Average customer rating:
- Must have for the newly diagnosed
- OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome....
- Excellent Resource for AS!
- Oasis Guide to Asperger Syndrome
- Not what I expected
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The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome: Completely Revised and Updated: Advice, Support, Insight, and Inspiration
Patricia Romanowski Bashe ,
Barbara L. Kirby ,
Simon Baron-Cohen , and
Tony Attwood
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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Asperger's Syndrome: A GUIDE FOR PARENTS AND PROFESSIONALS
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Parenting Your Asperger Child: Individualized Solutions for Teaching Your Child Practical Skills
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Asperger Syndrome and the Elementary School Experience: Practical Solutions for Academic & Social Difficulties
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The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome
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ASIN: 1400081521
Release Date: 2005-03-29 |
Book Description
Asperger Syndrome has become an increasingly common disorder. One in 300 individuals may have AS—exhibiting characteristics such as average to high intelligence, obsessive behavior, intense special interests, and difficulty dealing with everyday social situations—and it is now more prevalent than childhood cancer and Down’s syndrome.
As the mother of a boy diagnosed with AS in 1994, Barbara Kirby found scant resources and support. She developed the internationally renowned OASIS (Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support) Web site in 1995 to help other parents find the information they need. She teamed up with Patricia Romanowski Bashe, now co-owner of OASIS and herself the mother of a son with AS, to write The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome, which has become the standout authority in the field and a must-have for this growing audience.
Now Bashe and Kirby have crafted a fully revised edition of this comprehensive resource for parents, teachers, therapists, and anyone who knows or works with someone with AS. In addition to discussing what AS looks like and how parents can guide their unique child through the social, emotional, and intellectual challenges of growing up, this edition includes new developments made in AS research over the past four years, new thinking on diagnosis and evaluation, the latest approaches to medication and social skills development, and tips on navigating the maze of interventions, therapies, and special education. The authors know firsthand the joys and frustrations of raising children with AS, and they share their own experiences as well as those of dozens of parents facing the same issues.
Filled with practical information and emotional support, this is the most complete and authoritative guide available. Whether your child has been diagnosed or troubling symptoms are just becoming apparent, this book will point you in the right direction as you face the particular challenges of loving and raising a child with Asperger Syndrome.
Customer Reviews:
Must have for the newly diagnosed.......2007-09-17
Very informative. Very detailed. This is a must have for Parents just starting to discover Aspergers.
OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome...........2007-09-15
This is an excellent resource book. A must have for family members dealing with Asperger Syndrome!
Excellent Resource for AS!.......2007-05-07
This book is a definite addition to any parent's resource library on AS. It is comprehensive and has so much to offer, that it can't be digested in one read. It must be referred to over and over again. Should be purchased for pediatricians, school counselors and anyone who comes in frequent contact with your AS child. The entire family should read this to better understand the AS child.
Oasis Guide to Asperger Syndrome.......2007-03-24
This book has helped me understand how difficult it is for someone with AS. It is everything that it says it is and more, my husband and I were feeling so hopeless and unsure of the next step. This book explained everything good and bad without sugar coating it.
Now when we run into a stumbling block I turn to the Oasis Book.
Not what I expected.......2007-03-09
Asperger Syndrome is a lot more subtle than the book would seem to indicate. Yes, Asperger is related to autism, but it is hardly the debilitating issue that this book would seem to imply.
This book makes it look like only children are diagnosed with this and have a seriously debilitating disorder as a result. AS is rarely such a disabling disorder and many people are never diagnosed with it except through adult counseling.
The information, though suspect because of the range of disability, is still very good and very well presented.
Book Description
Create an Oasis describes how to quickly and easily choose, build, and use a simple greywater system. Some can be completed in an afternoon for under $30.
It also provides complete instructions for more complex installations, how to deal with freezing, flooding, drought, failing septics, low perk soil, non-industrialized world conditions, coordinating a team of professionals to get optimum results on high-end projects, and "radical plumbing" that uses 90% less resources.
Customer Reviews:
THE TIME IS NOW.......2007-08-14
Read this book and get over your phobia of graywater use. The time is now for people in this country to reconsider using used water. It makes so much sense. I'm glad Texas is one of the few states which realizes the necessity of reusing water. More states should follow the lead of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. This book was so very helpful to me in planning my graywater oasis.
