Book Description
A glorious new novel from the Pulitzer Prize winner: a big, smart, bawdy tale of love and war, sex and politics, friendship and betrayal—and the allure of the movies. With Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron as her model, Jane Smiley takes us through ten transformative, unforgettable days in the Hollywood hills.
It is the morning after the 2003 Academy Awards. Max—an Oscar-winning writer/director whose fame has waned—and his lover, Elena, luxuriate in bed, still groggy from last night’s red-carpet festivities. They are talking about movies, talking about love, and talking about the war in Iraq, recently begun. But soon their house will be full of guests, and guests like these demand attention. There is Max’s ex-wife, “the legendary Zoe Cunningham,” a dazzling half-Jamaican movie star, with her new lover, the enigmatic healer, Paul (fraudulent? enlightened?). Max’s agent, Stoney, a perhaps too easygoing version of his legendary agent father, can’t stay away, and neither can Zoe and Max’s daughter, Isabel, though she would prefer to maintain her hard-won independence. And of course there is the next-door neighbor, Cassie, who seems to know everyone’s secrets.
As they share their stories of Hollywood past and present, watch films in Max’s opulent screening room, gossip by the swimming pool, and tussle in the many bedrooms, the tension mounts, sparks fly, and Smiley delivers an exquisitely woven, virtuosic work—a Hollywood novel as only she could fashion it, told with bravura, rich with delightful characters, spiced with her signature wit. It is a joyful, sexy, and wondrously insightful pleasure.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2007-10-13
I have loved everything Jane Smiley has written, but this book was tedious. I skipped entire passages because they were repetititve and added little the story. If you haven't read any Smiley, skip this book and go directly to The Age of Grief.
Ye Gods !!!.......2007-10-06
Ten days in the hills!!...ten minutes into the book!!By the end of the first page I'd read more about flaccid cocks than I'd ever wanted to know. After reading more pages of so-called artistic rambling involving detailed sex, I'd had enough. There are SO many books to be read and not enough time to read them all without wasting my time reading this sort of thing!
thoroughly enjoyed it.......2007-09-04
I picked this book up on impulse, then couldn't put it down for three days.
I loved Smiley's characters. They seem very real to me as they struggle with their problems (yes, they do have problems even though they are well-off Hollywood actors, directors, writers and agents) and try to come to terms with a world that seems to have gone insane (America as it invades Iraq). I found it interesting and refreshing to read about people who are aware, informed and deeply concerned and affected (esp. Elena and Isabel) about what is going on in the world around them.
Finally, there are just so many great stories in this book. It's almost a guilty pleasure because it's full of what almost seems like Hollywood gossip but in a much more interesting format and more well-told than usual. And it manages to be a lot of fun, in spite of the themes of the Iraq war, centuries-old violent conflicts, mother-child relationships and so on.
I don't think this is Jane Smiley's masterpiece, but like all of her books, it's well worth reading!
P.S.Reader comments about the characters being self-centered seem odd. First, since when are characters supposed to be saints in order to be interesting? Second, these characters have more social conscience than most people. Also, am surprised at the readers who didn't finish the book, but felt compelled to review it anyway. Can reviews of something the reviewer didn't really read be taken seriously?
Smiley fan is not smiling.......2007-08-23
I have loved Jane Smiley's fictional writing and was first "hooked" by Duplicate Keys. I read A Thousand Acres: A Novel about a thousand times to enjoy every angle of the relationships. Moostill makes me laugh. Maybe I was not in the right place for this book, but I thought both the sex and the war elements were contrived. The relationships were so buried in the sex and war that I kept taking breaks from the tedium of sorting through it all. I clearly recall my own helplessness in those early days of the war, but I could not relate to these characters whose responses ranged from literal impotence to clandestine news snatching. Anyway, it all leaves me feeling a little sad - these poor characters need lots of help.
Waste of time and money.......2007-07-25
Endless, aimless, pretentious and monotonous. The same badly written sex scene is repeated over and over.
Book Description
Six years' worth of symposiums come together in this rich collection of essays that plot a course for African Americans, explaining how individuals and households can make changes that will immediately improve their circumstances in areas ranging from health and education to crime reduction and financial well-being. Addressing these pressing concerns are contributors Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. surgeon general; Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Angela Glover Blackwell, founder of the research think tank PolicyLink; and Cornel West, professor of Religion at Princeton University. Each chapter outlines one key issue and provides a list of resources, suggestions for action, and a checklist for what concerned citizens can do to keep their communities progressing socially, politically, and economically. Though the African American community faces devastating social disparities—in which more than 8 million people live in poverty—this celebration of possibility, hope, and strength will help leaders and citizens keep Black America moving forward.
Customer Reviews:
Not what I'd expected...but still a good piece of information.......2007-09-25
I had expected so much more from this book I guess. Not that it was a bad read, it really wasn't, it just wasn't what I had expected. The ideals and processes outlined are very basic, with some direction to make it happen. It falls in line with many of the other books I have read in the past on money management, professional growth, etc., except it is targeted to the African American community and the plight these issues have on the community and family structure in Black America. I suggest this book if you do not have a collection of "self help" book on your shelf. I suggest this book if you want to know what the plight of the Black American is in this world and what can be done to fix it. But if your pretty well read on these topics already, it will be a repeat of information. I did buy copies and gave it to the younger generations of my family as I feel these are things they need to know and work on NOW. So in that respect this is a winning read.
Worth the Read.......2007-08-28
This book was and eye opener for the ones who want to see the truth. It's sad that we live in America who would perfer to blind themselves to harsh reality. Remember we are our brother and sister's keeper.
Sad But True.......2007-08-18
The information, commentary, and suggested solutions to improve the position of blacks are well said. I am a big fan of Cornel West anyway but the intellects that analyze the plight have done their homework and not extreme in the characterization of what is. Enjoy it for enlightenment and join the effort to change what is unfortunately sad but true.
I am in the middle of the road..........2007-07-31
I enjoyed the statistics. I enjoyed the stories of those whom changed their circumstances due to their own volitions. I did not find in this book the way to make all of these things happen. There were little snippets of information claiming "HERE, here are the steps you can make as a person and within your community!! HERE!" But this book does not take into consideration that there is no community. There is no Black American community. How do we foster a sense of community? In my opinion, this book assumes there is already a community to put these ideas into motion. I don't see that. Black Americans react. They always come out, usually in anger, to respond to something. Then, after the knee-jerk reaction, Black America goes back to its complacent niche in society until something else makes them upset.
The only reason I give this book a 3 and not a 5 is because it assumes falsehoods. There is no Black community to put these plans into action. If there were, I would give this book a 5, hands down.
Must have in reading collection.......2007-06-27
This book is a must for anyone, reguardless of your color. I waited to purchase the book, but after reading other reviews I knew I had to have my own copy. My daughter picks it up and read it which opens up discussions for us. Recommended for anyone with children.
Book Description
The Covenant in Action was developed to continue the inspirational spirit of the Covenant With Black America and to empower people to take effective action to achieve THE Covenant goals. The information, tools, and ideas presented in The Covenant in Action will enable and inspire people to become agents of change in their respective communities and to become partners in a larger Covenant movement.
The Covenant in Action is organized into three parts: (1) stories about the projects and actions that everyday people have undertaken over the past year that were inspired by the Covenant With Black America; (2) motivational essays from young Black activists who are on the ground impacting their environments; and (3) a toolkit outlining steps you can take to organize, connect, and act. The toolkit contains not only traditional action strategies, but includes innovative approaches to organizing and community building that will result in stronger, more bonded communities that are reflective of their history and past experiences. The Covenant With Black America was only the first step. The Covenant in Action toolkit will prime and prepare individuals and communities to actually move the Covenant book into action.
Customer Reviews:
This is not going to cut it.......2007-09-03
What the Covenant in Action has accomplished is listed in a brief introduction and in a summary section that lists examples of them which to date include:
(1) Lobbying successfully to get the Voting Rights Act renewed,
(2) Conducting "parties with a purpose" to discuss various aspects of the Covenant,
(3) Creating book and discussion clubs,
(4) Conducting the Black State of the Union presentation on C-Span,
(5) Lobbying on behalf of getting more Black officials elected,
(6) Engaging in church discussions on Economic development and social equity,
(7) Putting on a conference on juvenile justice, and
(8) Conducting A Day of Dialogue, etc.
On its face, this list seems to be an impressive set of accomplishments and is admirable on its own merits. However, when it is compared with what black culture needs to get itself out of the ditch it finds itself in, and with what the Covenant called for in order to address the issues that are causing cultural stress within the black community, namely:
(1) Racism (the Covenant did not list it, but left it implied);
(2) Black Male-female relationships and decreases in Black marriage formation (again the Covenant did not list this item, but shame on the Covenant for omitting it);
(3) Out of wedlock pregnancies and unwanted, uncared for and improperly parented children (again the Covenant did not mention this item);
(4) Black-crime--especially Black-on-Black crime and the large and increasing black prison population;
(5) the poor state of black education and Black health, including HIV/Aids and SIDS;
(6) lack of jobs for Black males; and
(7) Black voter registration.
When the actions the Covenant has produced (in the first list) are compared with the objectives it established in the Covenant, and with the needs of Black culture given (in the second list), the discrepancies are so vast as to render the actions virtually meaningless to anyone who takes a non-emotional and dispassionate comparison between the two lists. There is virtually no overlap?
One must ask the question? What is going on in the Black community? Why are they having discussion groups and creating book clubs when the ghetto is gasping for its last breathe, in one of the worse social melt-downs in American history?
As the Black ship of state rapidly sinks, its main leaders and activists are busy rearranging the deck chairs. They are pretending that deep persistent cultural problems can be solved through feel-good methods. The most one can say is that the "feel-good" approach instead of a more hard-nosed tough-love approach, betrays the poverty of thought among black leaders in dealing with their own problems. What a pity.
Any Covenant worth its salt must seek to outline and solve the deep, real and intractable problems of black culture. And this cannot be done on the cheap without cost or pain -- that is, via such tactics as those in the first list. That list would do fine in a world where all else was equal and there was no emergency, but the Black community is in a full-scale melt-down, teetering on complete self-destruction, addressing these problems is no longer a discretionary option for black culture. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that Black culture as we know it is on the brink of self-destruction.
The author of the Black Covenant and the collective Black leadership needs to take a deep breathe, collect its thoughts and discuss a paradigm shift towards a more sensible and effective approach to black problem-solving. As much as I wish it were not so, Mr. Smiley's Covenant is not going to cut it.
Two stars
The Covenant In Action.......2007-07-03
An excellent book telling the story, concerns and issues of Black Americans by Black Americans.
All About History.......2007-04-10
Book was a gift to my 84 year old aunt who was interested in readings of Tavis Smiley during Black History month.
great gift.......2007-03-29
I brought this as a gift for a friend. He was suprised by the gift and really enjoyed the books.
Excellent Book .......2007-03-19
This book should be required reading in every high school in Amercia.
Average customer rating:
- inside the whitewashed farmhouse
- Lacking in character development
- Age Appropriate?
- A Compelling Read
- Tedious writing and shallow characters - reasonable story
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A Thousand Acres
Jane Smiley
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ASIN: 0394577736
Release Date: 1991-10-23 |
Amazon.com
Aging Larry Cook announces his intention to turn over his 1,000-acre farm--one of the largest in Zebulon County, Iowa--to his three daughters, Caroline, Ginny and Rose. A man of harsh sensibilities, he carves Caroline out of the deal because she has the nerve to be less than enthusiastic about her father's generosity. While Larry Cook deteriorates into a pathetic drunk, his daughters are left to cope with the often grim realities of life on a family farm--from battering husbands to cutthroat lenders. In this winner of the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Smiley captures the essence of such a life with stark, painful detail.
Book Description
A thousand acres, a piece of land of almost mythic proportions. Upon this fertile, nourishing earth, Jane Smiley has set her rich, breathtakingly dramatic novel of an American family whose wealth cannot stay the hand of tragedy. It is the intense, compelling story of a father and his daughters, of sisters, of wives and husbands, and of the human cost of a lifetime spent trying to subdue the land and the passions it stirs. The most critically acclaimed novel of the literary season, a classic story of contemporary American life, A THOUSAND ACRES is destined to be read for years to come.
"It has been a long time since a novel so surprised me with its power to haunt . . . . Its genius grows from its ruthless acceptance of the divided nature of every character . . . . This gives A THOUSAND ACRES the prismatic quality of the greatest art." -- Chicago Tribune
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
inside the whitewashed farmhouse.......2007-10-02
Way-too-human darker side of the many facets of the Midwest farm life, plus some deeply satisfying glimpses into its regional and natural history. A good read. I guess Smiley did create a very well-developed main character, because I still keep worrying about how she's doing. The others, however, were pretty one-dimensional, and more than a few of the plot turns seemed unrealistic, definitely not fleshed out, but I was completely willing to suspend disbelief in order to continue turning the pages to peer into the mind of that main character.
Lacking in character development.......2007-07-13
This book held my interest enough for me to finish it over the course of 3-4 days (I have two toddlers so that's an accompishment!), but by the end of the book I thought there were way too many unanswered questions, particularly due to poor character development and the relationships among the family members. I kept waiting to understand why Caroline was so distant from the family, but there were only mentions here and there but not enough of an explanation. I feel the author could have added so much more to the story regarding the death of their mother when they were young children. There was no depth or dimension to the characters of Ty, Pete, or Rose. Ginny, perhaps because the book was told from her point of view, was the only character I felt like I really knew. The story had the potential to be better but it was difficult for me to invest in any of the characters.
Age Appropriate?.......2007-06-27
This book was a part of my senior reading list for my upcoming AP Liturature course. The characters routinly annoyed me with their inability to see Ginny's father for what he really was and I found Ty's lack of loyalty to his wife the most distressing of all the character relations. The author does a splendid job of convincing you of Ginny's choices and I often found myself unable to wait for the next chapter. Despite this, I didn't feel that the ending was very helpful in its resolution of the conflicts created throughout the story. I realize it's a modern adaptation of "King Lear" but I could not find full satisfaction. It all seemed insufficient. There were also several brief descriptive moments of sexual thought and action that I found very inappropriate. As an AP student I must be mature but, at 16 I am conflicted with the notion of reading the explicit beginning of a sexual encounter between a husband and his wife. While some teens would read such descriptions with lust and others might not even notice, I felt very uncomfortable and couldn't get over the sensation that someone was going to scold me despite my age for reading something as open as this book is. My discomfort overruled my opinion of plot and I would only recommend this book to someone over the age of 18.
A Compelling Read.......2007-06-15
I've heard of references to King Lear but as I read on, I was also struck by similarities to "Wuthering Heights"...families torn asunder, too, and some outlandish emotions. Dramas played out against an unforgiving landscape, and the sense of isolation. But the detail to every-day life, such as the narrator attending to the process of keeping a farm and farm-house running, both makes it more plausible and keeps us anchored. When Ginny plans revenge on Rose, her actions and methodical, painstaking steps she takes, are ghastly but have a certain dark humor, too. I read this in just under three days, and had to force myself to stop at times, just to attend to details of my own household.
Tedious writing and shallow characters - reasonable story.......2007-05-30
I liked the idea of the book, but expected a more riveting account about 3 sisters, their men and their inheritance. The characters were run-of-the-mill and could have been described with richer adjectives. Sibling rivalry, sisterly love and differences in these slightly boring characters could have been refined further.
The scenes are credible with descriptions of the food, crockery, clothing, if a little unimaginative with cliches and tautologies. There were a few twists in plot, but it was stale.
A good editor could have condensed the book to about 1/3rd the length and replaced some obvious adjectives to improve the writing.
C J Critt's reading was clear and voices were well differentiated on the tape, even if the tone was a little patronizing.
I managed to go through all 11 tapes, but it didn't hook me like some books. Finally a note of caution - whereas most of the book is suitable for youth, the sexual nature of the content makes it unsuitable for playing on family trips with children.
Book Description
Sit down and join the lively classroom discussion occurring throughout this unique book for beginners. The tutorial classroom experience will show you why Professor Smiley is renowned for making learning fun and easy. Pencils up!
Customer Reviews:
Programmer job security threatened!.......2006-04-20
Have you ever thought you wanted to learn how to program, and bought a book on programming that didn't teach you anything? Or maybe you took a class that had a required textbook that was worthless? Did you get discouraged, and think programming just wasn't "for you"? That maybe you just didn't "get it" like those other people that seemed to have no problems learning to program? If so, then this book is for you. If more computer programming books were written like this, I KNOW there'd be a lot more programmers in the world. It's not about intelligence, it's about LEARNING STYLES. This book is more narrative than just lines of code to interpret. John Smiley talks TO the reader, not AT him. He puts you in a classroom setting where people ask questions, even DUMB questions that you yourself may have wanted to ask. And guess what? He ANSWERS the questions. If you've been stymied in one way or another from reaching a point of confidence with programming then this book is for you. I give it 5 stars because that's the most that Amazon's system will let me give it. If you don't believe me, hit the library. Then buy the book to put food on this man's table, and have this awesome book in your personal library.
Excellent.......2006-01-31
This is an excellent book. I have completely read this book. I recommend this book for every student learning C#.
Wonderful Book, Highly Recommend!.......2005-10-20
This is a great book for C# beginners like me. The book is very well written as it simulates the real class environment and answers every possible question that the beginner might have. I went to a 5-day C# training and I learned less there than I learned after reading this book. The author is a talented instructor, and I wish all computer science professors were like him. I am looking forward to an intermidiate C# book by John Smiley! Thank you, John.
FANTASTIC BOOK!! VERY well written........2005-08-28
I am taking a series of classes from "someplace" with the intention of making a carreer change. "Someplace" offered to get me from being a non-programmer to an MCSD in 8 months using Microsoft official curriculum (MOC). An ambitious undertaking to be sure.
I have found the MOC to be of very limited help. Wow, that's an understatement.
Anyway, I have been using other resources to supplement the training and this book has been the best.
The book starts with understanding the requirements of a program. From there the author walks us through the process of building a program and incorporates a lot of very practical and useful concepts. In general, the book has followed the progression of the MOC "Programming with C#". Whether by design or not, this has been very helpful.
The book is written in narrative or as a story unfolding. The reader is included in a small class learning to program. The other students in the class ask questions to the instructor (John Smiley) and in general greatly facilitate the learning process. This narrative makes it a lot easier to follow and the simple program turns out to be full of lots of very useful training opportunities.
At first, I was underwhelmed that the author had chosen to use Notepad and the SDK to create the programs. However, having finished the book and being halfway through the MOC course (which uses Visual Studio) I am glad that he does. Visual Studio tends to be expensive to get your hands on, and while it does have some VERY helpful functionality in terms of writing code, for the beginner, a lot of the stuff it does seems like it is overwhelming for the "newbie" (at least it was to me.)
Many times, I would complete similar exercises using the notpad/SDK method in 1/3rd or 1/4 the time it would take me to do it in Visual Studio. For the most part, this was because of all of the "helpful" stuff that Visual Studio was doing. Don't get me wrong, it is a great IDE, but for a newbie like me, I think Smiley's approach was better.
I have bought many other C# books and I will be doing reviews on them as I read them to supplement the material. I've also been taking video lessons from LearnVisualStudio.net.
I hope John Smiley will create a book on Visual Studio and Intermediate and Advanced C#. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it HIGHLY to anyone just getting started.
More Books Should Be Like This.......2005-06-26
Before this book, every time I went to learn programming I was discouraged by how complicated everything seemed. John Smiley takes the mystery out of programming and explains it in a way anyone can understand. The classroom setting is perfect for the beginner. Most of the questions I had while reading were the same questions the students in the book had which was very nice. If you are trying to learn programming in C# and have no experience whatsoever, this book is a MUST HAVE before you read anything else. All the other books on Amazon are good for second or third in line AFTER you read this book. I hope John Smiley can write more books like this. I will most certainly pick them up.
Book Description
“I Have a Dream,” Dr. King intoned. In English class, we were just starting to learn about similes and metaphors and figures of speech. Those concepts weren’t immediately clear to me as Dr. King talked about “symbolic shadow,” but …I understood the power of symbolic language.
Over the next several weeks, I spent hours studying that one speech…King’s speeches touched me so deeply and profoundly that, for reasons I couldn’t explain, I found myself crying. I wasn’t sure what those tears represented: maybe his words touched the pain and hurt and humiliation I was still feeling; maybe my tears stemmed from the new confidence and purpose his words gave me. Maybe I felt an empathy with my people whose history of suffering and survival was coming alive to me for the first time. In part, they reflected my pride in the courageous brilliance of a leader outspoken in conveying our purpose and passion.
I see now that King influenced me on several levels: First, he showed me that words have meaning—they aren’t arbitrary—and words are powerful. He showed me that words can carry the force of love. He also showed me that one man can make a difference. He himself had made that difference….Despite evidence to the contrary, King believed that things would get better. Every day that I read his words, they moved me like a powerful sermon. They changed my life and emboldened my ambition.
—From What I Know For Sure
From the man who catapulted The Covenant with Black America to number one on the New York Times bestseller list comes a searing memoir of poverty, ambition, pain, and atonement. Celebrated talk-show host Tavis Smiley describes growing up in an all-white rural community in Indiana and the impact it had on his life.
Tavis Smiley grew up in a family of thirteen in a small trailer in Indiana, where money was scarce and the sight of other black faces even scarcer. One of only a few African American kids in his high school, he grew up feeling like an outsider because of the color of his skin, his Pentecostal religious beliefs, and his family’s economic circumstances. It was the love and support of his family that sustained him. But that trust and support was shattered when his father, in a moment of rage, beat him with an electrical cord, sending him to the hospital. Tavis was placed in foster care for a time, and it took him years to bridge the emotional chasm between him and his parents.
Nothing, however, could quench Tavis’s fierce inner drive to succeed. His remarkable speaking ability made him an oratorical champion in Indiana and offered him a pathway to a different world. Determined to fight for the underdog and for African American rights, he entered the political arena, moving to Los Angeles to work in Mayor Tom Bradley’s administration. Later, he embarked on his career as a radio commentator, discovering that it was an ideal way to influence public discourse on the issues of the day. Now with his own show on PBS, he remains committed to bettering the lives of all Americans; he’s especially acclaimed for his work on behalf of people of color and the underprivileged.
An honest, deeply moving self-portrait of one of America’s most popular media figures, What I Know for Sure should appeal to readers everywhere.
Customer Reviews:
Learned Something New.......2007-10-15
I didn't follow Smiley's career and knew nothing about him besides people being so outraged when he was fired from BET, so when I saw this book in the library, I immediately scooped it up. I wanted to know what all the hype was about. This was an extremely interesting read explaining Smiley's work ethic, family ideas, and network strategies to become the successful journalist and talk show host that he is. His upbringing as a child was typical of a heavily devoted Christian family, but I was caught offguard by the trailer park home. That was something new for me because I'd never read a story about a Black family living in a trailer home. I grimaced through the hardest childhood memory for him primarily because I don't believe in slavery-influenced tactics to discipline a child and because I think the most harsh way to punish a person is to confront them when you are mad. I felt Smiley's anger for him while continuing to read. The book also covered his college years, governmental goals and internships, and his stubbornness to succeed. My only con for this book was that he briefly gave an overview of an outburst he had with NPR, which sounded surprisingly similar to his finger wagging for Bob Johnson. I wonder if those two did not work well together because they were too much alike, especially when repeatedly reading about his bullheaded logic in getting any job, internship, and respect. I am very curious how outside people may view him because by the book being influenced from his stories, there seems to be a slight bias. Other than that, great read. I'm going to check out his other work as well to get a better feel for his take on political issues.
Historical and Relevant.......2007-09-11
I applaud Mr. Smiley for his detailed account of African-American stories and the way that he connected them to Historical events. He, in this book, successfully gave a description of how so many have grown up in Urban America.
An Enjoyable, Enlightening Read.......2007-06-29
Tavis Smiley writes an enjoyable, enlightening, easy-to-read story of his upbringing in middle America. Though at times fighting against a sometimes harsh upbringing in a committed Christian home, Smiley's work repeatedly hearkens back to the lessons he learned in that very home. He teaches how anyone can move beyond negative life experiences, be they in the home or in society, to a place of meaning and success in life.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, and Soul Physicians.
A Good Read.......2007-06-28
I truly enjoyed this book. I totally agree with another reader...the chapters are not unnecessarily bogged down with additional information which made the book very easy to read. His story is very encouraging and is a testament that there is no obstacle you cannot overcome if you have the faith and determination Tavis displayed in this book.
Although I may not have had the heart to make some of the moves he did i.e. (taking an unpaid position away from home with no means of income) look where he is today...God Bless him!
Much Ado.......2007-06-22
I admire Tavis, think he is an insightful interviewer and enjoy his show very much. However, his book was a disappointment. There's no THERE there. Poorly written, thin on substance--he doesn't really DO anything. Although I have sympathy from the scars he obviously still bears from his abusive and sheltered overly-religious childhood, he comes off as whiney and superficial. I and some of my book club members liked Tavis a lot better before reading his shallow memoir.
Book Description
Are you ready for the Cob Cottage? This is a building method so old and so simple that it has been all but forgotten in the rush to synthetics. A cob cottage,cobb, however, might be the ultimate expression of ecological design, a structure so attuned to its surroundings that its creators refer to it as "an ecstatic house."
The authors build a house the way others create a natural garden. They use the oldest, most available materials imaginable—earth, clay, sand, straw, and water—and blend them to redefine the future (and past) of building. Cob (the word comes from an Old English root, meaning "lump") is a mixture of non-toxic, recyclable, and often free materials. Building with cob requires no forms, no cement, and no machinery of any kind. Builders actually sculpt their structures by hand.
Building with earth is nothing new to America; the oldest structures on the continent were built with adobe bricks. Adobe, however, has been geographically limited to the Southwest. The limits of cob are defined only by the builder's imagination.
Cob offers answers regarding our role in Nature, family and society, about why we feel the ways that we do, about what's missing in our lives. Cob comes as a revelation, a key to a saner world.
Cob has been a traditional building process for millennia in Europe, even in rainy and windy climates like the British Isles, where many cob buildings still serve as family homes after hundreds of years. The technique is newly arrived to the Americas, and, as with so many social trends, the early adopters are in the Pacific Northwest.
Cob houses (or cottages, since they are always efficiently small by American construction standards) are not only compatible with their surroundings, they ARE their surroundings, literally rising up from the earth. They are full of light, energy-efficient, and cozy, with curved walls and built-in, whimsical touches. They are delightful. They are ecstatic.
Customer Reviews:
Practical, Comforting, and Fun.......2007-01-06
This book gives basic instructions on everything you need to know about cob home construction with many illustrations and a great set of glossy color photos in the middle of the book.
This book is great to read even if you never build a cob home because of the amount of information it contains that can be of use for any kind of house.
Also, the book walks the reader through several excercises that are meant to open up one's own innate creativity.
I really enjoyed the integration of spiritual philosophy into very practical instructions, it makes for a great balance.
I felt that the book was very fun to read and put me into a lighthearted mood.
The book also contains many references to other natural/alternative building techniques that can be employed instead of or in addition to cob.
Enjoy!
great book.......2007-01-04
great work on clay building, includes everything from history to philosophy to detailed practical building guidelines.
Christo.......2006-07-09
If there is one book that you need to read than this is it. Get your feet in the mud and find out who you really are. This book changed my life. Gave me the empowerment to throw off the chains of being dependent on paying alot of money for a basic need: good housing. Now I've embarked on a path of creativity, to build a house that is healthy, and will suit all my needs. My thanks are great!
Stunning AND the Absolute Last Word in Cob Info.......2006-03-23
I spent hours and hours with this beautiful and entertaining book, and I was only barely interested in Cob! This book is absolutely terrific, it is wonderfully and beautifully illustrated, includes color photos of some great cob houses, and is absolutely THE book you need if you want to learn about cob, or build your own cob structure. It is a wonderful balance of fun, personal stories, expertise, and technical info. (And really very inclusive too!) I read both Becky's and then this book. It really made me comfortable with cobbing because it is so well done, so inclusive and informative. A testimonial: Some time after reading this book over and over, we decided that cob was not appropriate for our site, and I STILL recently picked up this book for a good read!
Simply gorgeous!.......2005-09-23
First, it's fun just to browse through the gorgeous homes and creations in this book. Second, cob is well researched and documented here, for instance, did you know there are cob homes in Devonshire England that are over 400 years old? Third, this is a remarkably practical handbook for siting, designing, and building a home from cob.
On a practical note, you might want to start with a cob oven for practice. Kiko Denzer wrote a lovely book on the subject, "Building your own wood fired oven". Cob is incredibly fun to work with, but very, very labor intensive.
I really wish I could give this book six stars, because it's truly a fabulous and peerless manual for building with cob.
Buy it, you won't regret it a bit! It's a book you'll go back to again and again, and dream with on cold winter days.
Book Description
Over an extraordinary twenty-year career, Jane Smiley has written all kinds of novels: mystery, comedy, historical fiction, epic. “Is there anything Jane Smiley cannot do?” raves Time magazine. But in the wake of 9/11, Smiley faltered in her hitherto unflagging impulse to write and decided to approach novels from a different angle: she read one hundred of them, from classics such as the thousand-year-old Tale of Genji to recent fiction by Zadie Smith, Nicholson Baker, and Alice Munro.
Smiley explores–as no novelist has before her–the unparalleled intimacy of reading, why a novel succeeds (or doesn’t), and how the novel has changed over time. She describes a novelist as “right on the cusp between someone who knows everything and someone who knows nothing,” yet whose “job and ambition is to develop a theory of how it feels to be alive.”
In her inimitable style–exuberant, candid, opinionated–Smiley invites us behind the scenes of novel-writing, sharing her own habits and spilling the secrets of her craft. She walks us step-by-step through the publication of her most recent novel, Good Faith, and, in two vital chapters on how to write “a novel of your own,” offers priceless advice to aspiring authors.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel may amount to a peculiar form of autobiography. We see Smiley reading in bed with a chocolate bar; mulling over plot twists while cooking dinner for her family; even, at the age of twelve, devouring Sherlock Holmes mysteries, which she later realized were among her earliest literary models for plot and character.
And in an exhilarating conclusion, Smiley considers individually the one hundred books she read, from Don Quixote to Lolita to Atonement, presenting her own insights and often controversial opinions. In its scope and gleeful eclecticism, her reading list is one of the most compelling–and surprising–ever assembled.
Engaging, wise, sometimes irreverent, Thirteen Ways is essential reading for anyone who has ever escaped into the pages of a novel or, for that matter, wanted to write one. In Smiley’s own words, ones she found herself turning to over the course of her journey: “Read this. I bet you’ll like it.”
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant, idiosyncratic........2007-07-04
This book is excellent and will repay close reading, but I am of two minds. On one hand, Smiley has examined the development and significance of the novel as only a practicing novelist of depth and talent could. On the strength of her treatment I've resolved to try her novels. Any description I might give of her discussion would not do it justice.
On the other hand, she clearly has a political axe to grind and this comes out most one-sidedly in her descriptions of novels. First, her history of the novel begins with Murasaki Shikibu's "Tale of Genji," leaps to Bocaccio's "Decameron" as a precursor to the novel in its western form, and then holds a steady course through Cervantes, Defoe, Austen, Dickens, and James into the twentieth century. Perhaps because she has identified as a major concern of the novel the question of "what a woman is for" (her words), Smiley ignores Twain, Hemingway, and modern novelists whose work is not animated by that question. She does not claim completeness for her 100 novels and writes more than once that she is not trying to compile a `Best 100' list, but she does claim a certain disinterestedness that is belied by her choices. She (usually) likes European novelists (nothing wrong with that) and woman novelists (ditto) who pursue her favorite question. Novelists who have nothing to say on the question either leave her cold or don't make the list at all. Hence, she claims not to be able to remember her experience of "Moby Dick" and Joyce's "Ulysses" strikes her as a lot of art devoted to a not very interesting premise. About her contemporaries Pynchon, Delillo, and Wolfe she has nothing to say at all.
Second, the idea that failure to read novels caused the badness of our politicians is nonsense. Lincoln wasn't a great reader of novels, nor was Washington. I don't deny that people well-read in good novels might as a result develop empathy but Smiley seems not to believe there are other routes to the same destination. Furthermore, plenty of very good leaders, not to mention good people in general, claim that daily contact with the Bible helps them to love their neighbors as themselves. GWB's treatment of Iraq doesn't strike Smiley as loving enough (one might say "Christian enough"): fine, but this is not grounds for blaming the Bible and Bush's poor education. Where should we believe Mother Theresa or Dietrich Boenhoeffer learned their love of humanity?
Third, J.S.'s history of the novel, though accurate as far as it goes, doesn't make sense given her concerns. She includes "The Tale of Genji," which had zero influence on the novel's early development in the West, but excludes medieval saints' lives, which I expect influenced the "Decameron" and are sources for the reader's experience of interior truth she believes is a defining characteristic of the novel. She will claim she had to start somewhere but why not consider the source of the novel's interiority, since she places so much emphasis on that quality? The primary source of western interiority is the idea that the soul has to answer to God in conscience. This fearful relationship between self and deity was illustrated in hundreds of saints lives. A frequent element in the stories of female saints is the refusal to do the socially expected thing--marry a man--in favor of maintaining chastity. Tales like this dramatize the sense of self against other that grew as Christianity spread. This crisis deepened during the Protestant Reformation and it should not surprise us that the novel's development began as Luther and Calvin were claiming that the soul's isolation was even more absolute than Christians had previously believed.
Finally, had she looked she would have found several long, plotted, prose works that predate "The Tale of Genji" by several centuries: the novel has perfectly fine ancient roots in the Greek romance and other long prose works of antiquity, such as Apuleius' "Metamorphosis" and Petronius' "Satyricon."
So, brilliant and idiosyncratic, just as I believe Smiley wanted it. Buy the book.
Such promise, such disappointment.......2007-03-21
I read the first few chapters and thought this was not a bad book. The author often has to stretch to tie her point to her examples but was keeping my interest. And then it happened! What so many of today's "accomplished" writers can't avoid.
A completely useless and bombastic attack on the Bush administration stuck in the middle of the book. Whatever your political views, these pages are confused and embarassing. A nice 3-4 star book of criticism and advice destroyed because our author could not contain her hatred and bile. My reading group (2 conservatives, 2 moderates and 3 liberals) voted 7-0 to stop discussing this book after hitting this passage. Leave political commentary to the hundreds of hacks across the spectrum.
A couldn't-put-it-down book of criticism!.......2007-03-02
I guess it is well known that Smiley is a witty, intelligent, and congenial writer but this book nevertheless surprised me. I didn't want it to end! I found myself hoarding the pages of the penultimate essay the same way I do with the closing chapters of a novel I am enjoying. I will now have to re-read to figure out how she accomplished this (can it be simply a matter of voice?), but in the meantime want to recommend it to all comers. Just delightful.
Three studies within one cover.......2006-02-26
This compendium falls into three parts, more or less. The first section offers Smiley's survey of how the novel evolved. Here, she emphasizes the importance of Bocaccio's Decameron and Marguerite de Naverre's Heptameron, two collections of stories grouped around a tale-telling symposium, more or less. The first stresses the humanism and the joy of human relationships; the second cautions humans about the danger of such relationships. Here, Smiley finds the tension that characterizes the subsequent four centuries of what becomes, with the rise of literacy and the spread of affordable books, the novel as we know it.
Her 22 years spent teaching university in Iowa show in her analysis. Some readers may be lulled off to sleep by her rather academic considerations; as a literature lecturer myself for about the same amount of time that she taught, I found these introductory chapters a bit too longwinded--she continues as the pages pile up to elaborate points already made, and at times I felt like she had to stretch her material to fit, well, 13 chapters no matter what. Still, it taught me a lot that I had not learned in the classroom myself, and it's useful for any reader as an overview or summation. Despite the rather too-professorial pace, she does come up with a few memorable remarks in these first 200 pages.
For instance, that Don Quixote, shown to conveniently nod off whenever the talk turned to amours, began a tendency for the novel (for much of its evolution) to avoid explicit depictions of sex. That the English novel tends to lead up to marriage, while the French equivalent starts off with marriage--or its stagnation after the honeymoon's faded. How drama inflates its protagonist while novels deflate their main character's pretensions or aspirations. Or, in her opinion with which I disagree, why Ulysses and what she critiques as too-mannered a fictional rendering distances fatally the novel from its natural milieu where the reader--and the writer--belong.
I never have read a Smiley novel, so that puts me in either an uninformed or fresh reception for her next section. She takes the making of her novel "Good Faith," and shows how she took an anecdote told her from real life and worked it into a novel. I admit that while I have no interest in reading GF after encountering her account of its construction, the process described was told--being from the inside rather than via a critic after the fact--in an informative and insightful manner. But it's still a bit clumsy; if you have not read GF, then the coyness with which she gives some details and withholds others (so as not to spoil the plot) does prove awkward, as this novel's not exactly as familiar for most of us as many of the others she peruses in the 101 listed in the final section. I did find her reactions to reviews, her book tour experiences, and her struggles with knowing when to stop writing informative, however. This led into a chapter in which she addresses the reader as if he/she seeks advice on how to write a novel, too. This chapter felt as if imported from a previous article; it aroused for me absolutely no interest in writing one, and its place in this otherwise reader-oriented collection seemed precarious. But others will no doubt be invigorated by it.
