Books

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Average customer rating:

Excellent
deep and delicious and fun
I knew it!
A Bead Counted in Gratitude
Couldn't put it down!

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Elizabeth Gilbert
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143038419

Book Description

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott's hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-07-02

I read this book in 1-day which is highly unusual for me! Finding one's self in fallout of loss and life change can be hugely challenging; however, it has never been easier to hear about than through the lens Elizabeth Gilbert's experience. I am relieved to find a writer who can probe and explore the physiology of change without leaving their guts and all the un-necessary, often all too boring and redundant details all over the dining room table, or living room floor for that matter. Gilbert is quick, colorful, current, highly entertaining, lucid and thorough as she resolves some very big life questions. If you want to see someone make sense of change, AND move on, read this book. ON the other hand, if you need to experience someone dissecting their depression endlessly, and beating a dead horse you may not be ready for this.

deep and delicious and fun.......2007-06-29

This book is deep, delicious, and fun. It chronicles a woman's journey after her divorce. The divorce is not described in detail, but is clearly a protracted, difficult event. The author goes to Italy, where she learns Italian for the sheer joy of it, and eats as much gelato and other excellent food as she can. She goes on to India, where she meditates, though she had resisted this practice before and felt like she wasn't good at it. Then on to Indonesia, where she finds balance. This book is so well written. There are wonderful practices that the author undertakes (e.g., writing in a journal while very upset and then writing back to herself for comfort, having a ceremony alone in which she lets go of her former marriage and imagines herself being forgiven, and viewing Depression as a real life visitor who sneaks in but can also leave). Sometimes people find memoirs to be narcissistic or self-indulgent. This one is not. The author pokes fun at herself and is very real, human, and intensely likeable for all her imperfections. I recommend this book highly, what a pleasure to read.

I knew it!.......2007-06-29

I bought this book when it first came out and I knew it was going to be on the Best Seller's List! I should be a book critic! I loved this book and love this author.

A Bead Counted in Gratitude.......2007-06-28

As a guy, my mind simply would've never noticed this book for me to pick it up. The title and presentation, with exception to the prayer beads, simply don't call out to the masculine spirit. It took one of my beautiful friends of the feminine persuasion to place this book in my hands.

As a hitchhiker thru many lands, my wanderlust delighted and splashed in the puddles of scenic descriptions and friendly faces that fill this book. Many memories resurfaced, particularly in India, and future plans were altered to taste in a bit of the lovely author's experience.

As a holyman, I love watching myself and others be dragged, kicking and screaming, by our divine guidance to a more healthy, holy self. From the very introduction, I could feel the presence of the divine that had already entered this woman, and dug in for a good read that rarely let me down.

As a lover, who was once under a vow of celibacy, I could empathize with Elizabeth's pain in a place where passion and sex ruled, but know well the internal fortitude and strength this builds. The internal strife of this choice was one of my favorite aspects of her growth.

As a writer, had I only one sentence in which to sum up this book, I would state: "One woman's journey, out of breakdown back to wholeness, across Italy, India and Indonesia." Amazingly, this just happens to be a good part of what the title states, and it is obvious from the very start that her journey was more success than failure.

As a walking advertising campaign for everything I love, I have found that I can turn anyone onto this book simply by handing it to them with the words "pick a paragraph... any paragraph." I have yet to have anyone simply shrug off what they randomly read.

To Elizabeth Gilbert: "My love and gratitude for every word. See you later alligator."

Couldn't put it down!.......2007-06-28

Best book I've read in a long time. Actually used a highlighter in this one to mark particular groups of words that just resonated with me. A soulful, well-written book. I didn't want it to end.

Average customer rating:

Thought-provoking....
Thought-provoking book about why humans struggle so hard to find happiness
A Superbly Written Book
Brilliantly-written...if you're 12.
Verbose

Stumbling on Happiness
Daniel Gilbert
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400077427
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Amazon.com

Do you know what makes you happy? Daniel Gilbert would bet that you think you do, but you are most likely wrong. In his witty and engaging new book, Harvard professor Gilbert reveals his take on how our minds work, and how the limitations of our imaginations may be getting in the way of our ability to know what happiness is. Sound quirky and interesting? It is! But just to be sure, we asked bestselling author (and master of the quirky and interesting) Malcolm Gladwell to read Stumbling on Happiness, and give us his take. Check out his review below. --Daphne Durham

Guest Reviewer: Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of bestselling books Blink and The Tipping Point, and is a staff writer for The New Yorker.

Several years ago, on a flight from New York to California, I had the good fortune to sit next to a psychologist named Dan Gilbert. He had a shiny bald head, an irrepressible good humor, and we talked (or, more accurately, he talked) from at least the Hudson to the Rockies--and I was completely charmed. He had the wonderful quality many academics have--which is that he was interested in the kinds of questions that all of us care about but never have the time or opportunity to explore. He had also had a quality that is rare among academics. He had the ability to translate his work for people who were outside his world.