Simply The bible for greywater and blackwater.......2007-08-07
I live off grid in Spain and need to sort out my grey water disposal. Your choices of reading material are slim ! Art and his team have the cash is a factor, Im willing to learn, peoples DIY market to themselves and they dont disappoint. Practical, common sense approach, most angles covered for all type of geography and with an eye for ones budget . I have read it a couple of times and getting ready to start implimenting,its not rocket science but hes seen the mistakes and documented the good the bad and the ugly. So we dont have to. Its almost Hobsons choice, but when Hobson aka Art is the world guru on this subject thankyour self he could write as well
Worth the read.......2007-05-12
Plenty of good info and real world applications. Saved me from making a couple critical errors.
No Grey Area Here.......2007-02-09
Luwig provides page after page of valuable information. Anyone wanting to reuse greywater needs to buy this book. Ludwig's branched drain systems is simple, affordable, and highly effective at using greywater in the landscape, but you can make many mistakes if you don't heed the master's advice. I have installed several systems based on Ludwig's work, and I shutter to think what would have happened if I had not read his books! In addition, his writing style makes for an enjoyable reading experience even though some of the material is, by necessity, technical.
The Cat's Pajamas.......2006-11-10
Walk, no - run to your nearest locally-owned bookstore and order this little puppy. Art & co. are North America's foremost experts on greywater use, and they've been writing this book for 15 years. There are lots of hard-earned lessons embedded in these pages. The one thing I wish there were more of is practical advice for dealing with codes & officials in heavily regulated (e.g. suburban) environments.
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Palm Springs Weekend could have been just a breezy look at the celebrity culture of this California desert playground. Instead, Alan Hess offers an authoritative yet refreshingly nondoctrinaire view of the various ways European and American architects--some famous, some not--adapted the canons of modernism to suit the desert climate, landscape, and lifestyle. With evocative vintage photographs and an engagingly retro design by Andrew Danish, this is one of the most enjoyable popular architecture books in years.
The story begins with "the panorama of brown rock... peppered with ever-changing shadows and the unexpected desert plants that turn this great natural wall into a tapestry of texture and color." Then came the wealthy industrialists and Hollywood royalty who wanted vacation homes and were more or--at least initially--less amenable to modern design. Car culture and casual living morphed the international style into new silhouettes and textures fit for a modern oasis.
Swiss émigré Albert Frey designed minimalist houses "like tents staked in the desert." Richard Neutra's famous Kaufmann House has polished glass walls, flat, floating roofs, and luxury finishes, while John Lautner's Elrod House--seen in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever--is a futuristic concrete cave. Tract homes by William Krisel and Dan Palmer for the Alexander Company offered a mass-market modernist solution, with butterfly roofs and patterned concrete block walls crisply defined by the intense sun.
By the early '50s, local projects also included civic and commercial buildings. Memorable nonresidential projects range from William Cody's Huddle Springs restaurant, with its bold angled beams, canvas awnings, and open plan, to Victor Gruen's City National Bank, on which a sweeping curved roof reminiscent of Le Corbusier's Ronchamp chapel meets the desert opulence of gold filigree. --Cathy Curtis
Book Description
This is the first book to reveal the eccentric treasure trove of commercial, civic, and domestic architecture that makes Palm Springs a true oasis of progressive design. Not merely regarded as a Hollywood playground, golf enclave, or retirement mecca, Palm Springs is also a bastion of idiosyncratic modernism that is unparalleled in the world. Creating stunning homes and an impressive array of other buildings in the middle of the desert, such masters as Albert Frey, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, R. M. Schindler, Donald Wexler, and Lloyd Wright exercised their creative potential there. Palm Springs Weekend explores everything from the grandiose, such as Neutra's Kaufmann house, to the more humble features of the city--motels, trailer homes, and the ubiquitous metal and concrete sunscreens that shade them. Filled with hundreds of archival and contemporary photographs, elevations, and vintage ephemera, Palm Springs Weekend reveals an inimitable city where modern design, Hollywood glamour, and the desolate drama of the desert coalesce.
