principles and ideals, the Washington establishment Republicans lost Congress in 2006 by pandering to special interests, through corruption, by trolling for votes with taxpayer dollars, by record spending, and by "wimping out" to the left. If the Republicans do not heed the "wakeup call" of 2006, Goldberg warns, they run the risk of losing their conservative base (hear, hear!).
This is a fun read; Goldberg writes in a witty, conversational style, which makes for a fast page-turner. CRAZIES TO THE LEFT OF ME, WIMPS TO THE RIGHT pulls no punches and takes no prisoners; it's a common sense critique of the nonsense and bitter partisanship polluting our culture--penned by an author unafraid to call 'em as he sees 'em.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
Hard to Swallow.......2007-09-30
Bernard Goldberg never fails to disappoint at disappointing and this is evidenced by his crafty title in which he says both sides of the coin are on the wrong track, but one will soon note that left are crazy, or hopeless, while the conservatives only have to regain their courage and principle. The implication is the that they are obviously the sane ones.
Otherwise the title will not throw off the discerning reader who soon notices that Goldberg makes non-sequitirs, comparisons of convenience, and generalizations, usually about what liberals are thinking or doing, and they have it all wrong. He narrative is as profound as a sidewalk rain puddle is deep, and his conclusions, while some crazy (sorry) are about as original as a child who wants to dress up for Halloween as a ghost.
Some of these shallow comparisons include all liberals as unable to forgive Mel Gibson for his anti-Semitic tirade but were wailing that a convicted killer was executed. Goldberg goes on to muse if the liberals ever knew the names of the victims, which in his eyes proves what, he doesn't say.
The low point for me was his suggestion that abu Ghraib not being like a Soviet Gulag. Point made. Nevertheless, it didn't have to become one to provide al-Qaeda an enormous propaganda victory that undercut the moral probity and justification for war in the first place. If Goldberg is not pooh-poohing the suffering and indignties that would make our blood boil if had been our troops, he makes a connection of convenience that caring about our treatment of prisoners is more important to liberals than the support of our soldiers. I would hope someone would give him a copy of "Oath Betrayed."
If this is part of the author's attempt at humor, it went over my head. It soon became clear that he might be trying to emulate some of his more controversial and conservative fellow pundits with vapid statements that could inflame because of their insensitivity and supersciliousness.
This continues throughout the book, one after another, and space does not allow to add his thoughts on Hurricane Katrina, racial profiling, and other topics which border on the absurd.
The one genius Goldberg shows is his ability to market this fare which has no academic or qualitative value. It's as if he's selling hamburger and calling it steak.
Do yourself a favor, and drown this one in steak sauce.
Either way, it's hard to swallow.
Fun with Goldberg.......2007-09-21
It is always a pleasure to read anything by Bernie Goldberg, if for no then reason then because of the wit and humor that he brings to the discussions of contemporary issues. This is a very varied account of many of his personal gripes that he has with both left and the right in the US, but at the final analysis it is still the right that comes somewhat ahead, although it would seem it is primarily because they are better at not getting their foot stuck in their mouth as often as the liberals seem to be doing these days. One of the main things that Goldberg has an issue with is the lack of civility that goes on in public discourse, regardless of if it has to do political speech or just general politeness in everyday life. It is to Bernie's credit that he succeeds at dismantling those he disagrees with without having to resort to cheap ad hominem attacks and vicious recriminations. It would be great if some other best-selling authors followed in his footsteps. Otherwise, we may have to wait for another book by Bernard Goldberg.
Political Frustration.......2007-09-17
Bernie Goldberg is a frustrated man and his new book speaks to, and for, the millions of Americans who feel the same as him about the current state of politics in this country. On the one hand, Goldberg sees a political party that has allowed itself to be dominated by some of the most hate-filled crazies imaginable. On the other, he sees a party that has lost the courage to stand up for its conservative principles and has, instead, adopted the same big government, big spending ideas that it used to complain about in others.
Goldberg's personal journey from the left side of the political spectrum to its right side has been a long one. He grew up in the Bronx during the 1950s surrounded by his blue collar family, friends and neighbors and only knew of Republicans because he read about them in the newspaper. Even as a junior high school student, he knew that he wanted to become a newsman and he became the first in his family to go to college when he enrolled at Rutgers to prepare himself for that job. After college, Goldberg was lucky enough to get his dream job at CBS where he became an important, and liked, part of the CBS news team.