For the final section, the second half roughly in length of the book, the 101 novels she lists and summarizes rather briskly--as she points out, often overlapping with the previous chapters that were written after she had drafted the notes on the 101 novels as she read them, offers far less enticement than I'd have expected. I thought I'd find many novels that I'd never heard of, or always had wondered if I should read but hadn't known enough about to sample. She did get me to search out Gogol's novella "Taras Bulba," one I'd never encountered. But many of her titles are already familiar, standard-issue for reading groups, English majors, or the "common reader" that Virginia Woolf could once expect to find out in the educated public. This is not meant as a put-down, but there were fewer rare and previously hidden or neglected finds in her list than I'd have liked.
Contrast this to the increasingly middlebrow types of novels that populate her list as it moves into the latter 20c. This on the one hand is unsurprising; this is the same category that Smiley herself writes for--the respectable popular "trade paperback" by the classier imprints from usually mass-market publishers. But I found really no new books in the more recent decades to seek out after reading her reviews. She too often does not show the faults of what she reads--such as Ian McEwan's "Atonement" being a refreshing and too rare inclusion of why she did not think a novel "worked"--and her generally sunny acceptance of the stack she plowed through does speak for her optimism and good-natured encouragement of her fellow writers. Again, I tend towards the more difficult novel than most of the people reading this book would, so I admit my snobbish prejudice!
Smiley does enhoy the benefits of much more leisure than most of us, riding horses in Carmel Valley, reading to her heart's delight, and taking the Course in Miracles--a paragraph early on praising this for her own recent transformation still seems baffling to me, alas. For we busier folk, her own foray through a few years of reading her way through the big bedside stack we bibliophiles all dream of having does show her commonsense and accessible approach to explicating how novels are made, why they work, and which ones worked best for her. While each of our stacks would differ from hers, she does provide in this hefty volume (a good value for the price) enough for any reader to learn and debate with her from the comfort of our own armchair or pillow.
A lterary tour.......2006-01-30
A great tour of the novel landscape, with Smiley's typical insight and deft use of language. And a nice list of novels everyone should read with thumbnail summaries.
Average customer rating:
- Great book for a beginning programmer
- Excellent Book, Easy to Understand
- For someone with no programming experience
- Falls Apart
- The best book I've seen for Java learning
|
Learn to Program with Java
John Smiley
Manufacturer: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0072131896 |
Amazon.com
Whether you are brand new to programming in general or coming to Java from another language, John Smiley's Learn to Program with Java offers a truly approachable tutorial designed with the beginner in mind. Covering Java syntax and essential programming concepts, this text can be used at home to simulate a semester's worth of Java study.
Like Smiley's previous titles, the salient feature of this text is the author's scenario-based presentation style. Instead of addressing the reader directly, Smiley simulates the experience of about 18 first-semester programming students facing Java for the first time. As the students develop a grade calculation project in Java (and improve it with object-oriented features later on), basic questions are raised and answered with the reader "overhearing" the author's consistently clear and patient explanation of key programming concepts.
While this approach is certainly not for those in a hurry, it can do the trick for the programming newbie. With an extensive Q&A for each step, Smiley covers most every conceivable obstacle and confusion. (The questions presented here are drawn from his extensive real-world teaching experience.)
After covering the basics of today's iterative software development cycle (a reminder to plan before you write any code), the book implements a grade-averaging program used for several departments at a hypothetical college. Smiley rehearses the discussions of the potential users of this application, as well as the students who then build it. The simple program is a good one as it allows the author to introduce basic Java syntax, as well as fundamental programming concepts (like variables and loops), without getting too bogged down in complexity.
Once the basic program has been built, Smiley introduces using objects to solve the same problem. His guide to basic object-oriented design, as well as how to code basic objects in Java, is once again clear and sensible. If the "big picture" behind using objects has eluded you, the practical presentation offered here may well help things click. By the end of the book, the final version of the program gets enhanced with support for arrays, plus a basic graphical user interface built with simple Swing components.
Most introductory programming texts try to cover everything at once, a temptation that's especially great with the rich (and complex) Java platform. The streamlined set of lessons here help make this title a good choice for Java newbies who want a patient and really approachable beginner's tutorial. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Introductory Java-based programming tutorial, the basics of the software design process, the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC): from analysis and design to development, implementation and maintenance; a first Java program, variables and constants, basic data types and operators, flow control and loops, custom methods, using objects (constructors, class variables and finalizers) access specifiers and instance variables, getters and setters, inheritance fundamentals, using arrays, error handling with exceptions, basic user interface design with Swing controls, event handling with listeners, adapters and events; and a case study for a grade-calculation program.
Book Description
More than 100,000 programmers owe their careers to Professor John Smiley. In this unique guide, the guru himself will teach you, in a classroom setting, how to program in Java. Learn from more than 100 questions and answers as well as real-world programming projects.
Customer Reviews:
Great book for a beginning programmer.......2005-10-07
This book is the best for a beginning programmer with no experience. It guides you through the basics and does not bore you or assume that you know C or C++ like most other Java books. I have wanted to pick up some programming for a while and John Smiley's book was the only one I have been able to read from cover to cover and get something out of. I got the electronic version at his website.
Excellent Book, Easy to Understand.......2005-04-29
I took an intro to programming course with Java at my university a few years ago. The professor was really bad (barely spoke English) and needless to say, I hardly got anything out of the class. I was feeling a little anxious about future programming classes so I picked up this book at the recommendation of a friend. I was truly impressed with it. I really liked the classlike setting in the book which made you feel like you were actually participating in a course, not just reading another programming book. The explanations are worded in everyday terms so you don't have to be a software engineer to figure out what is going on. In fact, Smiley actually goes way more in depth than most first semester Java courses, yet presents the information so well that you don't even notice how much you are learning. This is probably the best book I have seen to teach yourself Java and would recommend it to anyone.
For someone with no programming experience.......2005-01-30
If you have no programming experience and want to learn the mindset of writing computer programs using java, then buy this book. Otherwise, pass this by for another Java intro.
Falls Apart.......2004-10-10
I've owned this book and after a few years the pages of the book fall out. This makes the book useless as a reference book. I've had the same problem with Tab books and Sams books. I keep my copy of "Teach Yourself Java1.2 in 21 Days" with rubber bands to keep the pages in. I think that it's time for the Japanese to make their appearence into the book industry. Beware of Osborne, Tab and Sams books.
The best book I've seen for Java learning.......2004-06-03
I just want to thank John Smiley for writing the book "Learn to Program with Java"!
It's great, and a fantastic way of getting the subject over that doesn't leave you thinking "...but how did you make that leap??" or "...where did that come from?" and the classroom format I find really useful as it has a more 'real world' feel and the author has obviously heard all these questions from his students. I've not yet come up with one that hasn't already been discussed in the book!
I have 4 or 5 books or other 'learning aids' for Java and none have them have enabled me to really get to grips with, let alone get enthusiatic about, Java! (or any other programming language for that matter!!)
I'm not a programmer by profession (I'm a mechanical engineer) but I have long wanted to learn. I find the subject fascinating but until now have found it almost inpenetrable with too much jargon and 'geek-talk' in those books I have tried.
I haven't yet finished the book/course, but progress is good and I wanted to tell all potential purchasers that John Smiley managed to open a window that has so far remained firmly closed. I would be happy to recommend this book to anyone who asks, and will do so whenever I get the chance!!
Book Description
A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world's greatest literary treasures-as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women who first settled Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured further west-to Greenland and, ultimately, the coast of North America itself.
The 10 Sagas and seven shorter tales in this volume include the celebrated Vinland Sagas, which recount Leif Eiriksson's pioneering voyage to the New World and contain the oldest descriptions of the North American continent.
Customer Reviews:
A Different World, Not a Libertarian's Fantasy.......2007-10-14
This review is largely a response to David Heinrich's strange two-star review (see below).
Where to begin????
First, Mr. Heinrich's remarks represent a peculiar crackpot strain of libertarian thought that imagines Viking Age Iceland as a social and political model for contemporary America. Give me a break! Viking Age Iceland was an agrarian society with a tiny, homogeneous population working extremely marginal land. It should be needless to say that the forms of political organization and conflict resolution that worked for medieval Icelanders will not work for a huge, diverse population working within a complex, increasingly post-industrial economy. But then, by my observation, libertarians tend to live in a fantasy world of one-on-one interactions on which other relations--e.g. power, economic--do not impinge.
As for the representativeness of this anthology, it's hardly biased. Kellogg et al. gather a rich selection of sagas that offer a wide range of plots and character types: e.g. explorers, farmers, pioneers, poets, men, women, bad warriors, noble warriors, on and on. Njal's Saga is by far the longest of the sagas, too big to include here. Even so, there's plenty of lawspeaking in this anthology, not just blood feud and violence.
Finally, this reviewer refers to per capita violence in medieval Iceland. Where did he get that information? Did medieval Icelanders keep such records? Did he derive them from the sagas themselves? If so, that's a problem because they are literary productions, written 100+ years after the Viking Age; they are not court records, mortality statistics, or any other such documents. They tell us much about how medieval Icelanders saw themselves and their past. As sources, however, they get problematic at best if one starts trying to pull from them specific biographical or historical fact.
All this said, The Sagas of Icelanders is a rich, representative, and absorbing selection of some the world's greatest writings.
A very nice collection.......2007-09-30
This is a nicely-bound collection of Icelandic family sagas that would look good on anyone's bookshelf. The translation is straightforward and readable and the supplementary material is helpful. This would be a good starting point for anyone who intends to collect the sagas.
A five star review from someone who doesn't normally read Sagas or Mythology.......2007-09-01
I haven't read a lot into Mythology and never was really interested in the topic, but I was wandering through a bookstore and came across this collection and decided to splurge. I figured I could read a Saga here and there and just gradually work through this rather large collection, but of course what ended up happening was I couldn't put the book down. Other reading, work everything took a back seat for a couple of weeks until I plowed my way through these amazing stories.
My knowledge of Iceland and of this region is cursory at best, but now I am completely enthralled. That was one of the things I really liked about this work; you don't need to know a lot about the history or the culture to really be entertained and enlightened. I think anyone can pick up this book and get a lot of enjoyment out of these tales. You don't need to be a scholar or a Mythology enthusiast to get a lot out of this work. The stories are just very good.
James924 spoke about the problems with the intros spoiling the stories and I agree with his assessment. What I found was best is to read the story first and then go back to read the intros to enhance your understanding, but if you wanted to you could even skip the intros and just read the stories themselves.
This book was just a chance purchase on my part, and it was one that I originally thought might end up being a waste of my money, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book, and I feel that I learned a lot about the history of an area I was previously unfamiliar with. This is a book that I highly recommend to anyone.
Fantastic, but watch out for spoilers........2007-08-02
The saga's in this collection are one of a kind. They are as engaging and readable as a modern historical fiction and as epic as the ancient classics. The are as useful to a scholar as they are to someone looking for a riveting novel.
HOWEVER the book is filled with LOTS of intros and explainations. The intros are VERY well written and informative but I'm afraid I learned the hard way that they are full of merciless spoilers. Thats ok for alot of people seeing as a large percentage of the people reading this will do so for scholarly purposes and may indeed have already read many of the saga's contained within. However for those of us who have never read them and are seeking to enjoy a few great stories with amazing plots and emotional climaxes, the intros are a serious downer. Each individual saga has its own intro as well as a place in the gigantic main introduction. What I did after the first saga was spoiled for me was simply read through the sagas first and then read their respective introductions which, again, are superbly written and very informative.
All that aside, if you like GREAT stories, Get this book!
If you enjoy northern european history, Get this book!
and read it. After the first saga you'll soon find yourself unable to stop turning to the next and the next...
Excellent.......2007-02-09
This anthology features extensive introductions by Smiley (a writer's perspective) and Kellog (a philological analysis), illustrations (maps, genealogies, drawings of habitats), an excellent reference section, a thoughtful glossary, and brilliant translations of some of the best prose sagas. The more difficult poetic materials (e.g., the Poetic Edda) are unfortunately not covered, but reasonable translations are available elsewhere. The material provides ample room for an initial but deeper understanding of Norwegian culture. If you were ever curious about Norway and Iceland, don't just sit there: read this book!
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