Customer Reviews:
Informative, but not very entertaining........2007-05-18
This book is largerly concerned with the historical and sociological environment that led to the creation of mid-20th century Palm Springs buildings. There is little time spent on the technical side of the sampled designs, and it could benefit from more large colour picture spreads.
A good book for understanding the context of the architecture, not great for admiring the details. If you're after a "coffe table" piece, go for 'Palm Springs Modern: Houses in the California Desert' by Adele Cygelman.
mid-century modern deluxe.......2007-01-04
If you're in to mid-century modern architecture, this book is a must.
Beautiful pics, interesting copy.......2006-07-22
Well worth the price...we had just returned from a weekend in Palm Springs and this book gave us interesting background and history and also great photographs.
An Inspiration.......2006-06-24
This book has enough information in it to turn you into a bit of an expert on Palm Springs mid-century architecture. It has enough beautiful photography and helpful floorplans to make you want a piece of it. My sisters and I are going there in two weeks. We want to see the Alexander tract homes.
The book explores each of the buildings and architects in detailed description - well enough that one can distinguish between the various styles and select a favorite or two. I fell in love with the Sinatra house by Stewart Williams and the Kaufmann house by Richard Neutra. I wished for the sake of the old Biltmore hotel that someone would restore it to it's former glory. I was disappointed to learn from another source that it was demolished in 2003, after this book's publication.
I do have to admit that while the text is full of good information, it is a bit of a difficult read. Either the sentences are poorly constructed or the authors had a hard time sorting out their ideas. However, if you can focus and you really want to know about the architecture in Palm Springs, there is a lot to learn from this beautiful and informative book.
Desert Area Living starts with Mid Century Architecture.......2006-05-26
When I read Palm Springs Weekend I am again reunited with past memories of wonderful warm days and evenings my wife and I spent driving all these neighborhoods. We quickly realized that instead of shouting out to each other ...."Oh my god!! Look at how cool that house is? We would only say something if the house was ugly, the drive quickly became very silent, but our jaws were still on the ground and eyes blink free. Palm Springs is a living museum of style and design and has been flawlessly presented amongst these pages. After driving around for several months drooling on people's doorsteps, we packed it up in LA and headed east. We now own 3 very interesting Mid Century Modern homes in Palm Springs, I sell Real Estate specializing in Mid Century Modern Architecture and life has never been better. Pick up the book, jump on a plane or in a car and come see what all the hype is about, trust me you wont be disappointed with this lifestyle.
Customer Reviews:
A very useful book for any city dweller........2005-03-05
The first book in this series was not nearly as good as this one! Matt James, the author of both and extremely good garden designer really hones his craft in this book.
The books are essentially about amalgamating the concepts of gardening and design, so Matt not only aims to give you knowledge of plants, shrubs and trees, but also asks you to consider how you might use them, how they can fulfill your gardening and lifestyle needs. He designs everything from the slighest balcony of a flat to sizeable victorian terrace gardens. The principles are of use outside of the UK, people want a natural life in urban spaces the world over and this demonstrates our innate need for the outdoor life! I note this page asks for applicants for Matt's next graden makeover TV series and I would encourage anyone outside the UK, who is looking for a garden design and makeover, to apply. This Bloke REALLY knows what he is doing and what he is taking about and his writing style reflects his personality well, (at least if his TV self is real!) he is passionate but relaxed and easy going. Maybe I'm biased too but I think British Gardeners are amongst some of the best!
Book Description
Best friends fast approaching forty in the small Minnesota town of Flame Lake, Devera and BiDi were recently voted “Least Changed” at their twentieth high school reunion—a label neither one finds very appealing. For each craves a change in her life: Devera desires a break from her humdrum marital routine; BiDi longs to reconnect with her distant fourteen-year-old daughter (the only girl on the high school hockey team), not to mention jump-start a sex drive stuck in neutral. So when Devera’s husband decides to fulfill his longtime dream of opening a nightclub in his basement, Your Oasis on Flame Lake arrives not a moment too soon. Nothing fancy, it’s just a BYOB joint where you can hang out, sing, dance, tell jokes, and be yourself. But then an unexpected crisis throws both families into chaos, forcing them all to take stock of their lives—and learn the power of forgiveness.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable Fluff, but not a Page Turner.......2007-01-01
Like her book Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons this book jumps from character to character, but it's so much more annoying in this book. Again there are children who are unbelievably wise and good for their ages. What female teenager could find happiness with false teeth? I guess at the time this book takes place implants weren't an option.
Still, you can't help but have some interest in the characters even though they seem more like caricatures than real people. I loved the setting--a residential neighborhood set in Minnesota on a lake that doesn't allow motorboats. I haven't read Patty Jane's House of Curl yet, but am looking forward to it because it's supposed to be so much better.
Not as good as her other books........2006-03-18
I have read all of Lorna Landvik's books and this one was not quite as good as the others. (Nothing beats Angry Housewives. . .) I enjoyed reading it, but I thought some of the ideas were kind of hokey!
Find an Oasis and Read this Flaming Good Book.......2006-03-01
Lorna Landvik is a great storyteller and YOUR OASIS ON FLAME LAKE is my favorite. This novel has all the makings for a wonderful read. It is not as funny as Patty Jane's House of Curl, but it is just as enjoyable.
Good.......2005-09-22
This was good also. I like what she writes about. I like how she does not focus on some great city, with great, over the top people. Another winner, can't wait to read more books from this author.
Good reading...........2005-06-20
"Your Oasis on...." was a pretty good book for the most part. I had a bit of a hard time with switching people for each chapter, but all in all...it was a good read.
Book Description
The Builder's Greywater Guide (a supplement to Oasis's book Create an Oasis with Greywater) will help building professionals or homeowners work within or around building codes to successfully include greywater systems in new construction or remodeling, even if they have little prior greywater experience. It is also a great resource for regulators interested in improving regulatory oversight of greywater systems. Topics include: Special reasons for builders to install or not install a greywater system, flow chart for choosing a system, suggestions for dealing with inspectors, legal requirements checklist, detailed review of system options with respect to new laws, latest construction details and design tips, maintenance suggestions, equations for estimating irrigation demand, and the complete text of new US greywater law with English translation and suggested improvements. 46 pages, 9 figures, 8.5 x 11".
Note: The book Create an Oasis with Greywater is required in order to effectively use the "Builder's Greywater Guide".
Customer Reviews:
very helpful.......2007-10-05
This was exactly what I'd hoped for. Very informative and readable by the lay person.
This is a SUPPLEMENT ONLY.......2007-07-04
You must buy "Create an Oasis With Greywater" since this SUPPLEMENT refers to the book often!
Greywater Guide.......2006-11-10
Good general reference for planning a greywater system. Especially like the section on systems that don't work. Nice not to have to reinvent the wheel. Information in the book correlates well with my own experiences with greywater over the last 30 years in various parts of the world. A "must have" reference for anyone considering installing a greywater system.
Great Buy.......2006-03-15
I am not a builder but I am planning to build GREEN.I wanted to be as informed as possible, so I could research the building requirments, communicate as intelligently as possible, hire the right people, choose the right architect, etc. This book gave me 98% of all the info I needed on a graywater system, even though I'm building in Pennsylvania and author is a Californian. I have "Create an Oasis With Graywater" also. These books have made my life much simplier.
Another amazing book by Art Ludwig.......2002-12-03
I recommend that you get the 3 companion books on greywater treatment "Create an Oasis", "Branched Drain Greywater Systems" and "Builder's Greywater Guide". The information in these volumes will keep most of us far more informed than most of the regulators, the system builders, and the experts-in-theory. These volumes are real-world gems.
Art Ludwig has cut to the core of wastewater issues. He's obviously done all of his homework, mulled-over the variables, and come up with a common sense, economically reasonable, environmentally responsible approach to wastewater. I expect to save money that I would have spent on a post-septic tank, aerobic unit that would seemingly have been ecologically responsible; but because of the technological overkill, ultimately that system would have defeated my altruistic environmental concerns.
The sheer volume of information in each of his greywater books puts other sources to shame. Each volume is very well written, being clear, amusing, and concise. I can't imagine improving these books, other than keeping the information updated with future editions.
These books talk the talk and walk the walk better than anything else that I've seen. Buy a set for yourself, a set for your neighbors, and a set for the regulators.
Product Description
OASIS in the Overwhelm introduces four specific strategies that are practical, easy to learn, take only sixty seconds, and designed to help busy people be more effective—and happier—at work and at home. Executive Coach and Clinical Instructor at the Yale School of Medicine Millie Grenough developed the strategies after her own near-death accident. OASIS tells her story, stories of her clients, and offers the latest results of scientific research that demonstrate the power to re-wire our brains towards greater health and happiness.
Customer Reviews:
Stressed? Overwhelmed with worries? too many to-do lists? too many problems you feel you don't have control over?.......2006-10-25
Millie Grenough's OASIS in the Overwhelm will give you just the breath of fresh air you need to get you back on your feet - and feel better. Millie is a personal friend of mine (say whatever you want here....)
Millie promises that 1) you can learn the OASIS Strategies in less than an hour, 2) they really do take only 60-seconds each, 3) they will make a difference in your life, and 4) the people around you will be happy you are using them.
Millie speaks from personal experience. After a near-fatal accident forced her to change her hectic lifestyle, she knew she had to find ways to keep her balance when she returned to "real" life - and she knew the strategies had to be fast and easy - or else she wouldn't do them. She developed her 60-second Strategies which are now being used by hundreds of people throughout the world.
The Hindu Business Lines: 4-D, 3-B-C, Cue-2-Do and 1 Stone.......2005-12-05
"What a whiff of fresh air. Grenough elucidates the techniques through a graceful 'how-to' and simple language... OASIS comes as 'a clear stream of reason' in 'the dreary desert sand of dead habit,' as in Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali."
D. Murali, Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Oasis in the overwhelm.......2005-10-29
Millie Grenough teaches the basic survival techniques for today's lifestyles. The effective yet simple techniqes help to put control back into your everyday life. It left me with a sense of hope and exhilaration. It's a gift that gets used everyday.
Invest a couple of hours to change your life forever........2005-09-15
Oasis in the Overwhelm is a powerful story written by an amazing woman. Millie has created 4, quick and easy, life strategies to calm your mind anytime anywhere. We all know that stress kills so give a copy of Oasis to someone you love.
BJ Frazier
President
Just For The Health Of It, LLC
A great read if your life is crazy and you want to relax.......2005-08-19
I just finished reading Oasis in the Overwhelm over the weekend and all I have to say is, "bravo!!" I loved the book. The tone of the writing is so comforting. The author does not talk down to the reader but rather respect's your intelligence and individual experience. At the same time, she writes from a position of authority and backs up her findings and opinions with sound research. Throughout the book, I could almost hear the author's voice reading the words to me.
I think the aspect of Oasis I liked the most is that it does not promise too much, but what it does promise, it delivers. What I mean is, the author is not claiming that these techniques will make you as athletic as a major league ball player, as good looking as a supermodel, or as smart as Einstein; but the techniques will make you a better person and feel like you have more control of your life.
I have already practiced each of the book's four techniques and my wife has already noticed the difference. I am recommending Oasis to my Mother and Mother-in-law who both recently lost their husbands and are in search of the Oasis in the Overwhelm of their daily lives. I hope they get as much out of it as I did.
John A. Cirello
Senior Partner
Cirello & Vessicchio, LLC
Attorneys at Law
Average customer rating:
- Thirlling Series Continues, but Some Developments Seem Too Familiar
- Once more into the breach with Anton, Olivio and the gang
- Awesome tale of Adventure!
- Third in a Great African Series
- The Desert Fox meets the Great White Hunter
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The Devil's Oasis: A Novel
Bartle Bull
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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A Cafe on the Nile
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The White Rhino Hotel
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China Star
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Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure
ASIN: 0786709901 |
Book Description
All the treacherous intrigue of cosmopolitan Cairo and fiery drama of Rommel’s desert war in Africa continue the stirring historical adventure of the masterly Bartle Bull’s two previous novels, The White Rhino Hotel and A Cafe on the Nile. It is now 1942, and Nazi Germany stands at the height of its power. In North Africa the brilliant general Rommel’s panzers threaten the Suez Canal, the Middle East’s oil fields, and the trade route to Asia, but to win Egypt Rommel must first take the port of Tobruk and destroy the British fortress of Bir Hakeim. There, against the massive force of Rommel’s Afrika Korps, a young English hussar named Wellington Rider fights beside the French Foreign Legion. Wellington’s father, the professional hunter Anton Rider, is now operating as a desert commando and is engaged in the obliteration of Nazi air bases and petrol dumps. Not only has Anton’s old friend Ernst von Decken, a German soldier of fortune, meanwhile become the enemy, but also Anton’s estranged wife has entered into an affair with a Frenchman who supports Rommel’s campaign. Alliances shift, loyalties deceive, espionage thrives, and peril lies as much in the dark corners of Cairo as it does in the desert night. “...after three volumes of nonstop action, eroticism and intrigue, we still care about what happens to ... Mr. Bull’s extravagant cast.”—Richard Bernstein, New York Times “A World War II page-turner that’s part Masterpiece Theatre, part Raiders of the Lost Ark, part Casablanca.”—Washington Post
Customer Reviews:
Thirlling Series Continues, but Some Developments Seem Too Familiar.......2005-09-14
Bartle Bull's series of North African novels can fairly be characterized as a "rip-roaring yarn." From the chaotic closing days of WWI ("The White Rhino Hotel") to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 ("A Cafe on the Nile") to the outbreak of WWII ("The Devil's Oasis"), Bull has taken a cast of beloved characters and dropped them pell-mell into some of the most exotic and dangerous (and therefore romantic) circumstances possible.
What brings this series alive is Bull's ability to capture the uniquely North African flavors of his cherished setting. It is obvious that Bull has spent quite a bit of time in the desert and on safari in North Africa, not to mention a lot of time "recharging" himself at various seedy and sophisticated bars and hotels. Writing with a quick, terse prose, Bull is more likey to spend more time describing the sights, sounds, and smells of a busy riverfront than he would describing the psychological torments of his characters -- a remarkably stoic, macho crowd.
Again, the one completely unique character in Bull's novels is the Goan dwarf, Olivio Alavdedo. Rising from servant in the first novel to wealthy landowner and entrepreneur, Alavedo confronts both his physical limitations and impending death (due to health complications) as opportunities. With a mind as cruel as it is cunning, Alavedo concocts schemes of conquest and vengeance that are haunting, devastating, and completely original. He stands in stark contrast to the what-you-see-is-what-you-get machismo of Englishman/gypsy/hunter Anton Rider and German/African/hunter/farmer Ernst von Decken -- both of whom are great characters in their own right.
I have given both "Hotel" and "Cafe" five stars for their sheer audacity -- I have completely enjoyed both books. I still enjoyed "Oasis," but I have to confess that some of Bull's plot developments in "Oasis" seem overly similar to plot developments in the first two novels. Alavedo once again faces numerous assassination attempts -- we've been here before. Gwenn Rider has once again left Anton for a Euro-trash villain who is destined for a horrible comeuppance. Anton once again finds himself challenged to express his true feelings, and he undergoes horrible physical punishment while trying to do the right thing. And there are other plot developments that come straight from the first two books.
All of these plot similarities derive from the fact that our characters haven't changed all that much. Alavedo continues to court enemies (this time in the corrupt world of Egyptian antiquities), so it's natural that he be marked for trouble. And Gwenn and Anton Rider, despite their intense love, are too different to spend every day next to each other. But still, there's a certain sense of repetition in "Oasis" that keeps the novel from a five-star rating.
Fortunately, despite this misgiving, "Oasis" brings the goods as far as thrills and chills are concerned. Ernst von Decken allies himself with Erwin Rommel during Rommel's African campaign. Anton joins the British Long Range Patrol Group, charged with scouting and sabotage. (Ernst and Anton also find themselves confronting the loss of their long friendship, thanks to Anton's "behavior" with Ernst's young American wife, Harriet.) Anton's and Gwenn's elder son, Wellington, also joins the British army in North Africa and takes on Rommel and the Luftwaffe. And there is much, much more.
