EE Books

Walk in the Light and Twenty Three Tales by Leo Tolstoy
Nicely done ebook. Easy to use. Good navigation. 1-click wireless delivery to my Kindle. Thank you!

I had read few stories by tolstoy as a teenager in school and liked. I decided to buy them again and I just dont think I am impressed anymore. Only very few stories are good to read but other than that this looks like a christian book to me with quotes from the Bible.

Moby Dick used to be my favorite book. What more is there to say? Tolstoy is a master storyteller. If you like good writing, this book is for you. If you like Christian writing, this book is even more for you. This one will make a great gift.

This book belonged to my father and he used to tell me stories from it when I was small. All parents should try to read this to their children - I remember being both mesmerised and confused by the stories : mesmerised because of their simplicity and flow, and confused because they led to deeper questions on society,humanity and God. Even if you are agnostic, you can read it for its human and literaray value.
After reading this you will have a hard time deciding whether Tolstoy is better as a novelist or a short story writer.

I read this book it was 20 years ago, it was a chinese version
and translated by a professor, now I have two children and one
of them is teenage, so I ordered thru amazon with English version,
I am so proud to tell you, I am so sure my dtr will learn something
from this book, thanks to God, mdy

This was a required reading for a graduate humanities class. Carl Becker expertly researched the events leading up to the birth of the Declaration. Carl L. Becker's research on the philosophical influences on the Declaration of Independence is some of the best scholarship on the subject. Becker notes that a by product of the Enlightenment is that "In the eighteenth century as never before, `Nature' had stepped in between man and God; so that there was no longer any way to know God's will except by discovering the `laws' of nature." Not only are the force of the ideas, such as pleas to natural law important, but also how the words sounded to the ear would become equally important for the Declaration to move people to rebellion.

John Locke, Algernon Sidney, and Charles de Montesquieu helped form Jefferson's political and philosophical ideas towards government, public service, and leadership. The Declaration is replete with the Natural Law philosophy of John Locke (1632-1704). David Lundberg and Henry F. May conducted a study of the 92 existing library records from before the revolution, to determine which authors colonists were reading. Their research found that John Locke was by far the most read philosopher in their study. Becker postulated that Locke's ideas had made a significant impression on Jefferson, since he found that the general tenor and phraseology of the Declaration closely followed key sentences from Locke's Second Treatise of Government. Jefferson must have read Locke's work several times to be able to borrow so liberally from them, and to be able to mirror his language so accurately. To illustrate the point, the following is an example of Locke's writing showing just how closely some of the phrases match from his Second Treatise of Government, and the Declaration of Independence.

The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges
every one; and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who
will consult it that, being all equal and independent, no one ought
to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions; for men
being all workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker.

Jefferson's original draft reads.

We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are
created equal & independent; that from that equal creation they
derive in rights inherent & inalienable among which are the
preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness.

The "self evident truths" of the Natural Law philosophy espoused by Locke and enumerated in the Preamble of the Declaration, and found that both, essentially, declared that no person should be subordinated to another because of birth or class standing. In addition, people choose to leave the state of nature on their own free will and consent to be governed by a government of their choosing. Locke's specific concern is, "Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of his estate, and subjugated to the political power of another, without his own consent." Algernon Sidney (1623-1683), a contemporary of Locke's and a political theorist who Jefferson reads, writes in his book, Discourses Concerning Government, "That man is actually free; that he cannot justly be deprived of that liberty without cause, and that he doth not resign it, or any part of it, unless it be in consideration of a greater good." The Declaration's wording is, "that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." These "self evident truths," that government is by consent of the governed, is the beginning of a political reasoning that all British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic came to understand was their right after the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 in Britain, which was the inspiration for Locke's political philosophy.
The other reason for Jefferson to turn to Locke's writings, is his well-known ideas among the colonists regarding the rights and duties of citizens to overthrow an existing government when it ceases to provide for the proper welfare of its citizens. Locke, near the end of his treatise writes:
But if a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all
tending the same way, make the design visible to the people,
and they cannot but feel what they lie under and see whither
they are going, it is not to be wondered that they should then
rouse themselves and endeavor to put the rule into such hands
which may secure to them the ends for which government was
at first erected.


Jefferson, in the second paragraph of the Preamble to the Declaration takes Locke's words and constructs them thusly:
But when a long train of abuses & usurpations, begun at a
distinguished period, & pursuing invariably the same object,
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it
is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government &
to provide new guards for their future security.