But about 1980 Goldberg began to realize that he was more comfortable with the policies of Republican president Ronald Reagan than he was with those of his beloved Democrats. His slow, inevitable move to the right had begun. By 1996 he could no longer contain his frustration and he wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal about how television networks regularly slant their news broadcasts to the left. As a CBS insider he found that other insiders looked upon him as a traitor and that the op-ed piece was a bad career move. He left CBS News in July 2000 and wrote Bias, a bestselling book in which he discussed how liberals who dominate the most influential newsrooms in the country regularly slant the news in that direction.
Now Goldberg wonders where to turn next since the Republican Party has largely abandoned the principles that attracted him to that party in the first place. He sees a party that has decided that staying in power is more important than standing up for the core beliefs of its constituents, a party willing to outspend Democrats and to create an ever-bigger government if that will buy them the votes they need to win the next election. He doesn't see a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans anymore.
Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right is Goldberg's wake up call to a political party that has lost its way. He has had it. He's tired of hypocritical Republicans who are trying to outspend Democrats, Republicans too cowardly to fight race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Republicans who have abandoned conservatism. Like millions of conservatives, Goldberg wonders who represents him in Washington these days. He still believes that conservatives are correct on the important issues of the day but here he wonders out loud whether Republicans are. He uses his sense of humor to skewer both parties for their mistakes and flaws, but he sees as his best hope for the future a Republican Party that comes to its senses before it is too late. Time will tell if anyone is listening.
Average customer rating:
- Required reading if you have to "go" outdoors!
- It's a body function get over it!
- Yawn - don't bother
- A Masterpiece of English Literature
- Finally ... a great help for the novice woodsman
|
How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art
Kathleen Meyer
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Exercise & Fitness
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Travel
| Writing
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Instructional
| Hiking & Camping
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Mountain Climbing
| Mountaineering
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
Internal Medicine
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
| Cardiology
| Critical Care
| Endocrinology & Metabolism
| Gastroenterology
| General
| Hematology
| Hepatology
| Infectious Disease
| Nephrology
| Neurology
| Oncology
| Pulmonary
| Rheumatology
| Urology
Transportation & Highway
| Civil
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Exercise & Fitness
| Health, Mind & Body
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Instructional
| Hiking & Camping
| Outdoors & Nature
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Civil
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
| Construction
| Environmental
| General
Travel
| Writing
| Reference
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Sports
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Mountain Climbing
| Mountaineering
| Sports
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Up Shit Creek: A Collection of Horrifyingly True Wilderness Toilet Misadventures
-
How to Have Sex in the Woods
-
Who Cut the Cheese: A Cultural History of the Fart
-
The Original Road Kill Cookbook
-
How to Die in the Outdoors: 100 Interesting Ways
Accessories:
-
Rayovac SPHLTLED 3-in-1 LED Head-Lite
ASIN: 0898156270 |
Book Description
An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art
Our once-pristine wildlands are threatened by ever increasing problems of pollution. Since its first publication in 1989, How to Shit in the Woods has been adopted by outdoor enthusiasts everywhere as part of the solution. In this updated edition, outdoorswoman Kathleen Meyer reviews the newly available portable potties, with special attention to individual trekkers in an all-new chapter, "Plight of the Solo Poop Packer." Other topics include: the growing array of travelers' field water-disinfecting systems, Giardia contamination and the now infamous critter Cryptosporidium, crotch-accessible clothing for women, and a fresh batch of "worst experience" stories, all peppered with irreverent musings. For the purist, there are more wise t.p.-less techniques from the Old World. Written with an effervescent sense of humor, this is a book for anyone who wants to enjoy the outdoors responsibly.
Customer Reviews:
Required reading if you have to "go" outdoors!.......2007-05-14
To the uninitiated, the art of having a dump in the woods probably seems no more complicated than "squat, squint, squeeze and squeegee"! But, alas, as the world shrinks and the use of the world's limited wilderness terrain by outdoor adventurers increases to the limit of the land's ability to withstand the stress of that use, it's just not that simple. When considerations such as ecology, weather, temperature, privacy, courtesy, hygiene, biodegradation, density of camping use in an area, terrain and so on are factored into the decision as to where and how to complete the necessary feat, all is not as simple as it would seem. The methods one should choose are as varied as the terrains one might choose to visit and the times of year in which those choices are made.