Chalk up another sterling adventure for Bartle Bull and his series of African novels. While it's clear from the conclusion of "Oasis" that another novel (at least) is forthcoming, perhaps it's good that Bull has briefly left this series for another novel, "Shanhai Station." Maybe this break will give him some inspiration for some unanticipated and original crises to befall his romantic band of killers, schemers, and lovers.
Once more into the breach with Anton, Olivio and the gang.......2005-07-04
Third in a series, this book takes Bartle Bull's motley assortment of African adventurers to the battlefields of North Africa in the early days of World War II. The earlier two books were great tales but suffered from a certain disappointing similarity and a jumpiness of narrative which took us back and forth among the different characters and various sub-plots. This time, though, things are a bit different. There are no battles in the bush or safaris except for a brief moment early on when white hunter and protagonist, Anton Rider, is wrapping one up, just before lighting out for Cairo to woo back his estranged wife Gwen, who has relocated there after attending medical school and becoming a physician.
On arrival in Cairo, Rider finds Gwen playing mistress to a slippery French archeologist and unwilling to reconcile with him because of his adventurous ways. Meanwhile his grown son, Wellington, and nearly grown son, Denby, are keen to sign up to fight the Jerries and Eyeties in the newly developing war, causing still another rift between Gwen and Anton.
Their proper British friend, the somewhat incompetent Lord Adam Penfold, rounds out this little group which is again bound together by their common friendship with, and devotion to, the Goan dwarf Olivo Fonseca Alavedo, the very kinky and always scheming capitalist miser with the heart of gold who keeps them all in the chips despite their unworldly ways. Olivio has his family of five beautiful daughters by his off-stage African wife (for some reason, throughout all the trials and tribulations of this group, she never makes an appearance) and his one dwarf son (the spitting image of his dad . . . though why he is the only one to inherit dwarfism while his daughters are all perfect specimens is never addressed or explained). Their old friendly enemy, Ernst von Decken is there, too. He's high tailing it to Rommel in North Africa to salve the pain of having been on the losing German side in East Africa during World War I. This time, relying on a peg leg to replace a foot he lost in the prior book, A Cafe on the Nile, he is quickly inducted into Rommel's inner circle and ready to beat the "Englanders" at last.
Anton, of course, is keen to do his duty for a Britain he left as a lad of 18 and has not seen since, even as Wellington, born and raised in Africa, enlists to do his. Gwen, rather annoyed by it all, flees Cairo for Alexandria to do her duty there caring for the wounded in the overcrowded hospitals, while Olivio has uncovered a secret on one of his landholdings that brings him into conflict with a certain French archeologist, as well as the Egyptian authorities. While Anton and Wellington are off blasting Eyties and Jerries, Olivio must outwit the man who is out to steal what he has found and who will stop at nothing, including assassination, to get his way.
As before, we are treated to a generous helping of sexual coupling, though it's less off the beaten path this time than in the prior books, as Wellington falls for Olivio's surviving eldest daughter, Saffron, and Anton cavorts with Ernst's American wife who has paused to dally a bit in Egypt on her way home to the states in the wake of Ernst's desertion of her for the glories of a dreamed of German victory. Anton leads his long range desert reconnaisance unit deep into Libya, enemy territory controlled by the Italians and Rommel, while Wellington takes his stand at a little known oasis on the road to Tobruk which Rommel must take if he's to move on and seize Alexandria, Egypt and all the rest of the oil rich Middle East.
As before, there's lots of action and good fun for those who want to lose themselves in a 1940's style adventure set in the exotic locale of North Africa. Bull does a marvelous job of conjuring up the world though I think, this time, he was a little too specific in the technical details as he lists the various vehicles on the two sides interminably and has Penfold continue to read newspaper headlines giving us the broader events of the day. Bull notes in his afterword that he did quite a bit of research in the old newspapers and, through Penfold, he seems keen to show us how much he took away.
The downside in this tale, though, remains the characters. While sharply drawn and generally interesting, they have no real depth and never seem to show any growth. Anton is still the heroic hunter cum adventurer, aphrodisiac to the ladies but a fish out of water with his own wife, Gwen. Lord Penfold is still the dull, impractical and sincere British aristocrat and Olivio is still the consumate schemer. Ernst remains the somewhat honorable schemer and lout he has always been, despite the losses he has taken including the missing foot.