To prove to the world that rebellion was finally justifiable within the framework of Natural Law, Jefferson included a list of twenty-seven "abuses and usurpations" by the king in the Declaration.
The list of abuses by King George III, are an integral part of the Declaration, which proves that the king has, "in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the States." Becker wrote that the list not only delineates the continued abuses by the king against the colonists, but it also "comprises a list of American political commitments." The next few sentences are a few examples of the twenty-seven charges leveled against the king, and the political commitments that the delegates enacted during their tenure in the Continental Congress. The king was accused of impeding and disrupting the legislative process, and in some cases, dissolving them in the first six charges. These charges are especially important to the colonists, considering their penchant for legislative authority above any other branch of government. The eighth and ninth accusations charge the king with not protecting the judiciary from the interference by the executive branch of government. This idea of a separate judicial branch of government was an idea that was picked up from the French philosopher, Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755), and would be incorporated in the U. S. Constitution. The king was accused of forcing the colonists to quarter British soldiers in their homes and with disbanding the local militias. Both of these acts were so egregious to the colonists, that they would not soon be forgotten, and a prohibition on quartering soldiers and supporting the militias would become a part of the U. S. Constitution. One can easily see that reading through the list of grievances reveals that it also reads like a bill of rights, which the Continental Congress is declaring to the patriots as values that it will protect. The Declaration also takes umbrage with the king for disregarding the years of legal pleas made to him by the colonists to prevent this long train of abuses from causing such drastic actions as breaking away from the mother country. Becker astutely notes that nowhere in the Declaration is the word Parliament mentioned. All of the grievances listed are blamed on the king, even though they refer to laws enacted by Parliament. This important omission proves that the colonists were never given representation in Parliament. They created their own legislatures in the colonies, since they believed it was the natural right of any group of British subjects under British law to do so. Therefore, on July 4, 1776, after adopting the Declaration unanimously, congress resolves that the title read "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America," and that every member of Congress sign it. Thus, this summary or compact of the eighteenth century American political mind and Enlightenment ideals burst into the world screaming for attention.

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history.

In high school, kids spend time reviewing the Declaration of Independence and learning its meaning. This book goes well beyond that to inspect the thoughts and ideas that were prevalent in the late 18th century and how they influenced the document. Becker goes into great detail about natural rights theory according to John Locke and explores the ins and outs of its implications. This to me was the strongest and most enjoyable part of the book. He also explores the thoughts and ideas that were circulating Britain at the time.

Building on this foundation, he weaves a tale as to why certain things were worded as they were (like Britain being run as a ruthless tyrant), and why certain things were left out altogether (like slavery). He also closely examines the changes that took place in the drafts and attributes them to individuals who proofread Jefferson's draft. I really could have done without his granularity in this area.

In all, this was a fascinating read. For those of you who want to extend your knowledge beyond the simple presentation of the document you received in high school, I highly recommend buying this book!

Carl L. Becker's book on the Declaration of Independence first appeared nearly eighty years ago, and yet it is still a valuable and stimulating study of its subject. It is dated now, for two large reasons:

First, Becker wrote before the revolution in studying the history of ideas, and thus unavoidably predates the close-focus examination of the controversy between Great Britain and her American colonies in the years from 1765 to 1776. Two recent books should be read alongside Becker's monograph -- Pauline Maier's AMERICAN SCRIPTURE: MAKING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (New York: Knopf, 1997; Vintage paperback, 1998), and John Phillip Reid, CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, abridged ed. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995).

Second, Becker focuses on Jefferson as *the* author of the Declaration, neglecting that he was actually the draftsman selected by the Continental Congress and his colleagues within the drafting committee. Thus, the Declaration -- no matter what Jefferson said about it in later life -- was not primarily a window into his own thinking about natural rights and democracy, but rather the final statement by Congress as to the reasons for breaking ties with Britain. To be sure, later generations have read it as an expression of Jefferson's mind -- rather than of "the American mind," as he put it. But, as Maier shows in AMERICAN SCRIPTURE, Jefferson's thinking was nowhere near as unique or advanced on these subjects as later hero-worshipping biographers have suggested.

In particular, as Maier has shown, the age-old dispute about whether Jefferson was or was not influenced by Locke is somewhat beside the point. Even so, Becker's fine book is indispensable for deciding whether we should read the Declaration through Lockean or Jeffersonian lenses, and whether we should regard it as a codification of American aspirations or as a hypocritical catalogue of principles we cannot live up to.

R. B. Bernstein, adjunct professor of law, New York Law School

I have read this book, off and on, several times. It never ceases to amaze me. I tend to be a controversialist and rely upon this book often to help those who seem convinced that the Founding Fathers were of a particular religious persuasion. While foundationally on a personal level this may be true, in general they bowed down to a higher power: Reason. Yet this was not new to them nor were their political theories. Their roots came from somewhere else and that somewhere else was from the European soil they had left.

Becker does an awesome job dissecting the Declaration and its influences primarily from Jefferson through Locke. The natural rights philosophy chapter is awesome. This book is over seventy five years old and its arguments have been revisited and even countered but the book is still foundationally necessary for anyone who seeks to study the Declaration of Independence. In terms of studying the Declaration, there is before Becker's book and there is after.

There are many revealing insights and oddities that appear when Becker displays the lines that have been cut from the original draft (e.g. notice there is no mention of slavery in the final version; the reasons for its excision are included in the book). These little tidbits opened my eyes a bit to the relatively benign history of this document that I had been taught. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing so have a little fun and check this book out.