"How to Shit in the Woods" is a book that should be read by EVERY person who would choose to venture into the out of doors - whether you want to spend a weekend at the local campground or you're a hardcore toughened backwoodsman heading out into the bush for a week long solo canoe trip in Canada's northern boreal forest!
Be prepared for lots of silly toilet humour, hilarious anecdotes concerning toilet misadventures, lots of tongue-in-cheek jokes, a good number of belly laughs and a very earthy delivery to be sure - but the message ultimately is entirely serious and well worth the read! There is very little humorous when it concerns encountering the leavings of someone who trod the trail in front of you.
Highly recommended for campers of all stripes, sexes, ages and experience levels.
It's a body function get over it!.......2007-03-19
A well written book about a subject that people normally don't think about till they are out in the middle of nowhere and it's too late to find a restroom that is miles away. The title may be offensive to some but, the books provides excellent information
Yawn - don't bother.......2007-01-24
This is a serious subject, and I hoped the book would contain some good info and be a useful and light-hearted read for the inexperienced campers I often escort into the country. Sadly, the useful info in this book would barely fill a magazine article - which is where it should have been. The bulk of it is a painfully inept attempt at humour, over-complicated and pompous storytelling and self-apology. There is simply too much tedious waffle diluting the interesting stuff to make the book useful to anyone as a quick reference, and it simply isn't funny enough to warrant it's size (which, given its smallness, is saying something). At best it is mildly amusing in parts - and at worst it is a painfully protracted waste of paper. Perhaps it is intended to be used for wiping yourself after practising some of the poorly described techniques within?
A Masterpiece of English Literature.......2005-12-07
Ok, it's not a masterpiece of English literature. What is there to analyze here? This is like arguing the merits of Benny Hill. For 8 bucks, buy this book. It has a few practical tips about where and how to deficate in the woods (hence the title). Great. The introduction is a tears-in-your-eyes funny anecdote on that topic that is probably worth the price. Then, you have a conversation piece for your bookshelf that will be appreciated by almost everyone. And, the author goes to some length to argue that this title is NOT vulgar (the book includes a useful lexicon for the word that is also worth the price). And, you'll have something to think about the next time you take a hurried necessary behind a tree or abandon a diaper in the Wal-Mart parking lot! Enough analysis already.
Finally ... a great help for the novice woodsman.......2004-12-13
Few experiences do more to mar the outdoorsy afternoon or the 8 day backpack trek than stepping over a log and discovering your expensive waffle-stompers are filled with the leavings of another hiker. The problem is as old as mankind. At least, it's as old as mankind after he began noticing what was between his toes.
The Bible addressed the problem, probably in the first surviving form, by demanding that people walk away from others with a spear or spade, dig a hole, and cover it. That method works well where the traffic is light. It works less well on heavily traveled forest trails.
Meyer offers 102 pages of suggestions, anecdotes and solutions for novices who want to experience the woods, don't want to create a problem, recognize it's a necessary body function and must be addressed.
I'd recommend it for everyone who plans a trip into the outdoors and isn't already familiar with how to deal with the function in a way that's not objectionable to those who follow. I'd make it required reading for those who go to the areas I'm likely to visit.
Books:
- The Dreaming Universe: A Mind-Expanding Journey Into the Realm Where Psyche and Physics Meet
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
- The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual
- The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
- The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer
- The Lorax (Classic Seuss)
- The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow (Magic School Bus)
- The Marriage Game: A Novel
- The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain
- The Mother Tongue
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Has Globalization Gone Too Far
- A Picture Book of Anne Frank
- The Accounting Cycle: A Practical Guide to Accounting Basics
- The Stockings Were Hung
- Wiley GAAP 2007: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
- Atlas of Pediatric Physical Diagnosis
- A Crisis In Confederate Command: Edmund Kirby Smith, Richard Taylor, And The Army Of The Trans-Missi
- Contabilidad Financiera - 3b: Edicion
- The Unofficial Guide to Flipping Properties
- Mauve Desert
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III
Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
Virtually Normal
Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival
