Book Description
Seven Spiritual Masterworks by C. S. Lewis
This classic collection includes C. S. Lewis's most important spiritual works:
Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letters
The Great Divorce
The Problem of Pain
Miracles
A Grief Observed
The Abolition of Man
Customer Reviews:
A very good book to get, if you are interested in theological issues and enjoy C.S. Lewis.......2007-10-16
This is a very good book to understand more about the Christian faith and various topics like pain, miracles, grief. I would say that parts of the book are very well written apologetics, but since there are various books in this one volume, there are also different styles and genres...
The two works that are closest to fiction resemble different aspects of various prose, with "The Screwtape Letters" being written in a form of collected letters.
I can only endorse this book: It has been very helpful in understanding my faith and the varieties in the different denominations, because it was written with much wisdom and insight that many people can prosper from.
C.S. Lewis is a genius!.......2007-10-05
GREAT book! Arrived quick and in perfect condition. Some of my favorite works by this author.
Brilliant.......2007-10-01
Those that read his several works contained in this book will appreciate his straightword and understandable writing. Yet, still readers will be amazed at his deftness in describing heaven's honesty and glorifying light, and his illumination of hell's lies and destructive darkness. The book is awesome.
The Answer Is Found........2007-09-22
If you have any questions to the way life is a certain way, or just want to expand your mind and let new things in, this is the book. Lewis shows in one occasion that truth has the same meaning no matter what time and age you live in. In MERE CHRISTIANITY (my favorite), he uses what he calls the "natural law" and not once uses the bible to show why certain things can only come from a creator. EXCELLENT BOOK!!!
A must for EVERY Chritian or those considering Christianity.......2007-09-10
Christianity is a journey of discovery and growth... Lewis, a one-time-atheist, has written incredible stories and teaching works that have inspired Christians and surprised everyone else for the better part of the last century. His way of bringing to light the answers to questions you have, and expounding on questions you might not have thought of yet will help anyone on their way to understanding powerful truths in life. Reading C S Lewis has shaped my understanding of my own faith in a way i could not have conceived. he does not present new and controversial ideas, or formulas... he merely helps to understand age old issues that affect us all.
This book is a well put together collection of some of his greatest apologetic works that prove and illuminate the Christian Faith. If you don't have it, get it! Then, go out and get his other works, like The Cosmic Trilogy, or The Chronicle of Narnia. Lewis infuses his powerful ideas into these as well, and tells brilliantly woven stories that enthrall our imaginations and inspire our hearts. Please Enjoy...
Book Description
The series that launched a comic-strip renaissance continues.
"My name is 555 95472 but everyone calls me 5 for short...I have two sisters named 3 and 4." With those words, Charles Schulz introduced one (in fact, three) of the quirkiest characters to the Peanuts universe, the numerically-monikered 95472 siblings. They didn't stay around very long but offered some choice bits of satirical nonsense while they did.
As it happens, this volume is particularly rich in never-before-reprinted strips: Over 150 (more than one fifth of the book!) have never seen the light of day since their original appearance over 40 years ago, so this will be a trove of undiscovered treasures even for avid Peanuts collectors.
These "lost" strips include Linus making a near-successful run for class president that is ultimately derailed by his religious beliefs (two words: "great" and "pumpkin"), and Snoopy getting involved with a group of politically fanatical birds. One wonders: Was it the political edge in these stories that got them consigned to oblivion for so long? Also worthy of note is an extended, never-reprinted sequence in which Snoopy gets ill and heads to the veterinarian hospital...
Also in this volume: Lucy's attempts at improving her friends branches out from her increasingly well-visited nickel psychiatry booth to an educational slideshow of Charlie Brown's faults (it's so long there's an intermission!). Also, Snoopy's doghouse begins its conceptual expansion, as Schulz reveals that the dog owns a Van Gogh, and that the ceiling is so huge that Linus can paint a vast (and as it turns out unappreciated) "history of civilization" mural on it.
And baseball continues to be a mainstay: Charlie Brown suffers from pitcher's elbow and is replaced by Linus, who turns out to be a vast improvement; he also blows several more crucial matches through various screw-ups (one with the little red haired girl in attendance); and adding insult to injury, his favorite baseball player is demoted to the minor league.
The Complete Peanuts 1963-64 features a new introduction by animator Bill Melendez, producer of over 75 Peanuts animated specials and movies, including the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Peanuts is the most successful comic strip in the history of the medium. A United Media poll in 2002 found Peanuts to be the second most recognizable cartoon property in the world, recognized by 94 percent of the total U.S. consumer market and a close second only to Mickey Mouse (96 percent).
Customer Reviews:
More of the same, however excellent that same was.......2007-09-09
Much of this was more of the same, the continued development of the characters. There is a set of new characters (Five, with Four and Three coming later) but they turn out to be little more than props, good for a week or two and afterwards for when Schulz needed a generic male for Charlie Brown (Shermy now only shows up for group strips). Three and Four look like little Peppermint Patties, and since Peppermint Patty ends up coming from a single-parent family (father only) one wonders if this is sort of backstory for that.
Foreshadowing some of the changes coming up on the next volume are a couple of developments. The baseball mound has become a scene itself, where the characters come up to chat on various things. As for this volume (1963-64), it's just a couple of characters coming up with things to talk about.
As for the red-headed girl, she has changed from a merely distant figure (distant implying "out of Charlie Brown's League) to a seemingly active source of shame and humiliation. Not that Charlie Brown needs her to humiliate him (as some of the baseball groups show, he could do that all by himself), but it definitely adds an accent point to what's going on around him with those he talks to.
One of the most interesting comics has Charlie Brown actually coming on top, although it's more his father than him. Violet spends a few panels bragging about her Father, which Charlie Brown doesn't so much parry but amplifies by explanation. However, CB stops Violet short and explains that his father makes an honorable living and always has a minute for him no matter what he's doing. The last panel has Violet walking with a slight downward tilt of her head and a seeming sadness in her eyes, as if she had finally been devastatingly bested.
In the end, this is worth getting, although I'd get the 1959-1960 and 1961-1962 before this one.
the complete peanuts 1961/62.......2007-08-22
I came to peanuts cartoons late in my life, but for the past five years I have bought every book available. Luckily for me as I have been a customer of amazon both in america and england and bringing out yearly books has been marvelous. Whenever I feel down I just read a few pages and I'm fine. The trouble is Im' going to be around 80 years old before this complete series is printed!!!! Is there anyway we can move this along? Doreen uk
How can he lose when he's so sincere?.......2007-06-29
A 2007 summer reading list mini review.
Peanuts has been a lifelong obsession with me. Their first t.v. special came out when I was a toddler. One of the first record albums, I recall listening to was "Your'e a good man Charlie Brown" which contains acted out scenes of many of the strips in this volume. I also grew up across the street from a public library and spent countless hours reading every book of Peanuts reprints I could get my hand on.
I especially like the 1963 to 1964 strips because they initiate two of my favorite Peanuts storylines: the one please line, and Joe Shlabotnik. By the one please line, I refer to the strips where the peanuts gang are lined up to buy movie tickets. Sequences like these afforded Schulz the opportunity to put most of his characters in one strip. Joe Shlabotnik is the name of Charlie Brown's favorite ball player who gets sent down to the low minors in this tome. When Patty asks in the 5-9-64 strip if he had feet of clay, Charlie browns reply is "No, he had a low batting average."
One of the best indicators of the staying power of Peanuts is that I am seldom able to read mine as my seven year old daughter is constantly borrowing them. Apparently, she is beginning the same lifelong obsession with peanuts that I have. Good grief!
Excellent quality but strip size a tad small.......2007-06-25
This is the first of "The Complete Peanuts" series I purchase. Having been a Peanuts aficionado as a child and teenager, I am happy that Fantagraphic gives me the chance to revisit the gang in these beautifully designed books. I chose this volume for the sentimental reason I was born in 1963 and wanted to see the strips that were running as I came into the world. Although I was more than happy with the paper quality and design, I want to mention my disappointment at the reduced size of the strip panels, compared to the Holt, Rinehart and Winston editions of the 1960s-70s I was accustomed to. The Peanuts Parade books published in the 80s are even larger in size. One can only speculate as to why Fantagraphic choose to print smaller-sized panels (perhaps to save in costs?), and it's the only reason I'm giving 4 instead of 5 stars to this otherwise extraordinary volume.
Good work, Charles Schulz.......2007-05-31
I would definitely give this latest volume 5 stars just for the opportunity of reading the strips. But I'm really happy that the printing quality is much better than the last volume. The Sunday strips particularly are as clean and crisp as the 1960s paperback books from Holt.
Highlights for me were the Sunday strips that weren't printed before, along with the greater explanation of newest character 5 and sisters 3 and 4. Although the school election had been printed in Peanuts Classics (out of print large volume from the 1970s), the run of cartoons wasn't released in its entirety. I noticed that a week's worth of cartoons which took place after Charlie Brown's Little Leaguer Elbow incident wasn't originally included in the 1960s books, which made me wonder if Mr. Schulz had decided it was less than his usual steller (something I never could understand because I love them all).
Any Peanut fan will tell you that this volume, along with the others, is well worth buying. I cannot recommend it enough.
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful story, may be controversial for younger readers
- Sweetly funny, sorely real
- Wonderful literature and teaching tool!
- Tragic History
- The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
Christopher Paul Curtis
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ASIN: 044022800X
Release Date: 2000-12-12 |
Amazon.com
The year is 1963, and self-important Byron Watson is the bane of his younger brother Kenny's existence. Constantly in trouble for one thing or another, from straightening his hair into a "conk" to lighting fires to freezing his lips to the mirror of the new family car, Byron finally pushes his family too far. Before this "official juvenile delinquent" can cut school or steal change one more time, Momma and Dad finally make good on their threat to send him to the deep south to spend the summer with his tiny, strict grandmother. Soon the whole family is packed up, ready to make the drive from Flint, Michigan, straight into one of the most chilling moments in America's history: the burning of the Sixteenth Avenue Baptist Church with four little girls inside.
Christopher Paul Curtis's alternately hilarious and deeply moving novel, winner of the Newbery Honor and the Coretta Scott King Honor, blends the fictional account of an African American family with the factual events of the violent summer of 1963. Fourth grader Kenny is an innocent and sincere narrator; his ingenuousness lends authenticity to the story and invites readers of all ages into his world, even as it changes before his eyes. Curtis is also the acclaimed author of Bud, Not Buddy, winner of the Newbery Medal. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter
Book Description
A wonderful middle-grade novel narrated by Kenny, 9, about his middle-class black family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. When Kenny's 13-year-old brother, Byron, gets to be too much trouble, they head South to Birmingham to visit Grandma, the one person who can shape him up. And they happen to be in Birmingham when Grandma's church is blown up.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful story, may be controversial for younger readers.......2007-09-27
This book tells a wonderful tale of an African-American family in the early 60s. Most of the book just reveals each family members unique personality and shows that this family really loves each other. Not wanting to spoil the ending, but hoping to warn parents, the book, near the very end, brings up important ideas about racial prejudices through the use of very violent, almost graphic descriptions of tragic events in our history. The author does a marvelous job of really making the reader fall in love with the Watsons family, so that by the time the main event hits at the end, the reader really understands the cruelty of racial prejudice. I really thought the book was great and that it the topic is something people need to learn about and understand. However, I would caution that this book might be too frightening and violent for younger children. I wouldn't recommend it until maybe the middle school level.
Sweetly funny, sorely real.......2007-09-02
I thoroughly enjoyed the family tale of the Watsons heading out to straighten out that "juvenile delinquent" brother of Kenny's as well as the aftermath of those appalling events in Birmingham at the time. The humor of the story served the shocking tragedy well, placing these horrific acts within the context of a family just living life and dealing with everyday issues. Kenny's reactions were honest and Byron proved himself to be a true big brother. I will definitely be recommending this book to some of my kids!
Wonderful literature and teaching tool!.......2007-06-27
The Watson's Go to Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis is an amazing book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I used it in my seventh grade Language Arts classes and they begged me to "just go on to the next chapter". It is a book that will capture the attention of all age groups!
The book is about an African American family who live in Flint, Michigan. Mom, Dad, Kenny (narrarator of the book), Byron, and Joey are a typical family who share triumphs, love, and tragedy. Mom decides she wants to return to her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama to visit grandma. The Watson's travel in 1963, a trying time for many African Americans. While in Birmingham, something tragic occurs that will bring the family closer than ever.
I was very impressed with this book. This book could be used in Language Arts classes or in Social Studies classes. There are many relevant issues that could be discussed in either course. It is also a book that anyone would enjoy reading, as a class assignment or just during leisure. I plan to continue teaching this book as long as I am a teacher and I'm sure, years down the road, students will still enjoy this novel.
Tragic History.......2007-06-05
The Watson family, African-Americans living in the 1960s, live a pretty normal life, as narrated by ten-year-old Kenny. They live in Michigan, although that gets too cold in the wintertime for Kenny's mom's taste. Kenny's dad is something of a clown, always doing things to make his wife and children laugh. Kenny himself is a smart kid who likes to read but doesn't have many friends. His older brother Byron picks on him and is something of a punk, but since he has a reputation for being tough, not many other kids pick on Kenny. Kenny also has a little sister, Joey, who is five.
This story chronicles a year in the lives of the Watson family. Kenny generally keeps a cool head about things, even though he is constantly a witness to his brother getting into trouble and he is ofen a victim of his brother's punches. But Kenny's parents are getting tired of Byron's behavior, and they have decided to do something about it. That summer they get their old car all cleaned up and the five of them pile in for a trip to Alabama, where Kenny's grandmother lives. She is said to be quite a disciplinarian, and Kenny's parents have threatened to leave Byron there for the entire summer and, if necessary, the entire next year if he doesn't straighten up.
While in Alabama, though, something awful happens that throws Kenny into a state of shock, which he can't quite shake off even when they are all safe at home back in Michigan. Will Kenny be able to recover from what he witnessed in Alabama?
I liked the fact that Kenny narrated; he told the story of his family in a way that made them interesting to the reader. I also liked how Kenny's parents treated their children; they spent a lot of time joking around with the kids, but when they did something wrong the parents took it seriously.
I didn't like that the big event that the story had been building toward happened right at the end of the story. I thought that the family would have had more contact with the events going on in Alabama, and the story would include more history of what was going on at this time in the South.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963.......2007-06-04
The Watsons are a family that loves each other, but always have fights and other problems. Kenny, the 10 year old, tells the story. He is a cool kid and kind. His little sister Joetta is also a cool kid. Byron is their brother. He gets into fights and bullies people and tells lies.
The family decides to take Byron to go stay with his grandma in Birmingham because he would not stop playing with matches. Momma was afraid he would burn the house down. That was a trip that changed the whole family.
Ke'Ara, 5th grade, Oakland, CA
Amazon.com
Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel.
The Bell Jar tells the story of a gifted young woman's mental breakdown beginning during a summer internship as a junior editor at a magazine in New York City in the early 1950s. The real Plath committed suicide in 1963 and left behind this scathingly sad, honest and perfectly-written book, which remains one of the best-told tales of a woman's descent into insanity.
Book Description
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under--maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experiece as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
Download Description
This first-person narrative of a young woman with an existential mental problem struggling toward adulthood is often seen as Ms. Plath'sautobiography.
The Bell Jar is a delicate plunge into the mind of someone losing sanity.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful read!.......2007-10-11
Great book! Beautifully written. It is a novel that I plan to keep on my bookshelf indefinitely.
Twisting and Turning.......2007-10-06
I picked up The Bell Jar by chance, I was looking through Barnes and Noble, I saw it, and asked my mother what she thought of it.
"Oh it's about someone like you and your sisters, crazy."
Instantly I bought it (I picked the one with the fabulous cover of course!)
I read it in 1.5 hours.
It is a delicious read. You can really taste the words and the madness inside of the character. It amplifies madness and beauty. It sits on a place of honor, on my shelf of favorites.
Buy it and read it. The story will sweep you off your feet and drag you into the realms of madness.
Taste and see.
Very Impressive.......2007-10-04
Living with bipolar disorder myself, she captures some of the nuances of depression and describes them very well. The nonchalant approach to ending one's own life, like doing the laundry or cutting the grass comes across accurately. (from experience) The emotional struggles, most who have suffered with major depression will find something deeply connecting with this book. Read and comprehend this book the way it was meant to be, you will find another world that does exist in some of us.
I have found her writing so captivating, the descriptions, simple but effective. She saw a different world, as most of us do, but to write the way she does takes talent. This book led me to read her unabridged journals. An amazing, intelligent but damaged woman.
Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.......2007-10-03
Insanity is a weird thing - most people are `insane' to some degree or the other - while a minority succumb to the polarities of the disease and swing back and forth much like a pendulum.
Sylvia Plath fell into the latter category, and while the positive end of her spectrum meant that she created some shockingly good work, the negative end ensured that she would meet a tragic and self-inflicted end. Her suicide I think, remains the most mechanical, yet most poetic death of all the great writers, and it's a pity that shes often remembered as `that woman poet who stuck her head in an oven' when in fact she was well spoken, eloquent woman whose command over the English language was much vaster and encompassing than yours or mine.
"The Bell Jar", her only full length fictional prose work, is almost autobiographical in patches. The publishers make it clear that this is not Plaths' own story, but you cannot help but identify the lead character as Plath herself. The way I see it is this - Sylvia created a fictional character, but gave it her mind and thoughts, leading to one of the most fascinating fictional characters in modern prose. To me, this was the literary equivalent of a convergence of both David Lynch's masterpieces "Inland Empire" and "Mulholland Drive". The same "a woman in trouble, yet she doesn't know it yet" theme permeates the entire novel, and by the time it reaches its (somewhat obvious) conclusion, you're left wondering how Plath didn't invest more of her time in churning out full fledged prose novels.
Simply put, this novel chronicles the descent of a womans' mind, but its so much more than that. It speaks of mental disease with a frankness that the author probably didn't quite comprehend at the time. Maybe she did, but either way, I think what she was doing her was to capture the state of her own mind frame by frame until that fateful day in real life when she so notoriously took her own life. "The Bell Jar" has its moment of adolescent wandering and naivete, which I found quite endearing considering the age of the author when she wrote this. Perhaps she wasn't mature enough to deal with life as she grew older, or maybe she was too caught up in her own web of literary wonder to crawl out of it. I think all the great poets were afflicted to some degree with this disease, and Plath is no exception.
If you're interested in a semi-autobiographical (though the blurb won't admit it!) book by a great poet, this is the book for you. Its never boring, and is quite an easy read as Sylvia trades in her famous double entendre poetic metaphors for more easily accessible and simply written language. Short crisp sentences. Clear dialogue. And yet, the sentences get shorter, and thoughts get more fragmented as we plummet with the author into the very depths of insanity. An unforgettable, and somewhat scary experience - but as a book lover, one you should definitely experience.
Five Stars.
It's her.......2007-09-05
A review??? It's Sylvia Plath, need we say more...Master of work..Master of poem, totally the greatest...
Book Description
Broadcast journalism came of age in the Kennedy Assassination crisis and helped to hold a mourning nation together. Four reporters on the scene relate their experiences.
Customer Reviews:
A worthy contribution to history free of myth and full of facts.......2007-04-03
There are so very few books that convey a sense of "being there" when it comes to the Kennedy assassination. This outstanding book takes the reader back to that fateful weekend of November 22nd 1963 in Dallas, Texas and does so in an open, honest and compelling manner.
"When the News Went Live" is written by four journalists who were in Dallas on that day covering the presidential visit. Bob Huffaker and the other three newsmen share many interesting stories that you will not find elsewhere and that have been untold for many years no doubt to all but their personal friends. This is why the book is such a valuable contribution to the historical record. Such first hand observation regarding not just those few seconds in Dealey Plaza, the murder of Officer Tippet and the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, but how in fact the entire story unfolded, makes fascinating reading.
As an aid to anyone interested in the assassination, this book is a must have. I would emphasize - rarely do you find first hand knowledge like this - much of what is written on this subject is written by people many steps removed from the event where fact and fiction merge into one. Not so here. A fabulous book which is refreshingly free of the conjecture and myth that is so common in the Himalayan pile of work on the Kennedy assassination and is highly recommended.
Two Shortcuts To Becoming A Lone-Assassin Believer: Watch The 11/22/63 Real-Time Live TV Coverage....And Then Read This Book.......2007-01-02
"With three shots from a mail-order rifle, Lee Oswald set off a worldwide tragedy that developed too fast to print. .... Broadcast journalism came of age in that crisis of grief and uncertainty, and as it drew its mourning audience, it helped to hold the nation together." -- Bob Huffaker; From the Preface of "When The News Went Live: Dallas 1963"
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"When The News Went Live: Dallas 1963", published in 2004, paints a vivid word picture of many of the incredible events that surrounded President John F. Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, as seen through the eyes of four journalists -- Bob Huffaker, Bill Mercer, George Phenix, and Wes Wise -- who covered those events as they happened for CBS affiliate KRLD-TV and Radio in Dallas.
President Kennedy's shocking and appalling assassination on November 22, 1963, was the very first really big "Watch It Unfold Live On TV" news event of the television era, with four full commercial-free days being devoted to nothing but exclusive assassination-related coverage by all three major TV networks (with KRLD's on-the-scene Dallas reporters frequently feeding CBS-TV headquarters in New York).
And the four reporters whose intriguing stories unfold within this 224-page hardcover volume were right smack in the thick of things during the rapidly-developing events -- from the initial sketchy bulletins that told of the President being shot in Dealey Plaza during a motorcade drive through the city of Dallas -- to the announcement of JFK's death at Parkland Hospital -- to the capture of the accused assassin (Lee Harvey Oswald) in a nearby movie theater -- to Oswald's very own murder on live TV (with Bob Huffaker reporting live from the basement of the Dallas Police Department, where the single gunshot from Jack Ruby's pistol added yet another hard-to-believe chapter to the weekend's nightmarish story).
It was a mesmerizing weekend in American (and television) history, to say the least. And those days are re-lived with clarity in this engaging book by way of the recollections of four men who lived through and reported on those events when they were occurring.
"When The News Went Live" contains several excellent black-and-white photographs, too (some of them I haven't seen published elsewhere).
On a personal level, I have had the pleasure of communicating (via e-mail) with Bob Huffaker several times. He has been very cordial and gracious whenever answering the questions that I had for him. His personal insights into the events revolving around JFK's death are fascinating glimpses into the past, and are insights that I have enjoyed reading immensely.
A sample e-mail excerpt from Mr. Huffaker:
----------------------
"David, you're right about the presidential visit and motorcade being the main attraction that all Dallas media were covering, of course. But all our stations had limited capabilities for doing mobile TV, which then demanded either cables or microwave dishes--as well as a receiving dish within line-of-sight beaming or bouncing.
Hence the pool TV arrangements, limited to three planned locations. The local TV stations did live TV from the FTW {Fort Worth} breakfast, Love Field, and the Trade Mart. But this was, indeed, the day the news went live on television, unplanned.
WBAP-TV in Fort Worth had a non-running TV van, which they had towed all the way from Cowtown to Dallas Police headquarters, and we sent both of our KRLD-TV vans into duty--the Bread Truck at DPD and the Blue Goose on the 24th to the county jail, etc.
This was the first time in TV history when on-the-spot news suddenly demanded to go live from the scene. Before that, radio news on-the-spot descriptions such as ours that day were common (like the Hindenburg broadcast--radio only), and live TV was usually reserved for major speeches, sports, etc.
Bob" -- E-mail to this writer; May 30, 2006
----------------------
Relating to the subject of "WHEN THE NEWS WENT LIVE", I'd like to offer up the following observations as an extension of this book review.....
To those JFK conspiracy theorists who seem to favor the Oliver Stone-like or Robert Groden-promoted assassination scenarios (that feature a minimum of three gunmen and anywhere from 6 to 10 gunshots being fired at President Kennedy in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963) -- I always suggest to them that they ought to dig up some of the originally-aired "As It Is Happening" live TV or radio broadcasts from that dark Friday in American history.
After performing that exercise of watching a few hours of the November 22 television coverage of the assassination (in real time), or listening to some of the radio broadcasts in real time (which works just as well) -- I challenge anyone to then arrive at the same conclusion that was slapped up on the big theater screen in 1991 via Director Oliver Stone's blockbuster, conspiracy-laden motion picture "JFK".
Watching the day's events unfold "live" in front of you (or listening to them unfold on the radio as it was happening) should, in my opinion, provide everyone with a good general idea of how utterly impossible a task it would have been to have "faked" so much stuff that was being IMMEDIATELY reported to the world on live television and radio within minutes and hours of the President's assassination (and within a very short space of time following Police Officer J.D. Tippit's murder as well).
Via those original live TV/Radio broadcasts, you're not going to hear a SINGLE report that resembles anything close to the Oliver Stone/Jim Garrison-endorsed nonsense of:
"Three gunmen fired six shots at President Kennedy's motorcade today here in Dallas!!"
What you will hear, instead, is live coverage, as it happened, of a ONE-GUNMAN assassination taking place from where the majority of witnesses said it took place (the Texas School Book Depository Building), with no more than three shots having been fired by the SINGLE SHOOTER, which is a shot count that over 91% of the witnesses concur with -- including the small percentage of witnesses who heard only one or two shots, who are witnesses that certainly don't do Mr. Stone's "6-shot ambush" theory any favors.
Upon evaluating virtually all of the TV networks' live assassination footage from November 22nd, 1963, there is no possible way that a reasonable person could arrive at a conclusion that JFK was shot by three assassins, firing from both front and rear. Let alone arriving at an even more-cockeyed "8-to-10-shot" shooting scenario, as purported by Mr. Groden and some other CTers, which is an outlandish conspiracy-flavored scenario that has John Kennedy and John Connally being shot by way more than just the two Warren Commission-backed Mannlicher-Carcano bullets from Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle.*
* = And Mr. Groden's theory (that sports from 8 to 10 gunshots) also features an additional hunk of lunacy, in that Groden thinks it's very likely that NONE of these eight to ten shots came from the "Oswald window" in the Book Depository! (I'm not making this crazy stuff up here. I promise. Anyone who owns a copy of Robert Groden's 1993 book "The Killing Of A President" can check out Groden's preposterous theory for themselves, on pages 20-40.)
The bottom line is -- Very nearly all of the information being reported on TV and radio that November day favored a "Lone Assassin" shooting scenario (including the info concerning the Tippit murder in Oak Cliff), with very little evidence and information being broadcast that would support any type of a "conspiracy" whatsoever; and certainly no "conspiratorial" evidence that has ever panned out and "proved" that a multi-gun plot ended JFK's life in Dallas.
This is quite a telling "One Killer" fact. Because, in my view, if a vast conspiracy and subsequent "cover-up" had been in place on November 22nd (given the immense amount of TV and radio coverage, with reporters scrutinizing everything coming across their desks and digging hard for any type of case-solving clues during those first hours and days after JFK and J.D. Tippit were killed), I think that at least SOME pieces of the conspiracy would have leaked through to the sweeping television and radio coverage surrounding the two Dallas murders.
And I'm guessing that every reporter and newsman in the country (including Messrs. Huffaker, Mercer, Phenix, and Wise) would have loved to dig up some "conspiracy"-proving angle during that weekend in November of '63. Being the person who uncovered such a huge story would certainly be a feather in that reporter's cap, to be sure. But, as it turned out, nothing of that nature occurred....and has yet to occur all these many years later.
To think (as many theorists do) that these conspirators were so smart and so quick to have had the capabilities to immediately eliminate virtually every last scrap of information leading to a conspiracy plot of some kind, making sure that none of the "multi-gunmen shooting event" details seeped through to the media (multiplied by TWO separate murders as well, counting Tippit's!), is to think that any such evil-doers had powers similar to "Superman".
For example -- Almost every one of the initial reports concerning the number of gunshots heard by witnesses stated "3 shots". And while it's true that the very first report of the shooting from UPI's Merriman Smith (which was broadcast over all the television networks) stated "Three shots were fired...", it's also worth noting that Smith's initial bulletin was not the ONLY "three shots" account that was reported during those early hours just after the shooting.
For instance, Jay Watson of ABC affiliate WFAA-TV in Dallas (who happened to be in Dealey Plaza during the shooting and nervously reported the first bulletins to the unaware Dallas TV audience) is heard multiple times on November 22nd saying he heard "3 shots" fired.
Plus, several other members of the media are also on record stating their own PERSONAL beliefs that exactly three shots were fired by the assassin, including Robert MacNeil, Jack Bell, Bob Clark, Jerry Haynes, and Pierce Allman, among still others.
Some of the other "Three Shot" witnesses who were riding right in the Presidential motorcade itself include -- Photographers Tom Dillard, Robert Jackson, Mal Couch, and James Underwood. Plus, both John and Nellie Connally, who were riding in the same car with President Kennedy.
In addition, Presidential aides Ken O'Donnell and David Powers, who were both riding in the Secret Service follow-up car directly behind JFK's limousine, can also be added to the lengthy list of witnesses who heard precisely three gunshots.
And then there's also amateur filmmaker Abraham Zapruder, who took the most famous 26-second home movie in history when he captured the entire assassination with his 8mm Bell & Howell movie camera -- Zapruder showed up on live TV about 90 minutes after the President's murder took place and gave a graphic account of the horrifying event that had taken place in front of his very eyes.
Mr. Zapruder told the WFAA-TV viewing audience that he had heard two or three shots (but definitely no more than three), and he also demonstrated on live television where on the President's head he had seen the effects of the fatal gunshot. Zapruder puts his hand over the right-frontal portion of his own head to demonstrate where he saw the blood coming from JFK's head.
That's pretty amazing "LIVE" stuff from Mr. Zapruder's own lips (within approx. an hour-and-a-half of the assassination). And it's especially incredible and amazing if there had actually been many more than just two or three shots fired at the President, and if the fatal shot had actually (as many CTers believe) caused a huge hole in the BACK of John Kennedy's head, instead of the location where Zapruder placed it on live television -- i.e., the RIGHT SIDE AND FRONT portion of the head.
How could the so-called "conspirators" have possibly gotten THAT lucky with respect to Abraham Zapruder's live "on-the-air" WFAA-TV statements and head-wound "demonstration"? How?
And -- Could these ultra-clever conspirators have somehow managed to "manipulate" several reporters who were relaying the news live to the world immediately after the event, and have them ALL report on hearing just "three shots" (or, in a few cases, hearing only TWO shots, which is a number that certainly does not favor a "Multi-Shooter Conspiracy Plot")?
Or did the plotters just happen to get really, really LUCKY (again) when virtually all of the news reports favored the "Three Shots Fired" conclusion? With this 3-shot scenario matching the precise number of bullet shells that were found on the 6th Floor of the Book Depository after the shooting; and also perfectly matching the exact number of shots heard by TSBD witness Harold Norman, and also perfectly matching the precise number of bullet shells (3) that Norman heard hitting the plywood floor directly above his 5th-Floor location within the Depository.
Which, per Oliver Stone's movie, would mean that a full 50% of the ACTUAL number of gunshots were somehow inaudible to the enormous majority (91%+) of the earwitnesses! And, remember, Oliver has NONE of the shots within his movie's six-shot assassination ambush being "synchronized" in order to merge together with the sound of some of the other shots.
And yet, per Mr. Stone, we're supposed to actually believe that approximately 9 out of every 10 witnesses somehow missed hearing HALF of the gunshots fired that day! A reasonable thing to believe....or not? I ask you.
Were these so-called conspiratorial shooters so good that they could make 4 to 10 shots sound like only three to the vast majority of witnesses scattered all throughout Dealey Plaza? Highly doubtful, to say the least.
Again -- I'd advise all conspiracy theorists to sit down and watch the live TV footage....or listen to some of the surviving 11/22/63 radio tapes....and then try to find a "Multi-Gunmen Conspiracy" lurking within ANY of those original broadcasts. If anybody finds proof of a conspiracy via those means, please let me know. And let the world know too.
David Von Pein
December 2006
January 2007
Out of the Past.......2006-04-04
We have become accustomed (yea, verily, some would say desensitized)to horror unfolding before our eyes in our very own living rooms. Bob Huffaker's book brings us back to a time before the desensitization, when we could scarcely believe what our eyes were telling us. I recommend this book highly to those who were there, watching as I was, and even more so to those who were not there. The young, raised in an era of suicide bombers, need to understand that it was not always thus.
very good press reporting.......2005-07-30
1963 nov 22 brought to life again but with more professionalism.some very interesting facts that confirmed my own thoughts .
JOURNALISM CLASSIC AND INSIDE SCOOP.......2005-05-07
I stayed up all night reading when my copy of When The News Went Live, Dallas 1963 arrived. This book is a classic and should be included in the curriculum of every journalism and political science classroom in America.
Huffaker, Mercer, Phenix and Wise have written the Texas story of the Kennedy assassination, the inside scoop on Oswald's murder and the history of the evolution of modern journalism. These four men were Dallas television reporters, on the scene and on their own, in the middle of the news story of the century.
It is a salute to their training and their integrity as newsmen that their coverage under duress stands today as a compelling rendering of those fateful moments. I am glad they were the early ones on the scene, for they were the ones who broke the news to me in my elementary classroom. The story gives their perspectives more fully; all these years later, this book helps me understand the events and how they affected Texas and the nation.
Bob, Bill, George and Wes were there in Dallas with their Southern sensibilities. They weren't easily pushed around or manipulated that dark day and still aren't. They were taught to tell the truth as objectively as possible, and they reverted to that training and their good common sense when placed in positions lesser men might have blown or exploited. These four men cared about truth and justice and fairness and still do. I hope all young journalists will read this and learn about balanced reporting.
Customer Reviews:
Not even for Warhol fans.......2006-08-08
The main problem with this book is the layout of each page into three columns, thus all the pictures are quite small. So this is not a book to really enjoy the art. The text is also often far from essential, for example it contains relevant quotes from "The Andy Warhol diaries" or "Popism", which any Warhol fan will already have. It is worth remembering most of the original prints/paintings are measured in meters, so there is little satisfaction in looking at passport-photo sized pictures. "The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonne" is really only a reference book for art galleries or perhaps art collectors, and I'd recommend Warhol fans to stay away from this extremely expensive purchase, it contains zero enjoyment compared to leafing through the superb "Giant Warhol", where the appreciation of the immensity of Warhol's work can be much better appreciated.
GREAT! (except for the design).......2002-04-15
WOW. This is a real work of research. The amount of detail and care that has gone into this study of Warhol's early paintings is not to be believed. The editors have compiled a completely staggering amount of information about each work shown here--and who knew there were so many original paintings?
My only complaint is the book's design, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with Warhol's own aesthetic. The pictures are beautiful, but the words are tough on the eyes--the table of contents is especially awful. This is really a shame, because you can see pictures of Warhol paintings in lots of places. I don't know where you'd find all this wonderful data, though. (Put it on CD-ROM!)
It's definitely an expensive book, but unmatched, as far as I can tell, in its field. Bravo!
Book Description
The astonishing novel
Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's vision of the future -- of a world utterly transformed. Through the most efficient scientific and psychological engineering, people are genetically designed to be passive and therefore consistently useful to the ruling class. This powerful work of speculative fiction sheds a blazing critical light on the present and is considered to be Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
Following
Brave New World is the nonfiction work
Brave New World Revisited, first published in 1958. It is a fascinating work in which Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with the prophetic fantasy envisioned in
Brave New World, including threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion.
Customer Reviews:
I kind of expected it to be different.......2007-08-01
but this was a pretty good book I read an article in a magazine that peaked my interest and then went to the library and read some more articles, I got this edition because I wanted all the other stuff too, this book I really enjoyed
Great Social Commentary.......2007-06-26
Brave New World is a fascinating read, in which Aldous Huxley satirizes society (society in 1932, but still to a certain extent, society in 20-07) by portraying a world steeped in dystopia and a people repressed, though not repressed in the common sense. In Huxley's novel, people's desires are pandered to by the government; all of their greatest longings are fulfilled in a society that offers unlimited sexual pleasure without the idea of marriage or monogamy and unlimited "soma," a drug used to alleviate stress and send the user into a euphoric state of ecstasy.
People are geared from an early age to accept the state of the world through hypnopædia, a sleep-teaching technique, and a manipulative genetic procedure that allows the government to extract multiple embryos from one to make thousands of the same looking individual. A hierarchy is created by further manipulating individual embryos into producing either scrawny, short humans (Epsilons) or strong intellectuals (Alphas). Huxley's vision (as opposed to Orwell's vision of a society kept in submission through fear and physical force) is one in which the government does not repress the people overtly; rather, it allows them the freedom of abandoning old moral values, such as marriage, commitment, and intellectual curiosity, for more pleasurable values, such as promiscuity and drug addiction.
The book as a piece of literature is not so much plot driven or driven by its characters; rather, it is a book of ideas. So, if you're looking to read something that's going to appeal to you from a literary standpoint, then this probably isn't the best book since Huxley's characters are simply there to accentuate his ideas. Overall, in regards to the validity of this piece, I don't really see many parallels to contemporary society: yet. For example, the genetics discussed in the book are not really plausible at this point and I'm skeptical as to the capabilities of hypnopædia.
Brave New World Revisited is another fascinating work, in which Huxley tackles subjects like over-population (a phenomenon he believes will allow leadership to become more manipulative due to the increasing distance between representatives and constituents) and propaganda. While I don't really subscribe to the ideas expressed in works such as We, Brave New World, and 1984, I'm always awe stricken by the social and political prowess of these books, and I would wholeheartedly recommend Brave New World.
Brave New World Review.......2007-06-09
An interesting and insightful book, of which some of the predictions seem to be coming true. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but would have liked it to have been longer
As relevant today as it was in 1932........2007-06-01
Not reading this book is the biggest regret you will ever have. It amazing to me how something written so long ago as a social commentary and a warning of "potential" evils to come, could have so accurately predicted the development of society 70 years later.
The most interesting sections of the book were the first few chapters and the final few. It was there that we see Huxley's future world fully visualized and rationalized for all to see. The early dialogue on mass produced people, pre-natal conditioning and government control will leave most readers with an eerie feeling of familiarity (Fertilization drugs, Gene therapy). The final chapters will certainly leave most asking serious questions about their religious beliefs.
Huxley's future world is similar in some ways to the ideal society as described by Plato in "The Republic". A society in which "everyone belongs to everyone else", where no child has a father, nor a mother. Plato would be proud.
This book will appeal to people from all walks of life (particularly those with backgrounds in philosophy, psychology and organizational behavior).
If you liked this book, you'll also like "1984", by George Orwell. This edition of the book contains a very interesting letter from Huxley to Orwell on the last few pages. Another gem that makes this edition stand out from the others is the inclusion of "Brave New World Revisited". You'll really get an idea of how far ahead of his time Huxley was as he wrote this in 1958. His warnings about rampant overpopulation and resource exaustion may not have been concerns during his lifetime but are ever relevant topics of concersation today.
You'll also like "I am Legend", by Richard Matheson. Though the Savage isn't the last man alive, the comparison to Matheson's last man standing
is easy to make.
!932.......2007-05-05
It's spooky how relevent this story is to the world today. I read this book in high school and it was like okay...the scary thing is that everything Huxley describes I feel so relates to the world today. I was so impressed by this story that I called up my 82 year old grandmother to discuss this book and see if she had read it and I mentioned to her how inciteful I felt Huxley was and how when I read it at 16 It didn't seem so relevent.
My Grandmother told me that's because life was fantastic when I was growing up.
I'm not sure of that either. But I think it was easier to grow up than it is today.
I'm sooo impressed by this guys incite to the future. What a legend.
Average customer rating:
- Flawed Cautionary Tale
- A few thoughts from a "religious" viewpoint
- Odd tale, but a classic
- Shrug
- A Christian Perspective
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Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
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Amazon.com
"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come.
Book Description
A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers."
--Saturday Review of Literature
"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay."
--Forum
"It is as sparkling, provocative, as brilliant, in the appropriate sense, as impressive ads the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art...This is surely Huxley's best book."
--Martin Green
Customer Reviews:
Flawed Cautionary Tale.......2007-10-03
The 'Foreword' explains why this novel was not rewritten to get rid of its faults: it could lose its merits! Aldous Huxley used the class-based society of England and projected it far into the future with modern references. Huxley imagined a sort of "scientific breeding" that seems to mock science. Dumping children to the care of lower class servants had a long history there, it is divorced from maternal care. [Does it work? Reports say this has a bad influence on children's development.] The name of Pavlov is strangely missing from this novel. Huxley says the problem for totalitarian states is to make their subjects love their servitude. Too bad he didn't live to see today's conditioning by advertising and other behavior modifications (like cell phones which let Big Government hear and locate you). Huxley claimed a diminished political and economic freedom leads to sexual freedom, but offered no proof. Orwell's "1984" handled this much better.
Most of the book shows Huxley's skill at an imagined future, a parody of the world of the 1920s (whose faults created the Great Depression). "Tracking" of students has been around for decades (their future is decided in kindergarten). Advertising sells everything from ordinary objects to candidates and political beliefs. Advertising creates "peer pressure", people who believe and think as they are told. Many people are no longer skeptical of corporate advertising; this might be the result of their schooling. Whoever controls the media influences the thinking of most people.
There are many echoes of real history in this clever story. Such as the surprise played on that Director by a long-lost relative (echoes of 19th century novels?). The office politics reflect unchanging human nature. But the ending chapters don't ring true to me. Certainly notoriety affects people's lives. The gawking of the ignorant and uninformed is always a problem for anyone in the news. Even if they are only show business performers! Huxley was correct in having an opiate that tranquilized people but damaged their health. Who will heed this warning? The use of chemical food was another subtle satire; they knew then of those dangers. One thing missing is the Secret Police to force people into desired behavior patterns by constant surveillance. Orwell was more realistic about England and the world of 1948.
A few thoughts from a "religious" viewpoint.......2007-09-04
This remarkable book was written around 1931. As far as I know, it is the earliest of the modern utopia novels ("1984" and "Fahrenheit 451" for example). You may not want to read my review if you haven't yet read the book,or don't want to be exposed to a summary of it:
It is a story, centered in London, of a world where life is lived out in controlled, contented bliss. Genetic engineering contributes to a smoothly functioning caste system. Sexual promiscuity is the norm, even instilled in children. Birth control is the norm. Behavior altering drug use is the norm. Physical attractiveness is at a premium and youth is artificially preserved throughout lifespan. Materialistic consumption is prized. Entertainment occupies non-work hours but does NOT include reading. Independent thinking is unacceptable. "God" has been replaced by "Ford", literally (science and industry!, not superstition).
A couple of characters are introduced, who behave counter to the culture. They eventually are banished. We get a glimpse into the true thoughts of a World Controller, who has a safe containing BOOKS. A central character (The Savage) is introduced, having been imported from the undeveloped American Southwest. Although a primitive, he was self-educated through study of an ancient volume of Shakespeare. He is rather pan-theistic, worshipping an assortment of gods that he has became aware of, including the Christian God. (He seems to be doing the best he can with the information he has). His love relationship with a beautiful but totally indoctrinated London girl destroys him (he is chaste - she is a cookie cutter product of the society and he is appalled by her ready sexual promiscuity).
In the end, The Savage cannot function in this society and takes his own life. The reader may assume that the society absorbs the entertainment available from this event and moves on blissfully.
Who wins, who is happy, who is right? My conclusion: If there is no God, the pleasure seeking utopians were right on track. The Savage was a superstitious primitive who squandered his life and a multitude of opportunities for fun and happiness. Conversely, if a Creator Deity does exist (whom The Savage clearly sought with a whole heart), then it would appear that The Savage moved on to a superior state, and indeed had lived out his whole life in a superior fashion of obedience. The utopians live out their reward in the present state, squandering eternity.
The Bible (mentioned in the novel, a copy hidden in the Controller's safe) asserts that The Creator is self evident through his creation, and all who reject him are without excuse. Correspondingly, there are multiple allusions in the novel to fascination with nature, such as the night sky. Such interest is supressed by the utopian society or course. I think that is the bottom line of Huxley's Brave New World. Living for this world (serving self), or living for the greater, unseen one (serving God). A great matter of faith, and the essence of all decision making.
Odd tale, but a classic.......2007-08-07
One of the first views of dystopian society, in response to Orwell's 1984. An intelligently devised future showing how a utopian society might form in the future from mass produced births, sexual liberation, legalized drug dependence, and social class conditioning.
Shrug.......2007-07-26
While going through my stack of unread books this summer I noticed that I still had a copy of this book from High School, at the moment I am two semesters from graduating from college. So, I figured I should read it as I am an English major and most English majors have read this book.
Why I bothered I do not know.
The plot to this book was poorly executed, the characters were weak and I just didn't really care.
Instead I suggest "1984" by Orwell or "We" by Zamyatin, if you are interested in this topic. Especially "We" as it was written before either or these two books and is my personal favorite, but is tragically ignored.
A Christian Perspective.......2007-07-21
First of all, a disclaimer: though this review is intended to display some of the ways I think Christianity illuminates this book, I certainly do not claim to be speaking for all Christians. These are just my thoughts...
That being said, I think the most important feature of "Brave New World" is that it illustrates what happens to humanity when it, en masse, begins to depart from the classical Christian worldview. By classical Christian worldview I mean that which was best described by St. Augustine in City of God (Penguin Classics). Without going into too much detail, the basic notion Augustine suggests is that salvation (in terms of deliverance from a fallen world) comes only in transcendent reality, and therefore people should stop expecting that a transcendently perfect reality can exist in this world.
I bring up Augustine because he was relied on to a large extent by Eric Voegelin. Voegelin's writing concerning modernity and gnosticism provides a philosophical framework for understanding how the central tenants of "Brave New World" are also the central tenants of our modern world (see especially Modernity Without Restraint: The Political Religions, The New Science of Politics, and Science, Politics, and Gnosticism (Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 5)) The connection between Augustine, Voegelin, and "Brave New World" seem to me to be this: when humanity rejects the lessons of classical Christianity and begins attempting to "fix" this world by way of various projects, disaster inevitable follows. Of course, Huxley is not espousing a Christian critique of the world. Nevertheless, I think "Brave New World" is an important book for Christians because the book illustrates the realities of humanity and the sad results that stem from those realities.
Christianity aside, I think this book presents an adult version of another great book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. If you read "The Giver" and loved it then I think you will really enjoy "Brave New World". The central tenants of the books are roughly the same. Perhaps the most significant difference is that "Brave New World" is written in a voice that is inherently sarcastic and pessimistic concerning the principle characters whereas "The Giver" does not seem to pass as much judgment on the masses as much as it is concerned with society's leaders.
I've attempted to bring a couple of fresh perspectives to "Brave New World" that I haven't seen in the other 687 reviews out there. This is a great book that is an important read for our times. I would recommend this book especially for high school and college students because it is that generation who will be confronted with the challenges inherent in this book. To obtain a proper perspective a humanity's potentially damaging power is all too important for our future. I give this book four stars instead of five not because there's anything wrong with it, but simply because I reserve five-star ratings for the best. "Brave New World" is not one of the best books out there, but it is certainly a worthy read nonetheless.
Another book that I'd highly recommend that is short and presents the philosophical foundation of "Brave New World" without the accompanying storyline is The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis.
Amazon.com
Journalist Michael Ruhlman talked his way into the CIA: the Culinary Institute of America, the Harvard of cooking schools. It had something to do with potatoes a grand-uncle had eaten deacades earlier, how the man could remember them so well for so long, buried as they had been in the middle of an elegant meal. Ruhlman wanted to learn how to cook potatoes like that--like an art--and the CIA seemed the place to go. The fun part of this book is that we all get to go along for the ride without having to endure the trauma of cooking school.
Ever wonder what goes on in a busy kitchen, why your meal comes late or shows up poorly cooked? The temptation is to blame the waiter, but there are a world of cooks behind those swinging doors, and Ruhlman marches you right into it. It's a world where, when everything is going right, time halts and consciousness expands. And when a few things go wrong, the earth begins to wobble on its axis. Ruhlamn has the writerly skills to make the education of a chef a visceral experience.
Book Description
Now in paperback, the eye-opening book that was nominated for a 1998 James Beard Foundation award in the Writing on Food category.In the winter of 1996, Michael Ruhlman donned hounds-tooth-check pants and a chef's jacket and entered the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, to learn the art of cooking. His vivid and energetic record of that experience, The Making of a Chef, takes us to the heart of this food-knowledge mecca. Here we meet a coterie of talented chefs, an astonishing and driven breed. Ruhlman learns fundamental skills and information about the behavior of food that make cooking anything possible. Ultimately, he propels himself and his readers through a score of kitchens and classrooms, from Asian and American regional cuisines to lunch cookery and even table waiting, in search of the elusive, unnameable elements of great cooking.
Customer Reviews:
Deft, knowledgeable, and well written.......2007-08-20
Michael Ruhlman has found his true calling. He's one of the best authors currently out there who writes culinaryeese ... not about recipes, but about [i]the journey/experience itself[/i]. And he does it with the intimacy and sensitivity of someone who's been through the process himself.
In this book, the author takes the reader on a ride though what it's like to attend the Culinary Institute of America, from the perspective of an insider/student.
Wonderful book. Well written. Deft, and knowledgeable.
Highly recommended for self-taught cooking aficianados who love every aspect of their hobby, and also for people considering formalized culinary education and a career in the food industry.
An interesting personal account on how one becomes a professional cook.......2007-08-12
I am an avid follower (hobbyist, not a professional) of all things culinary and my best friend is a CIA graduate, so I was very interested to get an objective view of what what goes on at CIA and to put some perspective around some of the stories he's told me thorugh the years. Ruhlman's story of his time at CIA was engaging and an overall good read, but two things left me a bit cold (hence the 4 vs. 5 stars).
1) I was quite disappointed to find no culinary glossary, dictionary, or reference to define the formal and informal terms he used with great frequency throughout the book. Given my interest in food and my many discussions w/my chef friend, I knew what "family meal" was, what he meant by "in the weeds," and was able to identify most culinary terms such as "bruinoise," "gallantine," and "pate a choux," but I suspect the casual reader was lost in that aspect and I've never enjoyed reading a book where I needed a dictionary to know what the writer was talking about.
2) I found the content of the story to be uneven throughout the book. What Ruhlman covered in depth, he REALLY covered in depth, i.e., the making of the mise en place or how to create a roux. In doing so, however, he glossed over or merely touched on many other potential areas of interest without further development, i.e., the culinary terminology (as mentioned above), the pain-staking planning and execution it must take to use the foods from one class in another, the inspiration and creation of class and restaurant menus, how CIA graduates (not just the famous ones) have influenced the world of food, cooking, restaurants, etc.
Ultimately, I think this story would have been better suited to being published as a multi-issue series in a foodie magazine like Food and Wine or Gourmet vs. as a stand-alone book. Nonetheless, and my comments above notwithstanding, I did enjoy the book and felt I learned a lot about the basics of becoming a chef.
Effectively Translating the Language of Professional Cooks.......2007-07-30
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute is a revelation to food-lovers and aspiring cooks of what goes on in a professional kitchen. Immersed in the Culinary Institute for six months, Michael Ruhlman effectively translates the cook's jargon of technique and skill into a language that everyone can understand. Ruhlman also touches upon the essential qualities beyond the cook's passion for food: consistency, curiosity and the capacity to evolve.
Just Starting.......2007-02-10
I am almost 12 years old and am starting this book. I plan to become a chef when I'm an adult and I want to get a college education from the Culinary Instutute, being only 11, I want to see what the CIA will be like from a students perspective. I am almost at the chapter "Routine" and am enjoying this book so much. This book is for very serious chefs, who plan to be or are chefs. There are three books in the series so far and I have two. Michael Ruhlman talks about everything just right, like mirepoix (mero pwa), before reading this, I had no idea what mirepoix was, but learned that with the book. This book is a non-fiction book about Ruhlman's actual experience at the Institute. This book is so enjoyable. If you'd like to see more from the culinary, go to CIAchef.edu, for thier website. I plan to persue my career in Baking and Pastry Arts and own my own bakery. I will write a review for the whole book when I'm done. This is one of the best books to read for a chef.
I so far give this book 5 stars out of 5. IT is an enjoyable book.
You should get it if you are a serious chef, if not, I wouldn't, this book is all about the life of a chef.
Very Enjoyable.......2007-01-18
I thought this was a creative look at the culinary world. It starts out from an outsider's perspective who is then transformed into an insider who views the world forever differently. I read this a while ago while I was still in culinary school and completely identified with his trials, failures, successes and discoveries. This was a very good read and I enjoyed it.
Book Description
The popular unabridged recordings of The Chronicles of Narnia, previously released, are now repackaged and rejacketed with adult art in time for the first Narnia film coming from Disney at Christmastime 2005!
Customer Reviews:
CS Lewis CD collection of 4 great books.......2007-09-06
The reading of each book was complete and well done. I had started 2 of these as books, "Mere Christianity" and "The Great Divorce", but I never seemed to find time to read them. I can listen to the CDs working around the house or in the car. "The Screwtape Letters" were great. A real reminder how clever satan is at making you think that the issue is solely yourself or others. He is called the deceiver for a very good reason. "Mere Christianity" is a very thoughtful book and one worth discussing with others (Book Club, Book study etc.) "The Great Divorce" has nothing to do with marriage, but our divorce from God and how he wants the best for us and we settle for so much less. After listening to this book you will make decisions differently. "The Problem with Pain" is intense. C.S. Lewis is indeed a critical thinker. Pain is the result of the fall from grace and about how grace restores you (much different from curing you). Each time you listen to one of these CDs you will learn more about yourself, God and your relationship with Him. If you are not certain of who God is and is satan is real these CDs will be very helpful.
An outstanding and challenging series.......2007-08-23
There are few books that make you stop and take an accounting of who you are, what you're about and how you fit into time and the universe more than Mere Christianity. While it was originally a radio series (BBC) broadcast during WWII, it's approach is as applicable now as it was then or at any point in time.
If you have any doubts, concerns or interests regarding the existance of God and/or how we relate to Him; if you're searching for Truth (with a capital "T") you will find some of your answers here.
The approach is non-denominational and non- doctrinal. CS Lewis speaks of basic easy to grasp universal concepts rather than lofty dogma. Mere Christianity is and has been a modern classic that can be read and re-read with passion not only for they who search but also for they who have found answers to basic questions we all pose while here on earth
Incredible.......2007-03-29
Of course Lewis' books are great (we all know that) but the narrators in this package of books are spectacular. The narrator for The Screwtape Letters is uncanny (and eerie) in his reading.
The narrators truly make this a first class product. I highly recommend!
excellent.......2007-03-19
Some readers obviously don't understand the material. Others deliver it well enough, but don't sound authentic. Not this time. If I didn't know better, I would say C.S. Lewis himself was reading this book. It has been a pure delight to revisit these classics in audio form. I strongly recommend it.
Outstanding Audio Series - Worth the time........2007-01-11
I like to read, but I found this audio collection to be outstanding. I felt I got more out of his books listening to them, then actually reading them. He is very deep and concentrated in his thoughts and ideas, and it helped me immensely in my understanding and appreciation for who CS Lewis is and how he write.
I am a seminary student, and consider CS Lewis to be a modern day Apostle Paul. If you find reading CS Lewis difficult, I suggest you try the audio books, there is something about having someone read to you, and being able to comprehend it better.
Thanks Amazon for providing this series!
Books:
- The Complete Visual Dictionary of Star Wars: The Ultimate Guide to Characters and Creatures from the Entire Star Wars Saga
- The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes (Sandpiper Books)
- The General and His Daughter: The War Time Letters of General James M. Gavin to his Daughter Barbara (World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension)
- The Hundred Days (Aubrey/Maturin Series)
- The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land
- The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land
- The Last Days
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
- The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean
Books Index
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![The Chronicles of Narnia: Never Has the Magic Been So Real (Radio Theatre) [Full Cast Drama]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1589972996.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