Now Gilbert has written a book about his psychological research. It is called Stumbling on Happiness, and reading it reminded me of that plane ride long ago. It is a delight to read. Gilbert is charming and funny and has a rare gift for making very complicated ideas come alive.

Stumbling on Happiness is a book about a very simple but powerful idea. What distinguishes us as human beings from other animals is our ability to predict the future--or rather, our interest in predicting the future. We spend a great deal of our waking life imagining what it would be like to be this way or that way, or to do this or that, or taste or buy or experience some state or feeling or thing. We do that for good reasons: it is what allows us to shape our life. And it is by trying to exert some control over our futures that we attempt to be happy. But by any objective measure, we are really bad at that predictive function. We're terrible at knowing how we will feel a day or a month or year from now, and even worse at knowing what will and will not bring us that cherished happiness. Gilbert sets out to figure what that's so: why we are so terrible at something that would seem to be so extraordinarily important?

In making his case, Gilbert walks us through a series of fascinating--and in some ways troubling--facts about the way our minds work. In particular, Gilbert is interested in delineating the shortcomings of imagination. We're far too accepting of the conclusions of our imaginations. Our imaginations aren't particularly imaginative. Our imaginations are really bad at telling us how we will think when the future finally comes. And our personal experiences aren't nearly as good at correcting these errors as we might think.

I suppose that I really should go on at this point, and talk in more detail about what Gilbert means by that--and how his argument unfolds. But I feel like that might ruin the experience of reading Stumbling on Happiness. This is a psychological detective story about one of the great mysteries of our lives. If you have even the slightest curiosity about the human condition, you ought to read it. Trust me. --Malcolm Gladwell

Book Description

• Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink?

• Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight?

• Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want?

• Why do pigeons seem to have such excellent aim; why can’t we remember one song while listening to another; and why does the line at the grocery store always slow down the moment we join it?

In this brilliant, witty, and accessible book, renowned Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert describes the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight that cause each of us to misconceive our tomorrows and misestimate our satisfactions. Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there. With penetrating insight and sparkling prose, Gilbert explains why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become.

Customer Reviews:

Thought-provoking...........2007-07-01

Similar in style and substance to Tipping Point and Freakonomics, only more entertaining and less bounded.

Thought-provoking book about why humans struggle so hard to find happiness.......2007-06-29

I'm certainly happy to have stumbled across this book by fellow psychologist Daniel Gilbert. Although it was not what I expected, I can't blame the author for that: in his Forward, Gilbert quickly disabuses readers of any pre-conceived notions by pointing out that his book is NOT "an instruction manual that will tell you anything useful about how to be happy." No? Well, okay, I admit that this left me feeling a bit disappointed, but I kept reading anyway, and soon Gilbert had me laughing aloud (so much so that I had to explain myself to the stranger seated next to me on the plane). I'm not at all sorry that I chose to read this book, and if you want to learn more about why humans struggle so much with happiness, you won't be either.

So, if this book isn't a happiness self-help manual, what is it? For one thing, it is an extremely thorough review of the science behind why human beings are so utterly unable to predict what will bring them pleasure in the future. But don't be scared off by the word "science"--although research was my own least-favorite aspect of graduate school, Gilbert is a straight talker who effuses his writing with witty prose, making even the most dry social psychology experiments seem not only interesting but also relevant to our everyday lives. And although Gilbert argues that humans are unique in that they are the only animals to think about the future, by the end of the book, he is able to completely convince the reader that we all are pretty lousy at this seemingly simple task.

Personally, I've always found social psychology and other studies of human behavior to be pretty interesting (I am a psychologist, after all), but it is Gilbert's clever, often irreverent writing style that makes the book so fascinating. (Those who caught him as a guest on The Colbert Report were treated to a live glimpse of both Gilbert's intelligence and his sense of humor.) This book certainly gave me a better understanding of why something as basic as happiness could be so elusive to us all--something, like love or the gold at the end of the rainbow, that we are much more likely to stumble upon than to ever find by plan or design.

A Superbly Written Book.......2007-06-22

The book is about affective forecasting. A lot of psychological researches are cross-referenced in the book in a way to support the author's stance. At one point or another, the author does overgeneralize on a topic. Apart from this, this book is one of the best I've read in recent years.

Brilliantly-written...if you're 12........2007-06-21

I literally stumbled on this book, appropriately enough, while searching on Amazon for something totally unrelated. On a whim I bought it. It promised to answer some interesting questions about why people are the way they are.

Things started out well enough, with interesting material and promise of a fascinating journey, but the writer's chit-chatty style soon grew grating. The jokes, puns and snappy asides wear thin after two chapters. They are also obviously being used to pad the book out. I don't disagree with his approach or his conclusion. What he has is a good magazine idea. He's just stretched it to a book to cash in. Academics are so selfless that way.

If the jokes weren't bad enough, the cases he cites to buttress his arguments are numerous and redundant. For just one example, on p. 111 he talks about imagining future events and gives an example. Clear enough. Then on the next page, he starts the first paragraph by saying, "To illustrate this point..." which he'd already done. A few paragraphs later, "This fact was illustrated by..." The next page, another illustration, then another, then another--all of a very obvious point, that we tend to leave out numerous details when we imagine ourselves in future events. Something I think anyone who's sentient knows already anyway. Throughout, he seems to keep pounding at us as if he's trying to persuade us of a "clever" or insightful thesis...that really isn't as clever or insightful as he thinks.

I don't know if most people are just incredibly stupid and unimaginative and need to be spoon-fed this information as though they have cognitive problems, but I certainly don't need to be addressed like a fifth-grader who's been dropped on my head repeatedly. Yet this book is aimed, they tell me, at college-educated adults. Is this what colleges are turning out these days? No wonder American Idol is the nation's most popular TV show, and the average American ranks up with the average British 8th grader in education, according to studies by The Economist.

By the time you're halfway into a chapter--at the most--you've figured out the author's point. I found myself skipping ahead in each chapter to get to the end, then eventually skimming whole chapters. The end was what I'd lept ahead and figured out after about page 80. This guy comes from Harvard!? I guess Harvard, like everyone else, is dumbing down in the race to chase more bucks. Save your money and buy a good recording of Mahler's 5th symphony instead, and you'll learn more about happiness, both real and imagined. Sadness too.

Verbose.......2007-06-21

The "Publishers Weekly" review for this book on Amazon provides a succinct and very accurate synopsis of the book...that's all you need to read. The book is a laundry-list of examples that support the less than novel or astute conclusions by the author. Verbose and self-congratulatory.

His anthrophocentric views are cliche, not to mention offensive. His easy dismissal of animal intelligence, denigrating their limited "nexting" capacity when compared to the grandeur of the human imagination , indicates that he is very ignorant of animal behavior...and failed to use his much touted human imagination to perceive their intelligence. He needs only to study a cat for a week to see that animals have the capacity to feel what we do. Cats can hold personal grudges that exemplify intelligence and imagination beyond his dismissive "nexting."

The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy 2007 (Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy (Sanford))

Average customer rating:

Sanford Guide Antimicrobial
Always awesome!

The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy 2007 (Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy (Sanford))
David N., M.D. Gilbert , Robert C. Moellering , George M., M.D. Ellopoulos , and Merle A. Sande
Manufacturer: Antimicrobial Therapy
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Customer Reviews:

Sanford Guide Antimicrobial.......2007-06-28

This is a nice concise book, easy to follow, and small enough to keep in your lab coat.

Always awesome!.......2007-06-05

The ID Bible!!! Love it! And the 8x5 size is so much easier to read and costs about the same! Keep it up!

Developmental Biology, Eighth Edition (Developmental Biology)

Average customer rating:

Comprehensive, interesting and well illustrated
Needs streamlining
great
miss
Poor coverage of titled subject

Developmental Biology, Eighth Edition (Developmental Biology)
Scott F. Gilbert
Manufacturer: Sinauer Associates Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 087893250X

Book Description

The Eighth Edition of Developmental Biology expands its coverage of the mechanisms of development, the roles that environmental factors play in development, the medical applications of our knowledge of development, and the roles that development plays in evolution, highlighting all the incredible advances that have been made in the last three years. Written primarily for undergraduate biology majors, it also serves to introduce graduate students and medical students to developmental biology.

A completely updated text integrates classical developmental biology with contemporary techniques, including new material on: stem cells niches; microRNAs; sperm-egg attraction and binding; induction and maintenance of pluripotency; pioneer transcription factors and the recruitment of nucleosome remodeling proteins; left-right gene expression asymmetry; heart chamber specification; neural crest cell specification and differentiation; somite formation; human brain growth genes; the syndetome; new sources of muscle precursor cells; newly discovered mechanisms of teratogenesis; the effects of endocrine disruptors on human development; sex determination pathways in the brain; the effects of maternal nutrition on gene expression and disease susceptibility in the adult offspring; controversies over digit specification in birds and dinosaurs and whether mammalian blastomere fate is biased at the first division; and much more. Included with every copy of the book is Vade Mecum2: An Interactive Guide to Developmental Biology. In addition to a wealth of interactive content, this updated version includes a new Teachers' and Student's Resource with PowerPointÂ® slides of chick whole mounts and serial sections. A searchable PDF file on the CD contains full citations for the book's literature cited, with links to PubMed. The CD also includes Mary Tyler's laboratory manual, Developmental Biology: A Guide for Experimental Study, Third Edition, in electronic (PDF) format. textbook and provides more information for advanced students, historical, philosophical, and ethical perspectives on issues in developmental biology, movies, interviews, Web links, and updates. The website includes the full bibliography of literature cited in the book (over 5,000 references), most of which are linked to their PubMed citations.

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive, interesting and well illustrated.......2007-05-06

With a clear prose and a CD with links to all source material, this book is a great source for any biologist interested in the development of organisms, and how it was all figured out.

Needs streamlining.......2007-03-09

This book is a decent developmental textbook, but it focuses too little on explanation and too much on storytelling. While this style is appropriate in group talks, it wastes time when someone is trying to learn quickly and makes it difficult to find the useful pieces of information. The only way I have been able to use this book is with a highlighter at all times.

The text could also benefit from a reorganization. It seems that in order to get a good picture of the pathways that are recurring themes in development, one has to read the book out of order, and that can be confusing.

Other than that, it is factually accurate for the most part and has a sturdy binding, so it will last. The paper it's printed on isn't too great and ink/highlighter can show through, but not too badly.

Overall this is a good introduction to developmental biology, but it is not very useful as a quick reference or for someone trying to learn a specific organism quickly.

great.......2007-01-26

This book is easy to follow with great details about techniques and special topics in embryology. The CD is of great use for class and lab.

miss.......2006-07-24

This book offers a nice historical look at biology, but very little (if anything) about embryology is covered. The same can be said for the important development of anatomy. Sometimes it's best to read other reviews to find out if purchasing a book is the right decision or not. In this case, listen to the negative reviews. They're correct.

Poor coverage of titled subject.......2006-06-09

This book covers very little of the subject for which it is titled. If one were looking for a pure molecular biology textbook with some developmental correlations, then this is the text for you. It covers none of classical embryology and development. It is geared more towards laboratory technical work than to understanding fundamental principles. I had to give it only one star because of the misleading title. In reading this book, you will not learn the steps and stages of embryology and development. This text expects you to already know them like the back of your hand. You will not learn any developmental anatomy. You will learn a lot of seemingly arbitrary chemical signaling. Also, this text contains no glossary. I don't know what the author was thinking with that.

Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science (2nd Edition)

Average customer rating:

Mislead by index

Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science (2nd Edition)
Gilbert M. Masters
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0131553844

Customer Reviews:

Mislead by index.......2007-03-22

I purchased this book after looking at several on the web. Of course all you get to see is the index. The index for this book looked great so I ordered it. It is filled cover to cover with general philosophy and no real application or even a difinitive solution to a problem. Even trying to edeucate yourself on a pinpoint subject matter requires going through several chapters to get the whole scoop. I'd gladly sell mine back at a loss, but I like bon fires.

Contemporary Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice: Essays in Honor of Gilbert Geis

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Contemporary Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice: Essays in Honor of Gilbert Geis
Henry N. Pontell , and David Shichor
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Average customer rating:

One of the best books I've read
Examining a Plague Stoically
How people confront extreme circumstances
Let love in
I loved it, AND I do not expect anyone else to.

The Plague
Albert Camus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com

The Nobel prize-winning Albert Camus, who died in 1960, could not have known how grimly current his existentialist novel of epidemic and death would remain. Set in Algeria, in northern Africa, The Plague is a powerful study of human life and its meaning in the face of a deadly virus that sweeps dispassionately through the city, taking a vast percentage of the population with it.

Book Description

A haunting tale of human resilience in the face of unrelieved horror, Camus' novel about a bubonic plague ravaging the people of a North African coastal town is a classic of twentieth-century literature.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best books I've read.......2007-05-30

I was incredibly taken in by The Plague. The languaga is so ,agnificent that I imagine the original French must be even more so. The way Camus conveys the mindsets of the townfolk serves as a perfect example of the hu,an condition.

Examining a Plague Stoically .......2007-05-27

The Plague is an okay read about survival during a plague. It is low key and non-sensational and even has a passage that says that the author wants to record the events without sensationalism. Unfortunately, this grim, manly stoicism makes the book a little boring.

The book makes you think about how you would react during a time of extreme crisis by reading about how the main character, Rieux, and the citizens react. When normal life comes to a standstill, Rieux and the citizens of Oran are forced to think about what is important in life. They are slow to understand that their lives are changing permanently because of the plague. They find it unbelievable that their daily lives could be interrupted by the pestilence. Fear causes the citizens to seriously reflect on their lives because daily routines and mundane consciousness have been disturbed after the death of Michel from the plague: "And it was then that fear, and with fear serious reflection, began."

They are taken by surprise by the plague and believe that it cannot happen to them: "In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves, in other words they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences....How should they have given thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences exchange of views."

The stoppage of normal life is inconceivable to those who have not experienced the plague. It still remains hard for the people to comprehend the plague and its history of horror as the spring comes on: "...cartloads of bodies rumbling through London's ghoul-hearted darkness, nights and days filled always, everywhere, with the eternal cry of human pain. No, all these horrors when not near enough as yet even to ruffle the equanimity of that spring afternoon. The clang of an unseen streetcar came through the window, briskly refuting cruelty and pain."

Rieux himself has trouble comprehending that the plague would become full-blown in a such a town as Oran, which has its share of eccentrics such as Grand: "He realized how absurd it was, but simply could not believe that a pestilence on the great scale could befall a town where people like Grand could be found, obscure functionaries cultivating harmless eccentricies."

I particularly liked Rieux's reaction to Rambert's accusation that he was reacting to the plague and the people affected by it too abstractly. Rieux silently mocks Rambert's idea that he lives in a world of abstractions: "Could that term "abstraction" really apply to the days that he spent in his hospital while the plague was battening on the town, raising its death toll to five hundred victims a week....Still when an abstraction sets to killing you, you've got to get busy with it." Rieux plays on the word "abstraction" when substituting it for "evacuation" of the person who has the plague and has to be forcibly removed from the family who resists. He says that "...of course, he had pity, but what purpose did that serve?" He has to follow the rules of the quarantine during the plague. When children fall ill the mothers wail with "distraught abstraction" every evening as the doctor makes house calls. Rieux feels "bleak indifference" coming on as he handles so many cases like this. Rieux uses that indifference to survive the long hours of dealing with plague victims, remarking that, "To fight abstraction, you must have something of it in your own make up." He finds solace in his lack of emotion. But he does not expect Rambert to understand what he is going through. Rieux actually deals with heart-rending situations, but he must shut himself off from feeling too much pain about them.

How people confront extreme circumstances.......2007-05-05

It isn't trivial that Albert Camus studied philosophy. In this book, the Nobel Laureate uses a "plague" to explore how different people react to the hardships and incomprehensible nature of what is thrust upon them. It takes place in the town of Oran, where one day the rats start dying off, and the people quickly follow. The town is sealed off, and the characters have to deal with the isolation and and the bleakness of their circumstance, among other things. This is an excellent book about humanity, but if you are looking for a horror story or something filled with obvious bestseller suspense, look elsewhere. Camus keeps the reader interested throughout, but the interest is in the character of the people he populates the town with, not necessarily with the disease itself. I'd highly recommend it, but just know what you're getting into.

Let love in.......2007-04-09

In the city of Oran, something very bad is happening. Albert Camus' The Plague is a masterwork of 20th century literature as it examines the devestating effects of a deadly and bloody plague that breaks out all over the city. In the wake of a quarantine, Dr. Rieux and a handful of survivors band together to do what they can. In the long run, the only thing that any of them can really do to overcome the odds, is live. Though there are times when it is drawn out, The Plague manages to deliver an incredibly compelling story that examines human nature in the wake of incredible adversity, and it has never been done better since. The shocking imagery and perspectives presented here only further show Camus' mastery, and the equally shocking poignancy will surprise you even more so. Definitely not for everyone, The Plague is a masterpiece.

I loved it, AND I do not expect anyone else to........2007-04-02

I am always weary of sensationalist reviewers who say stuff like "this is one of top ten books ever", or "everyone must read this"....such platitudes are morally and intellectually presumptuous. This book holds a certain perspective, it is a powerful perspective, but it is not for everyone. Now on to the review

With the thousands of great books on the market, written over the generations, there is really no reason why someone should choose to read this particular book unless they belong to a particular niche. The Existential antecedent of post-modernism life is meaningless non-teleological pain but deal with it niche.

The book catalogs the unremarkable response of a merchant town to a remarkable event presented in an unremarkable way, a plague. The book focus's on the absurdity of the way the citizens act in response, and the absurdity in the way the Plague chooses who will die. Of course these themes are symbolic of Camus' philosophy, and is a good literary introduction to post-modernism and existentialism. But, honestly, as much as I love these schools of thought, unless you sympathize with them or are doing an in depth study of their geneses, there is really no reason to choose this book over another literary classic.

I loved it, and(not but)I do not expect anyone else to.

Average customer rating:

Modern Day Mountain Man
Next generation Ed Abbey
Not what I expected
Last but not the Least
Egotist Writing About Another Egotist

The Last American Man
Elizabeth Gilbert
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142002836
Release Date: 2003-05-27

Book Description

In this rousing examination of contemporary American male identity, acclaimed author and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert explores the fascinating true story of Eustace Conway. In 1977, at the age of seventeen, Conway left his family's comfortable suburban home to move to the Appalachian Mountains. For more than two decades he has lived there, making fire with sticks, wearing skins from animals he has trapped, and trying to convince Americans to give up their materialistic lifestyles and return with him back to nature. To Gilbert, Conway's mythical character challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be a modern man in America; he is a symbol of much we feel how our men should be, but rarely are.

Customer Reviews:

Modern Day Mountain Man.......2007-06-19

Fascinating read. You will come away admiring Eustace's work ethic and self sufficiency and will also question his intolerance for "us." Good lessons about American Utopian societies of the past and some of the lesser known facts about Mountain Men like Daniel Boone and Kit Karson. It is also "cold water in the face" to any dreamer who wishes to give everything away and start a new life in the wilderness.

Next generation Ed Abbey.......2007-05-31

In the end, Eustace Conway is no more or less human than the rest of us. He's got his own family issues and seems to be internally conflicted about what will bring him peace vs. what he should do. For those decrying Ms. Gilbert's awards, feel free to market the books you've written. The point of this book seems to be as much a reflection of her process to understand Mr. Conway as it is a description of his life. While her writing is more informal than "literature" (whatever that is), she effectively entices the reader to join in her journey. This book was enjoyable, as was Eat, Pray, Love. It provided a brief insight into living closer to the earth. Whether we agree is beside the point. Mr. Conway seems to be comparable to Ed Abbey in his view of the world, lust for life, difficulty in reconciling inner peace with changing other people's behavior, and inability to settle down with a family. We could all take away some of his respect for life (/nature) and our individual responsibility in recognizing how we each impact our environment. I'm looking forward to learning more about his efforts at Turtle Island.

Not what I expected.......2007-05-23

A friend suggested this book to me, because of my interests in nature. Although the book can be interesting, it did not hold my interest as well as I had expected. Not to mention the ending was completely the opposite of what I expected.

Last but not the Least.......2007-05-10

This story is captivating in it's subject and the style inwhich it is told. Eustace Conway is a genuine unique person worthy of our attempts to understand his perspective on our world. However, Elizabeth Gilbert's writing style that often times seemed to abandon any attempt to be objective is what really made this work so engrossing.

Egotist Writing About Another Egotist.......2007-04-28

Ack! Once again, Elizabeth Gilbert drips her cutesy, cloying, self-obsessed prose all over an otherwise fine book, and destroys its integrity and lasting literary value.
I was immediately hooked by Eustace's story, and it's a good thing too, or else I would have not been able to stomach Gilbert's immediate need to inform us that she had slept with Eustace's brother, Judson.
I don't know of any other talented, contemporary writer who so dramatically undermines their own ability to tell a compelling story by muscling into their reporting whenever and however possible.

Eustace is a grand subject -- and winds up being a memorable tragic hero for becoming every bit the cold despot his father is/was. In the long passages when Gilbert manages to keep herself out of the narrative, it's a great read. However, when she re-appears at the end like the perky, drunk, babbling cheerleader who just won't leave the party, she kills the momentum, destroys the emotional power of Eustace's story, and concludes the whole effort with the literary equivalent of a Valley Girl drawling, "oh my gawd, this guy is SO. HOT!"

Blech, blech, blech. So Elizabeth, did you get him into bed, or what? We know you're dying to tell us.

Average customer rating:

Excellent book
A solid explanation of linear algebra
A must buy... for, Mr Strang explains wonderfully!
Completely frustrating
Excellent book

Linear Algebra and Its Applications
Gilbert Strang
Manufacturer: Brooks Cole
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0030105676

Book Description

Renowned professor and author Gilbert Strang demonstrates that linear algebra is a fascinating subject by showing both its beauty and value. While the mathematics is there, the effort is not all concentrated on proofs. Strang's emphasis is on understanding. He explains concepts, rather than deduces. This book is written in an informal and personal style and teaches real mathematics. The gears change in Chapter 2 as students reach the introduction of vector spaces. Throughout the book, the theory is motivated and reinforced by genuine applications, allowing pure mathematicians to teach applied mathematics.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book.......2007-05-28

I stumbled across this book a few years ago when I was visiting someone in Pittsburgh. I woke up early, and having nothing else to do, I picked up Prof. Strang's book to read and I could not put it down. I am a mechanical engineer with an aversion towards mathematics - but Prof. Strang's conversation style completely won me over ( I refer to 2nd and 3rd editions of his book). Since then I have purchased three other books authored by him, and I have watched many of his videos on MIT's OCW website, and I have never felt let down.
No author can write a book that will be acceptable to every reader, and I find some of the criticism of his books exceedingly harsh. If you do not know how to multiply matrices, then this is not the book you want to start with, but once you know a little linear algebra, his video lectures and this book will give you a completely new perspective.

A solid explanation of linear algebra.......2007-02-21

First off, this book is not well-suited for students who have never seen a matrix and have not yet mastered the basic calculations of how to multiply and add matrices, or for those who have never seen Gaussian elimination. There are many other textbooks that do nothing but provide you with exercise after exercise of manual computations of inverses and determinants that are better suited to that purpose.

That said, for anyone taking a course in linear algebra who actually wants to know more than the rote mechanics of matrix multiplication and Gaussian elimination, this book provides a succint explanation of what matrices actually represent. And I've held onto the book as a reference now for many years (referring to the 3rd edition).

I came across it as a graduate student studying for doctoral qualifying examinations. Someone suggested that I check out Strang's book from the library as a supplement to my utterly confounding graduate school text. It was a godsend! I pored over Strang's book, doing computations on occasion, and taking copious notes of his thorough explanations of concepts like null space, row space, column space, and eigenvalues. After that, I had no problem passing my qualifying exam in linear algebra!

A must buy... for, Mr Strang explains wonderfully!.......2007-02-11

I was recently looking for a good book on Linear Algebra when a friend of mine helpfully loaned me his copy (3ed). I, then, did some surfing at the MIT website and discovered Mr Strang's 'Calculus' as well!

After reading merely the first couple sections of both of Mr Strang's works, I'm considering myself truly unfortunate for not having run into his books early on in my high-school and college (computer engineering) days! Compared to the other authors' monotonous and needlessly formal/rigorous writing style (some authors, it seems, get a kick out of speaking in the most complicated manner... perhaps to show off their intellectual abilities), I'm finding Mr Strang's writing style simply simple, very direct, and pleasantly conversational. I especially liked his "I'm afraid the course has already begun!" in the preface to this book, and also "The right way to begin a calculus book is with calculus," in the opening sentence of the very first chapter of 'Calculus' (which, by the way, immediately follows by a lucid introduction to the problem Calculus was infact invented to solve).

Each explanation that Mr Strang has offered strikes as extremely lucid and will be, in my opinion, worth tens or hundreds of hours multiplied by your current salary-per-hour rate. And, so much of it is being given away for an insignificantly little amount (or, for free, in case of 'Calculus')! I don't know what prize or honor befits such a teacher and person!

-Nikhil Sharma.

Completely frustrating.......2007-02-02

Teachers, please show some respect to your students and refrain from subjecting them to this horrible carbuncle of mathematical literature. Strang essentially begins the textbook by saying that he's only going to teach by example, which is a problem because he doesn't slow down often enough to define key terms or to come up with good summaries of what's going on. Furthermore, he often refrains from explaining essential intermediate steps in his examples, which absolutely kills me as a student taking an introductory course on this subject. When it's impossible to understand what he's asking on the very second problem in his textbook, you know that something's gone wrong. I essentially have to resort to using the Internet to figure out what Strang's going on about.

Oh, and I use the phrase "going on about" quite literally: he jumps back and forth between writing formally and writing informally, as if he were writing for his math colleagues rather than for people who have never taken a course in Linear Algebra before. Avoid. If this textbook is required for your course, borrow someone else's when you need to do the problems, and buy another textbook that actually explains concepts. effectively.

Excellent book.......2006-11-10

I used this book several years ago and I think this book is
excellent, since then I used it as a reference.
In general Gilbert Strang is an excellent writer.

Introduction to Linear Algebra, Third Edition

Average customer rating:

What a terrible book!!!!!
The engineer's classic.
A wonderful book
Try it before you buy it?
poorly written text

Introduction to Linear Algebra, Third Edition
Gilbert Strang
Manufacturer: Wellesley Cambridge Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0961408898

Product Description

This informally written text provides students with a clear introduction into the subject of linear algebra. Topics covered include matrix multiplication, row reduction, matrix inverse, orthogonality and computation. The self-teaching book is loaded with examples and graphics and provides a wide array of probing problems, accompanying solutions, and a glossary.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Vectors; Chapter 2: Solving Linear Equations; Chapter 3: Vector Spaces and Subspaces; Chapter 4: Orthogonality; Chapter 5: Determinants; Chapter 6: Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors; Chapter 7: Linear Transformations; Chapter 8: Applications; Chapter 9: Numerical Linear Algebra; Chapter 10: Complex Vectors and Matrices; Solutions to Selected Exercises; Final Exam. Matrix Factorizations. Conceptual Questions for Review. Glossary: A Dictionary for Linear Algebra Index Teaching Codes Linear Algebra in a Nutshell.

Customer Reviews:

What a terrible book!!!!!.......2007-02-25

I'm not one to be picky about an author's style of writing, but in the case of this book I have to be. It is COMPLETELY FALSE to call this book "introduction to linear algebra", what the title should be is "Gilbert Strang's ideas about linear algebra that no undergraduate in a first course in linear algebra will ever understand". Talk about inconsiderate instead of clearly explaining the steps involved in solving a problem, Strang will simple talk about some example of his personal interest that does nothing to solidify the main idea within the problem. How about the worked examples, he picks some arbitrary matrices and makes it so they can be solved in a single or very few steps that helps a lot when you want to know what's going on within the examples. Homework its freaking great to, the first question within each section is easy and than the second question and beyond is some kind of proof that you have no clue how to even approach because the author assumes you mastered the simple part in one question. I guess when you're a professor at MIT than you're automatically given the right to write terrible textbooks.

The engineer's classic........2006-07-26

People say that mathematical truths never change, and that's true enough. New concepts, applications, and techniques keep emerging, though, so math teaching needs to keep up with the times. Strang has done an outstanding job of keeping this book current and relevant.

It's not a mathematician's math book - this is aimed at people who need results and needs computational techniques more than they need crystalline theorems. That's why it's so helpful to see applications like Markov models, Kirchoff's laws, and Google's analyses of the web. It's also helpful to see examples worked in Mathematica and MATLAB, the tools of choice for desktop exploration of numerical systems. It's startlingly easy to come up with a 100x100 system of equations, and just nuts to try to solve it by hand.

Strang assumes some amount of calculus in this book, something that other books on linear algebra sometimes skip. That raises the bar for the readership, but also opens up topics like change-of-basis in function space, including Fourier analysis. It also allows differential equations to be addressed as linear systems. Even without calculus, though, a reader is exposed to the singular value decompostion, QR and other matrix decompositions, and considerations in performing the computations. I found a few oddities, such as the description of a matrix's condition number. That has great physical meaning when it's taken as the ratio of the matrix's highest and lowest eigenvalues, but Strang gives a definition that I found less intuitive.

Such oddities are rare, though. Even though this book covers many topics, its emphasis is on clear and applicable presentation. I recommend this to anyone studying linear algebra or who, like me, has to brush up on basics not used in many years.

