Book Description
Cats are famous for being aloof, but "cat-titude" reaches new heights in Get Fuzzy, the bitingly funny comic strip from cartoonist Darby Conley. Wry and witty, Get Fuzzy is a hilarious portrait of single life with pets.Rob Wilco is the human who heads the household, but it's really Bucky the cat who's in charge. Satchel is a gentle pooch with a sensitive soul who tries to remain neutral, but frequently ends up on the receiving end of Bucky's mischief. Together, this trio makes it through the trials and tribulations of daily life as an unlikely team.Darby Conley's first book was a runaway hit; this second, Fuzzy Logic, will likely hit the same funny bone of everyone who enjoys their pets with an attitude.
Customer Reviews:
Funny!.......2007-09-27
these books just crack me up, my only complaint is they are too short! I never want to put them down, and read the whole thing in one sitting.
A Get Fuzzy Reading Guide.......2007-08-11
I won't go into how fantastic this comic strip is, but it is easily my favorite comic strip of all time. :)
For the uninitiated, there are 6 collections so far and three treasuries. The seventh collection is not yet released.
Please keep in mind that each treasury is two collections put together, so as far as I know the treasuries are the same as two of the collections, except I believe the treasuries have the Sunday comics in color while the collections have them in black and white.
In chronological order, the collections are:
1. The Dog is Not a Toy: House Rule #4
2. Fuzzy Logic: Get Fuzzy 2
3. The Get Fuzzy Experience
4. Blueprint for Disaster
5. Say Cheesy: A Get Fuzzy Collection 5
6. Scrum Bums
7. I'm Ready for My Movie Contract: A Get Fuzzy Collection (not yet released)
The treasuries are:
1. Groovitude (encompassing collections 1 and 2).
2. Bucky Katt's Big Book of Fun (encompassing collections 3 and 4).
3. Loserpalooza (encompassing collections 5 and 6).
These comics are beyond hilarious, and I would highly recommend them to pet lovers/haters of all ages. :)
Fuzzy Logic, wonderful as always.......2007-01-04
What is so amazing to me is that Get Fuzzy has from the very beginning been extremely funny and the characters fully conceived. The level of excellence and humor is always in place. One can't go wrong getting a Fuzzy book. A great present for the entire household and important for those who collect Get Fuzzy and want to be able to return to Fuzzy world just by opening a book.
I love Bucky.......2005-08-03
What can I say, I'm a sucker for Bucky and Sachel. This book is a compilation of past strips that are wonderfully hilarious.
Best comic.......2005-02-18
I think think this is one of the greatest comics ever! I read them all day. So you should read them too!
Edward a sixth grader
Book Description
The millions of New Yorker cartoon fans (and puzzlers, too) will exult in this ingenious, first-ever collection of puzzles and games that feature the magazine’s cartoons as clues.
Designed to offer a challenge to puzzlers of all levels, this collection of 100 crosswords, acrostics, caption scrambles, observation puzzles, and more is absolutely unique—it’s the first-ever puzzle collection to feature New Yorker cartoons. Presented in an extremely user-friendly oversized spiral format, the book provides hours and hours of interactive entertainment— just bring your own pencil and brain power!
The puzzles themselves are ingenious—new and different kinds of brain-teasers that use the cartoons of The New Yorker in a fresh way, encouraging the agile reader to think like a New Yorker cartoonist. The introduction is a conversation between two masters: the cartoon editor of the New Yorker and the puzzle editor of The New York Times, and it sheds fascinating light on the connection between cartoons and puzzles.
Customer Reviews:
Good Mental Stroll for cartoon fans & amateur puzzlers.......2007-04-17
I love word puzzles though I'm not a serious puzzler - I do a few crosswords a week and have owned maybe three puzzle books as an adult. I am, however, a big cartoon fan, though honestly I've been more FoxTrot & Calvin than I am the New Yorker. So, my favorite puzzles are cryptograms with cartoons. Don't find them much - but when I searched specifically for this, I discovered this book.
I enjoy the New Yorker Book of Cartoon Puzzles and Games (and have purchased a second copy for a friend) because the combo of puzzle and cartoon has proven very relaxing - I involve myself in a semi-hard puzzle, but then find a laugh waiting for me once it's solved. New Yorker cartoons do typically contain some of the least expected twists, and I found that here.
However, I don't think a serious puzzle person would be happy with this book, unless he were interested in the New Yorker cartoons. I say this only because the puzzles range from easy to medium difficulty for an adult. (A teen or younger might enjoy more of a challenge.) I still recommend this though - for a more relaxed puzzler like myself it's a good mental stroll.
Though not typically a history buff, I found it a pleasant surprise that the editors included the history of New Yorker cartoons, and with it a history of the U.S, WITHIN quite a few puzzles. Several times you are asked to place the puzzles in the correct time period (and the New Yorker puzzles go back at least to the 1920's) or even with the correct author/cartoonist. The puzzles are just challenging enough to give me a think (similar to a midweek newspaper crossword perhaps) but not overly hard. And there is an ABUNDANCE OF GREAT CARTOONS - usually five or six to each puzzle and often grouped in interesting ways/topics.
But what of those cryptograms? Good news is that they were well done, and with increasing difficulty; Disappointment is that there were only three pages of cryptograms while other types of puzzles were represented more. It does seem that the editors missed out on utilizing the perfect collaboration of crypts and cartoons.
I give it a 4 - enjoyed the cartoon aspect, most puzzles fun but some just too easy for an adult. Still worth the stroll.
I've never had a better book of puzzles!.......2007-02-13
A wide variety of different styles of puzzles, each with the payoff of several very good New Yorker cartoons, makes this book a blast to play with. I work hard to limit myself to only a couple of puzzles each time I pick it up (and so far I've refused to share the book with the gift-giver.) I've enjoyed it so much, I'm buying a copy for my mother for her birthday.
Brand New.......2007-01-10
The item arrived in a timely manner and it was the exact item I ordered.
Hey,all you puzzle nuts...give this one a look-see!.......2006-11-13
I was just cruising through my Big Box Bookstore to see what was appearing on the shelves for the upcoming Christmas season.In the Games section ,between a bunch of Crossword Puzzle books and what is becoming a flood of Sudoku and other number puzzle books,I spotted this little Gem.Most people who do crosswords know of Will Shortz of the NY Times Crossword puzzle fame,Robert Mankoff of Games Magazine and the famous New Yorker Magazine's Cartoons. Well, all these are combined and with some great "Thinking Outside the Box" have come up with a puzzle book that will entertain and challenge you.Some of the other reviewers have made reasonable attempts to describe these puzzles;so I won't try.What I suggest is to search it out in the store and get a feel for them.
This book is just the thing needed for those who have become obsessed with those Sudoku puzzles,have been doing nothing but crosswords for years, or even those who have never done much in the way of puzzles.
I'll tell you one thing;if you like puzzles,and who doesn't,and also like cartoons,and who doesn't;then you'll love this latest addition to the world of puzzles.
Interesting cartoon and puzzle combo.......2006-09-27
Is this a book of New Yorker cartoons or a puzzle book? Well, it's a little of both, and the result is a novel way to laugh and exercise your brain at the same time. Most of the 83 puzzles consist of cartoons that are missing words, captions, or picture components. By figuring out the missing elements and sometimes combining them with acrostics, crossword puzzles, or other word grids, the cartoon humor is revealed.
For the most part, the puzzles are of only moderate difficulty, although there are a few difficult ones (at least for me) that involve matching a cartoon with the decade in which it was created or matching cartoons from early and late in a cartoonist's career. Frequent puzzle solvers will recognize many of the familiar puzzle types from Games Magazine and other media that Puzzability publishes in. The foreword to the book contains a casual and loosely coupled conversation between New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff and New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz.
This is an entertaining book that you'll hate to throw away when it's been completed because of all the witty cartoons it contains. Enjoy!
Eileen Rieback
Customer Reviews:
Extremely satisfying brain-meltdown.......2007-10-01
If you're a fan of logic & puzzles, this is definitely worth picking up. It starts simple and works its way up to nearly impossible, so there should be something on everyone's level. The book is kind of a narrative, but its main purpose is to display and explain more and more advanced logic.
I first found this book when I was 15 or so among my Uncle's things when I was visiting. I stayed up half the night working through the puzzles, but after about halfway through the book, I was completely lost. Years later, after studying symbolic logic in college, I go back and the book gives me new pleasure, though I still can't get through 'all' of it - not quite ;P Its somewhat of a Logic Quest, really.
If you enjoy a challenge, definitely pick this one up.
Fun.......2002-04-11
Great book of puzzles. Perfect for the whole family. It begins with simple yet confusing conundrums and progresses onto complex and more confusing ones! Great way to exercise those little gray cells.
Intellectually stimulating.......2001-05-02
This is a fine book with independent chapters that can be dipped into when you want some good intellectual company. The first few puzzles got me hooked. Smullyan is very good at giving a new twist to old puzzles.
This is a workout for the brain!.......2000-11-30
The author starts out this book of logic puzzles with fairly easy stuff and moves the reader along so gradually that you are able to figure out solutions you never thought you could. But it gets REALLY complex toward the end and in fact lost me part of the time. So don't get too frustrated if you can't figure them all out. If you like logic puzzles, you don't want to miss this one.
An Eternal Testament to the Wonders of Logic and Mathematics.......1999-07-29
Dr. Raymond Smullyan once again spins a yarn, in which professional logic and tantalizing puzzles blend seemlessly into his tasteful story-line, taking us from King X and his logical/macabre sense of humour, to the insane assylums of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather, then onward to Transylvanyia and the Mysterious Islands, finally to stand along-side Craig as he faces his most challenging puzzle yet in the Mystery of the Monte Carlo Lock (which I am still solving). A must-read.
Average customer rating:
- Something Funny Going On Here
- Pirates and Logics and Kangaroos
- Excellent
- Predicts the Internet in 1946!
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Logic Named Joe
Murray Leinster
Manufacturer: Baen
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ASIN: 0743499107 |
Book Description
Three complete novels, one of them a Hugo Award finalist, with a number of short stories. The Pirates of Zan - When a young man is accused of being one of the Pirates of Zan and jailed unjustly, he is given a secret offer-in return for being permitted to "escape," he must shake up the establishment, which is getting set in its ways. He succeeds beyond anyone's wildest expectations, becoming not just a pirate, but the deadliest do-gooder in the galaxy. Gateway to Elsewhere - Suppose that in another dimension, the world of the Arabian Nights is real, including very powerful and very dangerous djinns, who are nothing like Aladdin's big blue pal. A man from our world wouldn't have a chance against them . . . or, would he? The Duplicators - A planet with a machine which can duplicate anything would be the wealthiest world in the galaxy, right? Wrong. And unless the hapless voyager who's trapped on the planet can find a solution to its problem, he isn't going to live to leave again. Plus three short stories, including "A Logic Named Joe," an uncannily prophetic story of home computers and the internet - written in 1946!
Customer Reviews:
Something Funny Going On Here.......2007-09-09
Eric Flint of Baen Books was bound and determined to bring Murray Leinster's prophetic 1946 story "A Logic Named Joe" back into print, and this collection was how he did it. "A Logic Named Joe" became the title story of a collection of some of Leinster's best humorous science fiction. As other reviewers have noted, the title story has gained a great deal of notoriety now that the internet revolution it predicted has come to pass. The story itself concerns a happily married computer technician who struggles to avoid a predatory ex-girlfriend.
1935's "The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator" finds a happy-go-lucky young man with a money-hungry fiancee and a tobacco-eating pet kangaroo dealing with a time-transporter-cum-duplicating-machine he has inherited from his late mad-scientist uncle. If Lucille Ball had had George Lucas' special-effects budget, every episode of _The Lucy Show_ would have been like this story.
1953's "Dear Charles" is a time-travel story that takes the Grandfather Paradox and turns it on its head. Imagine Heinlein's "All You Zombies" written in the style of "And He Built a Crooked House".
If John Campbell's fantasy magazine _Unknown_ had survived the World War II paper shortage, the 1952 novel _Gateway to Elsewhere_ would have appeared there. It bears an uncanny resemblance to de Camp and Pratt's Harold Shea stories in both tone and subject matter.
1959's _The Pirates of Zan_ and 1964's _The Duplicators_ are both set in Leinster's all-purpose interstellar civilization, in which his Colonial Survey and Med stories are also set. Both novels deal with clever young men who find themselves stuck on primitive planets in need of some quick and dirty social engineering. _The Pirates of Zan_ has a definite space opera feel to it, while _The Duplicators_ is more of a planetary romance.
Six tales, all of them witty, and all of them excellent. Go ahead and order this book.
Pirates and Logics and Kangaroos.......2006-08-05
I should state at the outset that I am an unabashed Murray Leinster fan, so I am likely to look with a measure of approval on _any_ venture intended to keep his stories and novels in print. _A Logic Named Joe_ (2004) is an omnibus consisting of three short stories and three novels. The short stories are: "The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator" (_Astounding_, 1935), "A Logic Named Joe" (_Astounding_, 1946), and "Dear Charles" (_Fantastic_, 1953). The novels are: _Gateway to Elsewhere_ (originally "Journey to Barkut," _Startling_, 1952), _The Pirates of Zan_ (originally "The Pirates of Ersatz," _Astounding_, 1959), and _The Duplicators_ (originally "Lord of the Uffts," _Worlds of Tomorrow_, 1964).
Let us take the novels first. Why should you want to read them? To be sure, none of them are classics. But they are all... well, _fun_. _Gateway to Elsewhere_ is the story of the consciencious young man who learns to live a little and who travels from the world of Baghdad-on-the-Hudson to the Baghdad of the Arabian Nights. _The Pirates of Zan_ is a delightful reworking of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta into a space opera format, and is easily the best of the three. _The Duplicators_ is a gentle spoof of communist pigs and southern aristocrats. It raises some problems about the economic and social effects of matter duplication that are not really solved by the end of the novel. But then, I'm not sure that they could be solved.
The short stories, like the novels, all have a light touch. "Dear Charles" is a slight but clever account of the distant ancestor who snakes the girl of his not-too-bright descendant. The other two stories are much more substantial. "The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator" is a marvelous piece of slapstick comedy involving time travel, matter duplication, and demented kangaroos. And "A Logic Named Joe" is a computer story written before computers were known-- before the word "computer" was even a part of our language. Read it and see how well Leinster managed to predict this technology-- and the problems that it would bring.
This is a wonderful book for hammock reading or for a lazy day or for a time when you want a good excuse to laugh. And it is a reminder of what the Dean of Science Fiction could do when he was working with all cylinders going.
Excellent.......2005-07-12
I recommend this book highly for those new to SIFI books. The sroties are witty and fresh. They often reminded me of other books but they are newer and no doubt were influenced by this one. This is a really terrific book.
Predicts the Internet in 1946!.......2005-06-30
This collection of short stories represents a sampling of short fiction that still stands up today. I am very glad that the publisher; Baen Books has the rights to publish some of these older works. There is a lot of good material out there only it's never recognized or buried never to be seen again. We can thank Jim Baen for having the vision of a good science fiction publisher. I can sum up this collection by saying it's very thought provoking and should be read by science fiction readers who like intriguing work.
Book Description
In this special edition, the author, Koh Kawarajima unveils an all-original story, "Nouveis Logic: Episode 0." The book's second half contains 16 pages of fully freehand black and white designs and sketches produced by the author - who poured his heart and soul into the creation of this special edition.
Customer Reviews:
Real nice refrence book.......2006-01-27
This is a pretty decent refrence book to penning and like all How to draw manga books they also show you some basic drawing ( i dont understand why they do this since they already have a MHTDM volume for it ). What I loved about THIS MHTDM volume was the drawing style as well as the angles, UNLIKE the first volume the art style is more current and not 80s feel like the first one. Provides info on what type of pens and pencils should be used when penning as well as shading info.
fantabulous - not just for inking!.......2005-06-17
this book is just as excellent as the reviewer before me stated. however, there are also some other reasons to get this book. even though i plan to CG my sketches, i bought this books anyways. why, you ask? is has a surprisingly large selection of different body and head poses, especially downward and upward angles (which i find difficult). and many of the techniques shown can easily be adapted to digital inking as well (i.e. modulating lines, tapering, etc.) by all means, give this book serious consideration.
Much better than I expected.......2004-12-05
I've been drawing for about 15 years, 10 of them SERIOUSLY, I mean, with REAL dedication and study. 9 years ago, I discovered my love manga-style, and wanted to learn more. And every time I got stuck on the same point: I don't know how to ink. I have about seven books of the HTDM series now, and when I found out this one, I wanted to take the risk of ordering something that has no review. And I found the following:
-Yes, IT DOES TEACH YOU HOW TO INK, with description and examples of materials, techniques and all the stuff.
-It gives you good advice on texturing and shading, even to express the character's personality through inking. And to make your drawings look professional.
-It covers a lot of manga related subjects, from the inking point of view, like the use of special "codes" (sweat drops, X's and the kind).
Yup, it's not for the rookie artist, but you just need to know this: if you already do a good work with pencils, now you won't ruin it anymore on the ink process.
Summing up: buy it. You wont regret it (well, unless you're a skilled inker, and even then you might get some usefull advice).
Book Description
After critics raved over Olympia Vernon's first novel, Eden, Vernon returns to the Deep South for the story of Logic, a young girl struggling to free herself from the unspeakable condition she refers to as "the butterflies floating inside" her.
As a child Logic Harris survived a fall from a tree-an accident that precipitated her transformation into a young girl lost in her own world. Logic's mother has secretly wished that Logic had not survived, and she now ignores the increasingly apparent evidence of the aberrant attention Logic's father bestows upon his daughter in her adolescence. As her mother retreats into her work as a neighborhood midwife and Logic's father collapses into paranoia, Logic is left to navigate alone what she scarcely understands. In inspired prose, stunning in its imaginative authority, Logic is a chilling allegory about the dangers of silence and a searing portrait of a girl lost in shame and fear, and a family and community too scarred by their own wounds to save her.
Customer Reviews:
Just OK.......2005-10-19
I thought this book was more poetry than a novel. It just didn't draw me in and I feel it was hard to follow.
A Lamb to Slaughter.......2005-02-05
Abuse, neglect, resentment, and torture are all things that the title character in Olympia Vernon's LOGIC endures. While Logic is growing up, it seems that those around her are regressing. Logic's mother, Too, resents her for the attention Logic's father gives to his daughter. If Too could only see that that type of attention is the type that no one wants, perhaps she would be better equipped to care about her daughter the way a mother should. Logic is forced to go it alone, clinging to the faithful prayers to get her through as she kneels and hums her praises and pleas. While she dreams of angels and butterflies, her reality runs over with the blood of a sacrificial lamb, which happens to be herself.
Logic's story is heartbreaking, tragic, outrageous, and haunting. In many instances, I was caught off guard by some of the prose and it became difficult to concentrate on the storyline. However, it's my suspicion that Vernon wanted the characters to drive this book, rather than the plot or storyline. Logic and the people she knew left a mark on me; they were all so different, but in many ways, so much alike, but too blinded by their afflictions to recognize it. It seems to me that this is often the case in the real world. We have the most conflict with those who are reflections of ourselves. While the sequence of events these characters experienced was notable, it was their individual essences that left their marks on me.
In the end, I was able to piece it all together and was presented with a memorable reading experience. Vernon's works are not effortlessly consumed; it takes thought to comprehend the latent meanings behind her strings of words, her alphabet, as she calls it. There are still some things I would like to ask her about - things that escaped me. Nonetheless, this was not a novel that was just a story, it was one that was a lesson in literature.
Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers
Undescribable.......2004-11-24
It was the cover of Ms. Vernon's novel Logic that first caught my eye; it was her original prose that caught my brain and would not let go. I have met and emailed Ms. Vernon, and have found a refuge like one finds in a friend, in her words.
Logic is a tale of a people. Not a black southern people, but of a forgotten people. Logic speaks out about the people who are dying from the inside out, and they know it. These are the people that make up the majority of our society. Even the 13 year old protagonist fully understands her fate.
I still do not know if I like Logic like I like ice cream, but the words can not be ignored. Ms. Vernon's prose is different, you will not understand every single connection she is trying to make, but the journey is well worth it. I have not stopped thinking about the novel since I finished it,and I doubt I ever will.
This book is like nothing I have ever read. That, to me, is the greatest achievement of an author.
Vernon Surpasses Herself.......2004-09-28
In Olympia Vernon's new book, "Logic" she surpasses herself. She demonstrates genuine growth in her skills and maturity in her writing. "Logic" is quite a work of art and something for her to be proud.
In her first book, "Eden", she broke new ground in literature by writing in daring ways. There's an innocence and newness to her first book, a boldness that allows her to stand out. It's ludicrous for her to be compared to Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, or Richard Wright. Not only is her writing very different from theirs, but as she has stated many times at book signings and other public appearances, she has never read any of their books. Certainly there may be similiarities that can be drawn between this set of writers and Vernon simply because of their similar backgrounds (African-Americans and mostly 20th Century Southerners). However, her voice is so unique that such comparisons (in my opinion) are signs of laziness or prejudice on the part of any reviewer who would make them.
In her second and latest novel, "Logic" the innocence and rawness found in "Eden" is decidedly missing. It's a shame, but it was too be expected. A writer cannot remain unaffected by the natural personal growth that comes from time or unaffected by exposure to readers and reviewers. To my delight, however, Vernon compensates the reader with a more skillfully written novel. In "Eden" the first ten or so chapters are boldly written and are extremely engaging. About half way through the novel, however, the language softens and its challenging nature is replaced with poetic prose that makes one stop a few times per page to re-read and to appreciate marvelous phrases and sentiments. By contrast, "Logic" is thick with such poetic prose from start to finish, demonstrating Vernon's growth as a writer. Nearly every sentence is worthy of a re-read. There are some lines that even weeks after finishing reading the novel one will find oneself repeating and considering further.
Some readers find Vernon's artistry difficult and criticize her for it, accusing her writing of being incomprehensible at times. But, isn't that always the way with poetic prose? Don't most common readers balk at Shakespeare? For those who complain at the rough issues that Vernon makes the reader face, isn't it likely that they would also reject Dostoevskii's "Crime and Punishment"? And for those who find Vernon's challenging, rule-breaking style confusing, are they not the same people who would never read Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy"?
For readers who can appreciate writing for which the very words themselves make you stop and ponder, for readers who aren't afraid to face real life problems of the poor and oppressed, for readers who have the intellectual agility to keep up with an original voice, I recommend they read "Eden" and "Logic". I recommend reading "Eden" first and then reading "Logic" in particular in solitude and at a leisurely pace so that you may enjoy its richness and so that you may consider it properly in the complete canon of literature.
Indecipherable Agony.......2004-09-17
Nothing can describe the Creative Writing short story that this novel purports to be. The story lacks much, and in attempting to emulate more skilled literati like Angelou and Toni Morrison, Vernon has cut and pasted emotionally-invoking scenes without a clear method of comprehension. A regrettable waste of an afternoon.
Average customer rating:
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Cervantes and Modernity: Four Essays on Don Quijote
E. C. Graf
Manufacturer: Bucknell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0838756557 |
Book Description
By water logic, a cow doctor becomes a politician. A soldier becomes a flower farmer. A lost book contains a lost future. The patterns of history are made and unmade.
Amid assassinations, rebellions, and the pyres of too many dead, a new government forms in the land of Shaftal-a government of soldiers and farmers, scholars and elemental talents, all weary of war and longing for peace. But some cannot forget their losses, and some cannot imagine a place for themselves in an enemy land. Before memory, before recorded history, something happened that now must be remembered. Zanja na'Tarwein, the crosser of boundaries, born in fire and wedded to earth, has fallen under the ice. Now, by water logic, the logic of patterns repeated, of laughter and music, the lost must be found-or the found may forever be lost.
Laurie J. Marks teaches at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is the author of five previous novels, and her first two Elemental Logic novels (
Fire Logic and
Earth Logic) won the Gaylactic Spectrum Award and received multiple starred reviews. She is a recipient of the Fairy Godmother Award (James D. Tiptree, Jr. Award) and a founding member of Broad Universe.
Customer Reviews:
excellent elemental logical fantasy .......2007-07-07
The Sainnites defeated the Shaftali in the war that devastated the balance between the elementals (see FIRE LOGIC and EARTH LOGIC). Whereas victorious General Clement wants a peaceful adjustment in the land her army occupies so her people and the vanquished can recover and prosper and the elementals can get back to the normal logical balance, the Shaftali forge a government seeking peace.
However, not everyone on the losing side wants the end of the war even with the Shaftali G'deon Karis agreeing to terms with Clement. Some of those who lost their vaunted positions of power launch a counter insurgency against the invaders and those they call traitors. Clement's Shaftali lover Seth is no longer just a field doctor as he as a member of the new Council tracks down the assassin who tried to kill Karis and the fire witch Zanja na'Tarwein assumes the water elemental brought her back two centuries to save her world of the future, but failed to give her a means to communicate with her peers two hundred years from now.
The third elemental logical fantasy is a fabulous entry that continues the tale of a world at war that has led to imbalances threatening its' existence. Readers will admire Laura J. Marks ability to move back and forth between her three prime subplots with two superb threads interrelated to the war and its tentative peace while the third even better segment mixes the fire witch with water. This series continues to be one of the best epic fantasies on the market today although the audience should read the previous tales first to see how Clement, Karis, Seth, and others got to this point and to better understand the WATER LOGIC.
Harriet Klausner
Best of the series!.......2007-06-10
As much as I enjoyed the earlier volumes of this series, "Water Logic" takes the author's Elemental epic into deeper, darker, more compelling places. Superbly plotted, this novel is a page-turner that grabs you from the very beginning and never lets go.
The most impressive thing about "Water Logic" is its depth of emotion. Always a brilliant writer, Marks really gets under the skins of her characters here, and the gamble pays off. There's a level of passion that hasn't been seen before, and a sense of urgency that makes the reader care about the fate of troubled Shaftal, and care deeply.
The three major plotlines are all interesting, but my favorite is Zanja's water-witch driven journey to Shaftal's past. No spoilers here--all I'll say is that the conclusion's a stunner, weaving threads from the previous books together in a hugely satisfying way. This is a beautifully crafted novel, and a perfect entry point for new readers.
Average customer rating:
- The best study in the field of literature and addiction
- A sound analysis, placing key modernist writers in context
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The White Logic: Alcoholism and Gender in American Modernist Fiction
John W. Crowley
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0870239449 |
Customer Reviews:
The best study in the field of literature and addiction.......2000-06-03
John Crowley's study of alcohol and gender in Modernist fiction is, I think, the most aware of the numerous books which are considered fundamental reading in this field. Where Tom Dardis' _The Thirsty Muse_ is too limited in its scope and completely fails to acknowledge the arean of gender within the context of alcohol and addiction, Crowley's scholarship takes the woman alcoholic into consideration, by including a chapter on Djuna Barnes. Too, some of the other texts within this area, like Gilmore's _Equivocal Spirits_, Newlove's _Those Drinking Days_, and Goowin's _Alcohol and the Wirter_ fail in their attempts to provide a comprehensive or inclusive anaolysis of the ways that alcohol has functioned in the lives and the works of twentieth century writers.
Certainly, Crowley's addressing of gender within this field is not unproblematic. Providing Djuna Barnes as a mere foil to his dicussion of the masculinity and homosociality he discusses London, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald seems dismissive of the important issues women's writing and women's alcoholism provoke. Nonetheless, Crowleys seems light years ahead of the predecessors.
The book itself is easy reading, his prose style critical and literary critic-esque enough to garner professional respect while still remaining lively and interesting and non sleep-inducing.
A sound analysis, placing key modernist writers in context.......1998-10-31
John W. Crowley deals competently with the historical shift in understandings of alcoholism, from the temperance-led view of moral deficit to the illness concept of the `alcoholism movement'. Whilst covering some of the same ground as Tom Dardis' s seminal work `The Thirsty Muse', this book nevertheless raises some interesting insights into the lost generation of American writers and their antecedents. Possibly it is most compelling where it considers the context of the era, as characterized by the collective post traumatic stress precipitated by the Great War and the unique restrictions of the Prohibition years. What Crowley adds to this well-worn ground is his linkage to socially constructed gender roles in turmoil - though his account is not unproblematic in its approach. `The White Logic' usefully rehearses the prevalent psychoanalytic view of that time in discourses treating alcoholism as a dysfunction of repressed homosexuality. Indeed, Crowley almost alludes to male alcoholism as a `feminised' or emasculated space. He also highlights the extremes socially allocated the female drinker, the either/or paradigms of (un-sexed) lesbian or (over-sexed) slut. Rather than developing this aspect of the argument farther, the book falls foul of its own trap in its inclusion of only one female writer - Djuna Barnes - arguably selected as representative of both these polarities.
`Drunk narratives' by WD Howells, Jack London and John O'Hara - plus the obligatory Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald works - are deftly utilized. The author's selection of texts does appear to hamper a fruitful line of inquiry into the rise and drink-related decline of each individual writer's creativity. O'Hara's `Appointment at Samarra', for example, is a first novel, whilst `Tender is the Night' is a later work from an established writer in the grip of his addiction and already on a creative downward spiral. The most commendable chapter is chronologically the last. Crowley's method of inflecting literary text with biographical context is at its best here in his examination of Charles Jackson's `The Lost Weekend'. It marks the ascendance of the `illness concept' which still remains dominant, largely due to the medicalization of alcoholism and the prevalence of Alcoholics Anonymous, post World War II. Crowley also traces the increasing willingness of Hollywood to engage with narratives promoting alcoholism-as-illness. This is a strategy which of course accelerates after the successful transition of Jackson's novel to screen in 1945 - but with its ending changed to accommodate Hollywood's appetite for upbeat resolution.
Overall, `The White Logic' is a comprehensive survey - perceptive and accessibly written. It runs the risk though of leaving the reader with a somewhat reductive impression - distilling modernism itself to a privileged class monologue, in the spuriously heroic pursuit of absolution through dissolution.
Amazon.com
Some people who think they hate math are lucky to learn that they actually just can't abide its often dry, abstract presentation. Physicist Colin Bruce turns math teaching on its head by using conflict, drama, and familiar characters to bring probability and game theory to vivid life in Conned Again, Watson! Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability. Using short stories crafted in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he lets Sherlock Holmes guide Watson and his clients through elementary mathematical reasoning. This kind of thinking is growing more and more important as poll numbers, economic indicators, and scientific data find their way into the mainstream, and Bruce's gambit pays off handsomely for the reader. Delving into such arcana as normal distribution, Bayesian logic, and risk taking, the stories never dry up, even when presenting tables or graphs. Holmes's quick wit, Watson's patience, and their various friends' and clients' dubious decisions unite both to entertain and to illuminate tough but important problems. Even the cleverest numerophile will probably still find a nugget or two of hidden knowledge in the book, or at least a few new ways to explain statistical concepts to friends and students. The rest of us can relax, enjoy the tales, and come away a little bit tougher to con. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
A thrilling way to learn about probability, statistics, and math-by watching Sherlock Holmes help victims exploited by evil con men. "I wish I understood these matters, of chance and luck!" I said as we walked. "But to a dunce like myself, it all seems hopelessly paradoxical." Holmes smiled as he tucked the Marquis's winnings carefully into his waistcoat pocket. "You will indeed need to master the reasoning, Watson, to prosper in the new century," he said. "I could name you a dozen fallacies of probability and logic, where the outcome runs quite contrary to intuition. They form the basis of the cleverest cons and crimes and capers a detective could hope to find. In fact, I have a hunch that we will soon meet some illuminating cases." Herein are cautionary tales of greedy gamblers, reckless businessmen, and honest people misled by their common sense. From "The Unpleasantness at the Munchausen Club" to "Murder at Checkers," there has never been a more exciting way to learn about probability, statistics, game theory, and when to take a calculated risk.
Customer Reviews:
Great for a math-phobe like me........2007-08-20
I am frankly shocked by the negative reviews, although it could be that the reviewers are math-lovers who just find the stories too basic or something. For me, a relative novice to math thinking, the book is a delight. Bruce manages to capture much of the tone of the original Holmes books and works interesting math illustrations (some, to be fair, a little contrivedly) into the stories. Minus the math, the stories still have enough whimsy, flair, and character development to warrant reading them. Perhaps my expectations were so low for anything to do with a subject I avoid that "Conned Again" is getting all but a free pass from me, but I really enjoy this work and will look for more of Bruce's writing.
"Conned by Whom, Watson?".......2007-06-06
I have read seven chapters of this book so far and I ask all readers of this book to beware! Even though the author Bruce Collins attempts to explain some math, probability and logic in pedagogical stories using Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, readers of this release of the book (2001) should be careful of errors. For example as explained on pages 72 & 73 have both Holmes and Watson made a mistake by saying or agreeing that there are six ways to get to the middle point of the diagram called "A Walk Along the Pier"? There may be six routes to get to that point labelled "6" but Holmes mentions flipping a coin 6 times (e.g. Head, Head, Head, Tail, Tail, Tail). For an equal number of heads and tails with six flips of a coin, wouldn't Watson get to the point labelled "20" (for 20 routes) on the diagram because there are 20 possible configurations of getting 3 heads and 3 tails (e.g. Head, Head, Head, Tail, Tail, Tail; Head, Head, Tail, Head, Tail, Tail;...Tail, Tail, Tail, Head, Head, Head etc)? Another example is in the story "The Case of the Martian Invasion" where Holmes is explaining a failure mode of a powered airplane by a "bird strike" (as in a flock of birds which could cause one or more engines to fail). Remember these stories take place around 1900 and the Wright Brothers have not yet had a sucessful powered airplane flight. Would Holmes be seriously considering multiple engine failure modes due to a "bird strike"?! Also, readers get introduced to a Reverend Dodgson as Lewis Carroll (writer of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland") in one of the earlier stories but in this story of the Martian invasion, readers get introduced to an Alexander Smith, designer of the Titanic! According to what I've looked up using Google, Alexander Carlisle and Thomas Andrews were designers of the Titanic. The captian of the ship, however, was Captain Smith (not Captain Alexander Smith)! So, do not assume you'll be getting necessarily an accurate history lesson. And what kind of thing is it for Holmes to say "...Love is all very well, Watson, but there comes a point where Darwin's laws must be left to take their course"! Do you think the author is trying to tease us? So too, another example occurs in the story called "Three Cases of Unfair Preferment" where a set of weirdly constructed dice are described; one die is colored red; another is colored black and another is colored white. It turns out that these dice are biased based on how they are made. Now, isn't "Watson" mistaken by saying "The red dice..." - should he say "The red die..." instead (p148)? Holmes goes on to describe how that in this case the red die has a higher probablity of winning over black; the black has a higher probability of winning over than white (per Holmes "5/9 of the time" as mentioned on p158) and how "white is better than red." He then compares these dice to the paper, rock ("stone") and scissors game. But is it fair, logically speaking, to compare the paper-rock-scissors game to these dice? Where are the set probabilities of a piece of paper winning over a rock (for example)? It's not a fair comparison because in the case of these dice, even though "black wins over white," white can still win over black albeit with a smaller probability. But can you imagine, for example, a piece of a paper winning over a scissor (some of the time)? It doesn't go both ways. So, is Holmes wrong? Thus after reading this, let me ask you if you would think that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are making these kind of errors? Perhaps the reader himself should ask, who is really doing the conning?
Holmes as a master educator in logic and deduction.......2004-05-25
Some time ago, Lamarr Widmer, the editor of the problem column of "Journal of Recreational Mathematics" submitted a review of this book to me, in my capacity as book reviews editor of JRM. As soon as I read the first two paragraphs of the review, I knew that I had to read the book. Sherlock Holmes is without question the greatest character to appear in fiction, the style of the stories still inspire many spin-offs. In the science fiction television series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation", the Holmes style of problem solving is used in many episodes. This book presents several stories where Holmes solves problems with a mathematical theme. Each of them is a delight to read and I did a good deal of head scratching as I tried to anticipate the solution to the puzzle.
My favorite story in the collection is "The Case of the Martian Invasion", which, set at the turn of the twentieth century, covers the possibility of heavier-than-air flying machines, "Martian" images on the Moon, crop circles and secret messages being embedded in biblical verse. The proponent of a Martian invasion believes that heavier-than-air machines are possible, putting forward the fundamental principle of using complex machines. That is of course redundancy, where multiple engines are placed on the aircraft in such a way that it can fly with any subset above a certain size. The explanation of the "secret messages" is easy, nothing more than a simple exercise in the probability of the frequency of the appearance of letters and looking hard enough.
The other stories were nearly as interesting and cover many areas of life, the probability of various events being the most common scenario. Game theory and decision theory is also used to solve the cases brought before the greatest detective of all time. Although they are set in the time of Holmes, the events described in the puzzles can still be applied to life in the twenty-first century.
I found this to be one of the best demonstrations of logical deduction based on sound mathematical principles that I have ever seen. Although he is constantly praised for his skill in logical deduction, Holmes also possesses another talent, that of a master teacher.
Published in the recreational mathematics newsletter, reprinted with permission.
Watson we've got a winner!.......2002-12-31
If I could guarantee that the author of this book was as wise as his characters, I would marry him sight unseen.
Regardless, this is a book worthy of many readings.
A Wonderful, enjoyable book!.......2002-12-31
Unlike some other reviewers, I am neither a statistitian nor a Sherlock Holms lover. I never cared much for murder mysteries perse, but as a tool for exploring such interesting concepts I thought it worked well. Yes he took a few liberties with history (as he pointed out in the end notes)--so what?
The stories were not designed to top those of doyle but to make some interesting probability and decision making concepts approachable, relevent, and enjoyable. This they did wonderfully. As someone who was turned off to math after years of dull, abstract school lecture, my interest arose from my work in business and computer science. Some of these concepts were not new to me, but all were from new angles. I found .the math easy to follow(depressingly difficult to predict!) and only wished I had not run out of pages. I plan not only to check out the author's other work, but some of the additional reading he kindly suggests in the notes. Thank you Mr. Bruce for and enjoyable read.
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