This easy to read book disects the wording and phrases in all the various drafts of the declaration. It explores the origins of the ideas and phrasing used, and discusses why individual words or complete phrases were changed, added or removed as they were debated first in committee and later by the Continental Congress. This book is commonly cited by other authors. As an example, it serves both as a source for and wonderful companion to Bernard Bailyn's book "The Ideological Origins to the American Revolution"

I can't really suggest this book enough for several reasons. It is a very useful and FUN application of many computer science concepts. It's easy to really geek out on because of the advanced methods/concepts used in a social networking context.

"Collective Intelligence in Action" is one of those rare books that bring you up from ground zero to an operational understanding of a complex area, that of the data mining of unstructured text. It is a pleasure to read and ponder. I don't know how it could have been written any clearer. This is a must for anyone wishing to tap into the experience of someone with a deep understanding of the topic.

I wish I had this book 2 years earlier while I was writing my Master's Dissertation; It gives not only the theory of the techniques behind data mining, word analysis/ search,tag clouds,clustering and recommendation engines, but gives good examples based on the best open source frameworks.

The author also added sections on JBoss Rules / Drools CEP (Complex Event Processing) in repsonse to reviewer feedback.

Disclaimer: I was given a review copy by the publisher, but without any preconditions (i.e. I am free to criticise)

I was recently asked by the publisher to review Collective Intelligence in Action. The author is Satnam Alag, a Bay area engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Alag is VP of NextBio, a specialized search engine.

The first chapter is free and so is the source code used in the book.

The book is for Java developers who want to implement "Collective Intelligence" applications in Java. It tells us about extracting and applying data from blogs, wikis and social network applications. I am not one to praise, but this book succeeds brilliantly. If you are a Java engineer and work with Web technologies, you must get this book. It covers topics such as computing similarity measures using vector models, Naive Bayes Classifiers, inverse document frequency (idf), Machine Learning (using the Weka API), building a crawler with regular expressions, collaborative filtering (with links to open source tools), and so on.

Even if you do not work with Java, if you care for high-end Web applications, this book is for you. It reminds me of Lyon's Java¿ Digital Signal Processing book. It offers the gist of what academia knows, but focuses on what people (engineers and researchers) do in practise.

The book is not meant for academia however. There are references, but no theorem.

Disclaimer. I did not get paid to review this book, and I do not stand to gain anything if you buy the book. I have no relationship with the publisher or the author.

Further reading. A competing book is Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications by Toby Segaran. It uses Python instead of Java.

I was not surprised to see "Hello, Sopan. We have recommendations for you" line at the top
when I logged into the Amazon.com site. Yes, this kind of functionality is very easy to
implement into your application after reading Satnam's Collective Intelligence in Action

Have you ever wonder how Netflix is able to recommend movies, what are the latest trends
in the making search more intelligent or how you can intelligently gather new content and
present it to your application?

In this book, Santnam does an excellent job providing the answers to all these questions
The book covers the wide breadth of the topics with amazing focus and detail-architecture
for adding intelligence, tagging and tag clouds, content aggregation through focused web
crawling and from the blogospare, leveraging machine learning techniques such as clustering
and predictive modeling, intelligent search and building recommendation engine.

I particularly liked the approach to explain the mathematical concepts with simple examples,
followed by implementing it in simple Java and then leveraging open-source software.

This book can be very useful if you are interested in integrating different Open Source Softwares
to deliver Enterprise Class Application.

I also liked the authors style of providing summary at the end of each chapter.
He also provides huge set of very useful resources for reading further on the topics
covered into the chapters.



You must pickup this book if you are

[1]. serious (developer/manager/architect type of Eng) on adding search or
intelligent/smartness into your Application
[2]. person involved in developing (programmer, tester, manager) Social
Networking Application.
[3]. involved in managing "Knowledge Management Infrastructure" of any size organization

This Book will provide you a great foundation for developing Enterprise Class
Features.


I highly recommend it.

I have absolutely no experience with S1, so i was kind of unsure if start directly with Struts 2, or learn at least basics of S1. Now, after reading this book and finishing one smaller project with S2, I've to say, that this book will give you really great foundation of web development using S2. Chapters are very well written and easily understandable.

I especially want praise authors for chapter nine(spring integration part). This was one of the most useful book chapters, I've ever read. Not only it has thought me how to let spring manage creation of beans, but also the motivation for using dependency injection pattern).

Simply great book, which I strongly recommend.

In my view, this book is an excellent introduction to the Struts 2 framework. The authors approach to the reader is well thought out and the book is actually a "good read". The conversational tone with which the book was written lends itself tremendously to the reader grasping a firm hold of the technical information. It's not "dumbed" down at all, it's just explained very well. Each chapter builds on previous information presented to provide a clear picture of how the framework operates.

According to the authors, there is foundational knowledge that must be understood before Struts 2 can really become a useful tool in a developers hands. (See chapter 4: Adding workflow with interceptors.)