//wiredweird

A wonderful book.......2006-05-24

As someone who already knows the basics of the subject, I guess I'm looking at things with the benefit of hindsight. However, I needed to shore up my own knowledge of Linear Algebra and thought I might as well turn to Strang for a refresher and a different approach.

The result is that I am truly pleased with this book. His writing is lively and engaging. Linear Algebra has a phenomenal tendency to get dry and Strang does an excellent job of turning the subject this way and that so that one can admire it from every angle. In particular, there are three major approaches in this book that make it stand out.

1. Strang places heavy emphasis on vectors, vector spaces and transformations. This is good preparation for future study in Linear Algebra. This will provide an intuitive understanding of linear operators on vector spaces later.

2. Another reviewer mentioned that the book utilises a discovery-based approach. While this might be a disadvantage when you're in a hurry, the approach prepares one well for learning more theoretically oriented subjects where self-guided discovery is imperative. In this sense, I think the discovery approach is far superior to others and prepares the reader well for future studies. The problems are really fun (although I personally think they are much too easy). Many of the questions require light-weight proofs without undue formalism (not really required at this level). These pseudo-proofs really do help build understanding of the subject. Maths-phobes will not even realise that they're fleshing out the subject themselves.

3. The didactic approach taken in the book is conversational and informal. When added to the freely available video lectures at the OCW site, given by Strang himself, you really have a perfect introduction to the subject of Linear Algebra. The lectures are superb and Strang is an excellent teacher. His enthusiasm and passion for the subject is obvious and infectious.

I really wish I had learned Linear Algebra from this book initially. The book does a good job of encouraging geometric intuition and visualisation. That said, I do not think the book is an ideal book for maths majors. The primary problems being too little exposure to abstraction and problems which are too easy. However, I do believe that the book can be used in conjunction with a more rigorous approach in cases where the latter gets just a touch too dry. There is time to develop the rigour in theoretical Algebra courses at a later stage, with the added benefit that the reader will have learned the experimental approach to learning taken in the book.

I suppose some will find Strang's excitement over Linear Algebra a bit of a pain, but personally I think this conveys the sheer joy of pursuing an intellectual endeavour. I've always bordered on disinterest with Linear Algebra and this has been very much dispelled. I like to be reminded why I chose to study mathematics in the first place sometimes. While I can see that this book isn't for everyone, I really enjoy it and recommend it highly.

Try it before you buy it?.......2006-03-14

I guess that's my best advice for anyone considering purchasing this book -- see if you can find a local copy first to examine. Pretty much everything you'd find in anyone else's linear algebra intro book is in his, so it's mainly a question of whether or not you like Strang's presentation of the material. Yes, he's kinda wordy, yes he probably gets a little overexcited at times and has too many exclamation points. However, you're going to spend a *lot* more time doing the problems than reading the text, so such reasons for disliking the book ring pretty hollow to me.

Other comments:

-- I *like* the fact that the book "reads like a novel;" it goes a long way towards providing motivation and insight relating to linear algebra, which a more "formal" (read: stuffy) book doesn't. It's clear to me that first and foremost Strang is trying to *teach*, whereas other books sometimes really make me wonder whether or not the author isn't just trying to demonstrate how clever they are.
-- I would agree with the "basically a good math book" reviewer who said it's not that great as a reference book and is light on advanced material. True enough, although given that it's "Introduction to Linear Algebra," I can't fault it for this.
-- On the other hand, Strang is teaching at a somewhat more abstract and advanced level than many intro linear algebra courses do (remember, this is used at MIT, and in many or perhpas even most cases the courses there simply are more challenging than the same course at other colleges). If you can wrap your mind around the abstraction and really understand what Strang's trying to commuincate, you'll end up with a better grasp of linear algebra than what most people have.

If you're in a working world situation and just "need some answers" without being force to learn where they come from (which Strang does tend to make you do), there are various "engineering mathematics" books that are probably a better buy if you're just after one book (I like Peter O'Neil's). I'd also suggest picking up a copy of a book like that if you're using Strang's book for self-study -- getting a couple of viewpoings on the same subject matter is enormously helpful when the first just isn't "clicking" for you.

Strang will occasionally state something like, "blah blah blah may seem difficult to understand now, but eventually it'll become quite obvious" -- and he's correct, at least if you go through his book and understand it. A good example of this is with least squares fitting -- the formulas for performing it really are "obvious" if you've been playing Strang's game all along; you really can just "write it down." I've yet to find that true with other books!

P.S. -- I definitely think that linear algebra wouldn't be a good career choice for the reviewer "bitlooter"!

poorly written text.......2006-01-13

The author seem to forget that this is a higher mathematics course. His over-exciting (lots of exclamation marks) habit is annoying at best and distracting at worst. The book reads like a novel which I think is very immature for a higher mathematics text. If the student doesn't already know what the sigma symbol means, then maybe this isn't the class for them. Such juvenile definitions only added to the distraction. The book goes off tangent continuosly because the author is too eager to make students see the supposed beauty of Linear Algebra.

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