The Goan dwarf, Olivio, still takes his hits but, as always, knows how to hit back in a remarkably brutal way, though his brutality is surprisingly muted this time out compared to what we got in the first two books. Despite the deep losses he sustains in his battle of wits with his new enemy, he seems surprisingly unmoved by it all, thriving, rather, on the vengeance he is able to conceive and implement despite the loss of some of those who are closest to him. He's been blown up and nearly burned to death many times before, of course, and given the health problems Bull tells us beset him, it's hard to imagine that he's still alive, still scheming and still taking revenge after it all. But this story is not meant to be realistic. It's a fantastic world of adventure masquerading as reality and in that it does its job. If you want to lose yourself in a fast paced tale of adventure in a far off time and place, among strange and quaintly alien peoples, then this book is right up your alley. I generally like my historical adventures set a bit further back in time, myself, but as an author of one of these (The King of Vinland's Saga), I respect a good job when I see it. And Bartle Bull has written an adventure worth losing oneself in. I lost myself for a couple of days, reading it right through to the end without a break. And that's what it's all about after all.
SWM The King of Vinland's Saga
Awesome tale of Adventure!.......2002-04-04
Liked this even better than WRH. Just great adventure writing, set in North Africa. One of the best novels I've ever read. Combines action with romantic setting and atomosphere. Extremely well crafted and written.
Third in a Great African Series.......2001-10-22
Bartle Bull is a great storyteller. The characters we first met in The White Rhino Hotel and further enjoyed in A Cafe on the Nile are back. The setting is now Cairo and Northern Africa as the Nazi juggernaut (in the person of the surprisingly admirable Rommel and his Afrika Corps) prepares to capture Cairo, to thereby control the Middle Eastern oilfields, and to gain an unsurmountable advantage in winning the war. Anton Rider, now older and more battered; Gwen, his estranged wife now in a liaison with another despicable cad; Wellington, their older son, discovering love and heroism for the first time; and, always, the enigmatic Goan dwarf, Olivio Alavedo are all back to further work out their lives in this grand historic context. As always, the reader cares about the characters, is caught up in the fast-paced plot and is swept up in a powerful narrative. If you like adventure and care about good writing, read this series!
The Desert Fox meets the Great White Hunter.......2001-07-02
This is the third in the series of adventure tales centering on Anton Rider, a gypsy-raised Brit who makes a living taking sports on safari. He has two upright sons and a separated wife, Gwenn, who has a terminal addiction to lovers who are losers. His friends include a likeable, devious and over-sexed dwarf, a German soldier with one foot, and an ancient Englishman. All these exotic characters are found in exotic locales along the Nile in 1939-1942 as Rommel advances toward Egypt and the British fight desperately to halt him. This, of course, involves Anton, who always finds trouble, and his military-age son Wellington. Gwenn is keeping company with a detestable Frenchman; the dwarf is calculating how he can get even richer with the war The greatest part of the book, especially toward the end, is devoted to war in the desert. The descriptions of the war are a little confusing. More explanation as to why, for example, the Foreign Legion is clinging so desperately to a particular patch of sand would be useful. Courage abounds in this novel; fear is not so evident -- and more would be welcome in a dramatic sense. Likewise, the hardships of heat and thirst in the desert don't seem to be exploited as effectively as they could be. But this is a good adventure tale, better written than most, and I look forward to the next book in the series.
Book Description
An oasis of peace and nature in a crowded city, San Franciscoís Golden Gate Park is one of the largest and most diverse parks in the world. Spanning over 1,000 acres, the park is home to gardens, lakes, museums, athletic fields, even a paddock for bison. It is wildly popular with locals and tourists alike, and through the years visitors have always enjoyed sending postcards from this amazing place. ÝÝThrough this collection of early postcards from 1894 through 1940, readers will experience classic views of Golden Gate Park, including some that no longer exist. Encompassing the parkís famed monuments, statues, windmills, lakes, streams, and beautiful attractions like the bandshell and the Japanese Tea Garden, these images detail a fascinating place that stays with everyone who visits.
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