They do an outstanding job of taking the reader though the key concepts of the frameworks architecture. At the end of each chapter, I understood what they were saying and I had a clear idea of the concepts they were attempting to get across. Not many technical books do this very well, however, this one does.

As far as Struts 2 being the "best" framework? I won't go there. However, Struts 2 looks to be more than capable of handling the requirements when developing both simple and complex web applications. It appears there have been lessons learned from Struts 1.

In summary, it is the opinion of this reader that if you want to learn and *understand* the Struts 2 framework this book will get your there and you will enjoy the journey as well.

Struts 2 In Action is the best resource (hard or soft copy) for Struts 2 available. I took a look at this book as someone with quite a bit of experience using Struts and Struts 2. I really thought I had a good understanding of the core framework before, but many of the topics that lack online documentation were covered in more depth than I had seen in the past. As an example, many others have shied away from covering OGNL because it is a language all by itself. In this book you will find what I consider to be the most thorough explanation of how OGNL fits into Struts 2 and how to use it yourself. I was tempted to give the book 4 stars because there are a few things that I thought could have gotten more coverage, like Spring/Hibernate integration and AJAX, but I realized that it really would be impossible to cover everything in one volume. Struts 2 is a large and comprehensive framework and with anything of that scale, a good understanding of the fundamentals is the best way to start. This book delivers.

If you are wondering what is covered, you will find comprehensive coverage of the following -
- writing actions
- action workflow basics
- type conversion
- OGNL
- form tags
- non-form tags
- results
- intro to Spring/Hibernate integration
- validation
- i18n
- struts 2 plugins
- migration from struts 1

This is a proper "In Action" book. I do strongly recommend it. If you plan to buy only one reference in the subject, look no further this is it! Down Brown is a Struts PMC member and an authoritative voice, among others he is the author of the Struts 2 REST plugin which is a superb addition to the framework from version 2.1.2

The book is very well written and easy to follow. I personally found the explanations very concise and appreciated the most their unique and clear way of breaking down and explaining all code snippets. This is really a great reference.

The first two chapters are a very good introduction to the framework. I am a pure version 2 user and had to learn most of these concepts from online documentation and from the Struts mailing lists.

Among all the topics covered I enjoyed and appreciated the most the coverage of:
- Interceptors
- OGNL and Type Conversion
- Validation! before this book, you could only find the relevant coverage of this topic scattered online in e.g. WebWork articles outdated
..for Struts 2. The authors did an excellent job explaining validation in chapter 10
- Really unique was the coverage of:
..... Unit testing actions
..... Tiles plugin
..... execAndWait interceptor "processing your request, please wait .."
..... UI component templates
..... Writing Struts 2 plugins

On the big plus side, the authors did a superb job keeping the book agnostic to minor versions of Struts 2 i.e. there were several differences from 2.0.x to 2.1.x and I was very happy to see that the examples and explanations were not outdated for the later.

On the down side and as a trade off I can only complain that the book left the Ajax topics out; maybe also because there have been many changes on this topic from minor versions of Struts 2 e.g. the ajax theme of Struts 2.0.x was converted to the dojo plugin in version 2.1.x. In any case, I somehow find the Ajax topic in Struts 2 to be one of the best documented online.

I believe that the Practical Apache Struts 2 Web 2.0 Projects (Practical Projects) book from Ian Roughley is a very good complement to this one. If you want to find coverage on topics like Security and Ajax in Struts 2 you will want that one too. The only issue there is that the coverage of the ajax theme is partially outdated for the newest version 2.1.2 of the framework

I had to learn Struts2 quickly since I recently changed jobs and my new team has several web application projects built using Struts2.

Overall, I thought the book was done very well if you are looking for a good introduction to Struts2. The first 8 chapters are very good.

The main negative is the source code for the book's examples. The authors provide one very large war file with all the source code embedded into the war file along with an overall web application divided into sub-applications for each chapter.

This packaging of the source code into the war file made it difficult for me to create individual projects in my development IDE that demonstrated just the material in a specific chapter. I had to spend quite a bit of time breaking down the source code into individual web projects and then figuring out on my own what jars needed to go into each project, what the struts.xml file needed to have, and what ever else was necessary to separate out just that chapter's sub-application so I could run that example and play with it.

Where this really became a problem was in chapters 9 and 10. Chapter 9 is a very advanced introduction to integrating Spring and Hibernate/JPA into Struts2. I never could get this chapter's example to work correctly.

However, chapter 10 on the validation framework then uses the same code as chapter 9, so you really cannot separate out the code for either chapter 9 and 10.

The validation framework is likely something even beginning Struts2 developers will want to use, while Spring/JPA/Hibernate is for more advanced developers and should have been well after the chapter on how to use the validation framework.

Also, the authors really don't give you a good understanding of what Struts2 jars you need to have to build a basic Struts2 application. There is some information about this in chapter 13 (setting up your IDE) but this information should really be at the beginning of the book. Also I don't think the list the authors provide is accurate since my basic HelloWorld (get the user to enter a name, call an Action class, and then display Hello userName in new jsp) worked with far fewer jars. Note there is apparently a new example war that just is a basic Hello World so there may be some information in that war file. That war was not on the manning web site when I purchased the book.

This book is good but be prepared to struggle working with the code examples if you want to work on the examples in your own development environment.

I recommend the authors create separate complete war files for each chapter's example to make it easier for users to just get that chapter's example code into their development IDE.

Lastly, the book does get 4 stars because the author's explanations of the basics of Struts2 (chapters 1-8) is very easy to follow for experienced Java developers. I'm now ready to tackle the Struts2 applications in my new job.

After reading the book review I thought it would be a nice surprise for my niece. I put this book on my niece's desk and more or less forgot about it. Not realizing, but that evening she asked me to check her homework. I was completely surprised, her book report was all about Chatterbox and Nancy. I read her report and then read the book I do believe she was really touched by the story as I was as well.
An Uncle

After I read this story to my daughter a single time, she has asked me for it every night since.

Children's books are harder than they look. It's not enough to exaggerate a "childlike sense of wonder" and write in a forced babytalk that too many authors imagine approximates a child's speech. A good children's book will hold a child's attention, stimulate thoughts in a young brain and have a distinctive look. A great children's book will do all that, plus get at the heart of what it means to be a child.

Chatterbox belongs to that rare class of children's book that transcends the genre by being all of those things, and more -- soulful, deep, funny. The rhyming language will doubtless conjure mentions of Dr Seuss, and they're apt -- the rhythms and playfulness merit the comparison. But to my mind, Chatterbox rises above even that high bar. Like the best of its brethren (Frog and Toad, No, David, Curious George) Chatterbox gets that the relationship at the core -- in this case, a sad and lonely girl who meets an extraordinary bird -- is what comprises a memorable story.

Chatterbox: The Bird Who Wore Glasses is a heartwarming picturebook, illustrated in soft colors, story about a lonely girl named Nancy A. Nobody, who befriends a misfit talking parakeet named Chatterbox, or C.B. for short. She makes her parakeet special spectacles so that he can fly better, and makes every effort to take care of her pet. Best of all, she learns the vital lesson that she is special just being herself, and being a good friend to the animal she is responsible for. "With morning's dawning, C.B. said to me, / 'You're Nancy A. Nobody surely you see. / You feed me and bathe me, no ifs, buts or ands. / My little life is in God's and your hands." An accompanying audio CD includes a story reading and two songs, rounding out Chatterbox: The Bird Who Wore Glasses , a charming and confidence-boosting story.

Remember the Batman movies? Well, the movie producer of successful movies like these and entertaining children's television shows such as Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, Michael Uslan, has released this adorable children's book. Chatterbox - The Bird Who Wore Glasses is available in a durable, hard-cover format with a lovely cover sleeve that will help prolong the life of the book. At 40 pages and full of excellent illustrations, this book is sure to entertain children.

Sad, red-headed Nancy doesn't fit in well with the other kids who call her "Nancy Nobody". She wished and wished for a new friend and one day the dream came true when a feathered, sight-challenged friend flew her way. Nancy felt needed, she was loved, and her world was set right by her new funny bird.

John Steven Gurney, a very successful artist and illustrator, colorfully illustrates the large pages with plenty of things to look at. Written in playful, light verse the author does mention things like prayer and "God's love", there fore it may appeal to a religious audience.

The book includes a CD with 2 songs and the orated version of the story by actress Brittany Murphy (voice of Luanne on King of the Hill, also known for her parts in Clueless and Up Town Girls). This could certainly appeal to the independent child who wants to "read" the book themselves. As well, the CD option may provide a few extra minutes for busy caregivers. The bullying shown in the beginning of the story, though very minor, may be useful for building empathy in the classroom for lonely and segregated individuals.

Children with family pets, especially birds, would definitely enjoy this book. Also, kids that are just becoming used to either themselves or someone they know who has recently gotten eye-glasses.

Chatterbox - The Bird Who Wore Glasses is actually the first book in a series by the author Michael Uslan. Check out the website for the book at: www(dot)chatterboxthebirdwhoworeglasses(dot)com


ISBN#: 0-97538432-5
Author: Michael E. Uslan
Illustrator: John Steven Gurney
Publisher: EE Publishing & Productions, Inc.


~ Book Reviewer: Lillian Brummet - Co-author of the book Trash Talk, a guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment - Author of Towards Understanding, a collection of poetry. (http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)

The eye-catching colors and characters on the cover of this book drew me into it - and I am so glad. This book is a delight for the eyes and for the heart. It seems everyone, particularly children finding their way in this great big world, can relate to Nancy, who discovers through kindness to another that she is certainly NOT a "nobody" but a likable "somebody". Through dynamite illustrations and clever, but never cutesy rhyme, this book has it all. I wish it would become a series.

Simply put, this is a children's book with everything a reader could want. A wonderful story that all can relate to, distinctively beautiful illustrations and many virtuous lessons for all.

The storyline involves a little girl who finds a lost baby star and takes it upon herself to help him find his way home. This book also contains a cd with the audio book as well as the song Nana Star; quite an impressive addition.

Throughout the book, there are many descriptive phrases and simplistic descriptions that bring to mind innocent, carefree moments cherished by children and adults alike. In the midst of the story, the little girl hears a distressed voice and sets off to eventually find a lost baby star. The fear and uncertainty of the baby star, together with the compassion and comfort from the little girl, pull at the reader's heartstrings. We have all felt afraid at one time or other. When the little girl becomes Nana Star, she shows the empathy and compassion we hope for from ourselves and our children. Using words like "big job" and "counted on", encouragement and integrity shine through. Nana Star is determined to help the baby star, simply because it's the right thing to do. The little star feels the friendship and love and his fear dissipates.

With a story written as well as this, the authors have begun a classic series that is timeless. I hope to see the "beginning of Nana Star" continued with another book very soon.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

The book itself is one that you may want to display and protect from becoming worn and soiled, but because of the story and illustrations I don't think your children will let you.

Children never want and end to the story.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (12/06)

"Nana Star" is beautifully written by Elizabeth Sills and Elena Patrice with illustrations by Linda Saker. This is a story for 3 to5 year olds. Nana Star finds a lost baby star that needs help. This story teaches helping other because it's the right thing to do, not because you will receive a reward.

It's refreshing to find a book of this caliber with a story about helping others. The story behind the story impressed me. As a grandmother I want to create that special bond with my grandchildren that Elizabeth Owens created with her grandson Vance. Linda Saker, the illustrator, is the daughter of Nana Star; the authors Elizabeth Sills and Elena Patrice are the granddaughters of the original Nana Star. The great-grandchildren are also contributors. This is a talented family. "Nana Star" is a beautiful picture book that you and your children will cherish for years to come. I intend to share this one with my granddaughter. It is with honor that I highly recommend this book to grandparents and parents of your children.

Collaboratively written by Elizabeth and Elena for children ages 3 and older, and featuring unusual "stick figure" style drawings combined with detailed artwork (especially the flowers) by Linda Saker, and accompanied by an audio CD reading of the original tale, Nana Star is the picturebook story of a little girl who discovers a lost baby star. The poor baby star needs help to reach the heavens where it belongs! Illustrated in a very distinctive style, portraying Nana Star in her blue dress with line-thin arms and legs and a smiling face amid flowers, trees, and clouds, Nana Star is a charming story about doing a good deed because it is the right thing to do. An accompanying audio CD offers read-aloud narration and the catchy Nana Star Song. A delightful and upbeat picturebook especially for young girls.

Throughout the ages the "paranoid style" has been used to arouse public indignation and to attack established institutions and/or entrenched traditions that have grown ineffectual. Usually, the darkest and most abhorrent aspects of the accuser's personality are projected onto the hated enemy. Moreover, the true menace is sometimes seen as a malaise that lurks in a nation's midst rather than as something that exists outside its borders. And these chimeras tend to be the shadow projections of the idealistic personality (that is deeply concerned with the moral decay of the society around them) rather than realistic assessments of the true dangers that exist in the objective world. It gives the paranoid the illusion of control since there is little or nothing they can do about world opinion outside his or her borders, although they often imagine this to be so. As a consequence, many foreign policy initiatives are doomed to failure because a distorted picture of the world is being refracted through what amounts to a narrow, insular prism. That is, instead of viewing startling political developments throughout the world as complex historical processes that are unfolding for entirely legitimate reasons they might be seen as betrayals or acts of deliberate defiance. Especially when the vital interests of the observer are threatened.

Then too, Americans have often seen any failure as the work of people within our own government who allowed such things to happen. For if some of our own people are to blame for our weakness, then we do not have to deny "the myth of American Omnipotence."

This is an ideal time to read Hofstadter's book. It was written in the 1950s and 60s, so you get an excellent feel for postwar America (after the bomb) and the advent of the Cold War. Hofstadter's account of the McCarthy Era and Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign (of 1964) is quite instructive. An astute reader will notice many parallels with today. But he also discusses earlier periods of our history when the paranoid style was in its infancy, and yet was destined to become the genesis of the "liberal-conservative" split that is with us to this day.

One fascinating period was the 1890s, the era of Populist William Jennings Bryan and the "Free Silver Movement," which went down in defeat to William McKinley in the presidential election of 1896. Prior to McKinley's victory there was also public outrage over Spain's oppression of Cuba. And although McKinley did not advocate war with Spain, nor did Republican business leaders that had financed his campaign, he was swept into the Spanish-American War by the spirit of the times. Having filled up the continent with Westward expansion and the dream of "Manifest Destiny," many Americans felt a sudden lack of opportunity and purpose. But after Admiral Dewey's sudden victory in Manila Bay Americans began to grapple with their "Duty and Destiny" in an increasingly imperialistic world that they thought was filled with decadent and dangerous foreign powers.

There is no way to summarize the exquisite detail in Hofstadter's book. One must read it and ponder its many lessons. For the sum of its parts are greater than the whole. Good history always makes us realize that there really is nothing new under the sun, and yet, there most certainly IS! Mark Twain said it best when he joked: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes."

Though wacky folks here and there may be offended by Hofstadter, social and political scientists recognize this work as the perennial analysis of American paranoia as a social phenomenon.

Granted that Prof. Hofstadter's evaluation of the "pseudo-conservatism" of the Goldwater campaign is rather patronizing, and that, too optimistically, he predicted that the paranoid style was condemned to permanent minority status. Otherwise, the book is a prescient and devastating analysis of the breathless mindset on display, mainly from the Right, over the last ten years or so. Just last November right-wing commentators as bright and well-educated as George F. Will were fulminating against Gore's "slow-motion coup" in Florida, and lesser conservatives were passing the word that President Clinton was about to seize dictatorial powers. The fact that the most conservative president since Reagan--maybe since the Roaring 20s--is currently sitting in the Oval Office, courtesy of a hypocritical decision by a quintet of conservative Supreme Court justices, means nothing to the conservatives immersed in the paranoid style. THEY didn't subvert the system; they saved the U.S. from the liberals, the liberals, the liberals.

Back in 1964, Prof. Hofstadter noted that people who think like this tend to imitate the massive conspiracies they imagine threatening themselves. Writing in an era that still resembled the stereotypical 1950s more than the stereotypical 1960s, Hofstadter did not forsee the current power of the paranoid style. But the title essay of his book nails it right to the wall. Reading it, I feared for my country.

This book is as relevant now as it was when it was first written. An excellent blend of accuracy and eloquence.

During the fifties, and up to the time of his death in the sixties, Richard Hofstadter was one of America's most renowned historians with two Pulitzer Prizes to his credit. He was at his intellectual peak when, as one of America's eminent authorities of his country's political ideologies, he tackled the developing phenomenon of the early sixties' right wing extremism under the guise of conservatism. He differentiates between the traditional American conservatism espoused by the likes of President Herbert Hoover and Senator Robert Taft alongside the venom of Robert Welch's John Birch Society, in which, as the group's idea man, Welch referred to Dwight D. Eisenhower as a "dedicated and conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy."

Hoftstadter delineates how fringe rightist elements took over the Republican Party and rallied behind the banner of Arizona's Senator Barry M. Goldwater, resulting in one of the party's most calamitous losses in the 1964 presidential election against incumbent Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson.

The work has a timely ring as an historical analytical measuring rod in comprehending the activities of current right wing movements, such as the Christian Right behind the banners of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and its link to the militant anti-abortion movement, alongside earlier rightist political philosophies and their vigorous adherents such as Welch and television commentator Dan Smoot.

Hofstadter's classic work remains one of the outstanding challenges to the effect of Darwin's theory of evolution on social attitudes and beliefs. One of the great fallacies of evolutionary thinking can arise from the assumption of universal application of its mechanism of natural selection to all times, thus to the present and future. This is a fallacy and an inherent trap in confusing evolutionary process with a natural law, as in physics. The result of Darwin's theory was to make 'natural selection' a social strategy in the minds of many in a total confusion of theoretical domains of application. The outcome was the many variants of Social Darwinism that stretch into our own times. Hofstadter's documentation of the many shades of opinion generates a sense of deja vu, for few of the viewpoints we hear now are new and appear somewhere in the book, in a merry-go-round of confused thinking. It is a dreadful legacy that too many fell obligated to correct in the wrong fashion, by exempting Darwin entirely, and blaming those who came afterwards. In fact, the perception that Darwin's theory is simply wrong or incomplete is the only antidote to social Darwinist attitudes, which linger in the tacit belief of too many in the need to mimic the ruthlessness enjoined by a confused theory. Robert Bannister's Social Darwinism is also a partial comment on Hofstadter, but does not supercede this original and enduring work.

This book doesn't really take much of a position. Rather, it is a historical chronicle positions others have taken. But if there is a hidden 'thesis' to this book, my guess is that it would look something like this: Evolution is a unique science because it touches on the very idea of who humans are, individually and as a group. Becuase of this, there has been a great urge to make sweeping proclomations applying evolution to politics, ethics, economics, etc. This book is the historical record of various attempts.

What one learns in this book is that far from being limited to Spencer and the laissez-faire crowd, evolution has been invoked to support just about every governmental and economic scheme imaginable: Kropotkin tied 'mutual aid' to anarchism; Marx applied it to communism; Spencer to capitalism; Dewey to government interventionism, etc....etc....

Hofstadter takes us on a ride that begins with Darwin and winds its way through these varied schemes. Everyone, it seems, wanted to apply this newly found science to their side before the other guy could monopolize it! If you couldn't link your beliefs to evolutionary support, then your beliefs may risk seeming unscientific (especially if the other guy COULD claim evolutionary support). And this is the story of that multifarious race.

Obviously Spencer and Sumner are written about quite a bit, as they have become the public face of 'Social darwinim." (As it is a bastard philosophy, I refuse to capitalise the "d" in Social darwinism.) Kropotkin and those who tied evolution to altruism are also gone over a good deal. From there, we get a survey of the often neglected pragmatists and their understanding of Darwinism (I think they got it right; particuluarly William James.) We end in somewhat of an irony, with the anti-Spencerian economists who applied evolutionary thought to the OPPOSITE conclusion from Spencer's.

It is a good read, especially for those interested in the history of ideas. But anyone looking for much of a thesis in this book will be disappointed. The book is not pro- or anti-evolution in any way whatever. The book only suggested (to me anway) the danger that comes when evolutionary thinkers unhinge themselves from the empirical and begin philosophizing about normative things like ethics and politics. Evolutionary psychology is one thing, but evolutionary ideology is quite another (in whatever shape it comes).

Typically, I bestow five stars on books I think profitable to read. This book is a classic: it is imperative to read.

I disagree with the reviewer below (Mr. Landon) who calls for a repudiation of natural selection. I do not believe that sufficient evidence exists to recall the theory of natural selection.

Richard Hofstaedter is not, I repeat, is not calling for that, either. Recalling a scientific theory because of political difficulties caused by misguided adherents is neither right nor necessary. And Richard Hofstaedter demonstrates why it is not necessary right here in this book.

The take-away from this book is that social Darwinism, the belief that only the "fittest" (whatever that means) people among us should survive (rule, whatever), is on shaky ground. Always a morally repugnant doctrine, Hofstaedter shows social Darwinism to be logically suspect as well.

As Hofstaedter points out, one can start with the social Darwinist's appropriation of (or more accurately with their failure to reckon with) the term "natural". Darwin's principle of natural selection never addressed individuals within a species, and its application to individuals is a tremendous mistake. Writing about individuals striving to be "fittest", Hofstaedter here, from the pen of Mr. Darwin himself:

"People who are selfish and contentious will not cohere, and without coherence, nothing can be effected."

Rugged individualism is repudiated by its supposed inventor, and is fatally wounded.

One ponders the origin of the social instinct. Social Darwinists believe it to be contrived. But we were either created or selected to have it, this Darwin seems to know. And we should know it, too.

Hofstaedter avoids bombast, ideology, and religion. Yet he most effectively shames any false philosopher who would trample underfoot the least of his brothers and pronounce it "inevitable", by demonstrating the fallacy of his "logic".

By revealing the spurious origins and assumptions that form the foundation of the doctrine of social Darwinism, Hofstaedter undoes the false conflict between evolutionary science and Christian ethics.

In the end, Mr. Landon and I agree: Five stars. If you're interested in the most significant question arising in the past couple of centuries for social science, ethics and religion, the buck stops here.

Richard Hofstadter is an excellent historian of the trends in American political, social, and religious thought. This book chronicles the rise and fall of Herbert Spencer's philosophy as a reinforcing doctrine for laissez-faire political economy. Hofstadter deftly combines his own observations with carefully selected quotes from the thinkers themselves. One lesson that may be gleaned from this work is that controversial and complex ideas such as Darwinian evolution may be used for a multiplicity of purposes, some of them conflicting. For those who seek a greater insight to the struggle between individualism and collectivism in American political culture. I would also recommend reading Will Durant's chapter on Herbert Spencer in The Story of Philosophy as a supplement.

If by chance you are unaware of what Social Dawinism is and/or do not know how it has flowed through America's bloodstream (most virtually since the Civil War) you are in for a reader's exploration that is destined to change your world view. For sure, you will realize how social Darwinism is alive and well today and, I offer, that you will be howling to leave it by the wayside by the time you've turned the last page of this unexpected history. This is a cornerstone read for the history buff and a must read for anyone seeking reasons why life--for most of us--is not as joyful or pleasant as it could be...In this light Richard Hofstdter's book is a teacher of both the mind and heart!

This book is the National Gallery of Art catalogue for the show "Cezanne in Provence." It is a very comprehensive treatment of the relationship between the artist and his early environment and it has many color reproductions of the artists works.

This is one of the most beautifully done catalogues I have purchased recently. The color and clarity of the reproductions are excellent. The paper used has a dull mat finish which enhances the quality of the reproductions. If you love Cezanne's painting (which I do), then this is a must have addition to your library.

Great prints and a number of well done articles on Cizanne's work.

This book is a lovely accompaniment to the Cezanne in Provence exhibit. The narration is beautifully written and describes the beautiful landscapes that Cezanne painted. It provides an interesting chronology of Cezanne's life and works.

A little difficult to read (content and form). There's alot more here than the small letters.

Not being able to remember a first line, which could be easily found in the Index of First Lines starting at page 849, I just looked through hundreds of pages trying to find a poem whose last line is spread over seven lines on page 700. These poems are not always easy to read, and now that I have found this one, I would love to share it with anyone who might be interested:

as joe gould says in

his terrifyingly hu
man man
ner the only reason every wo
man

should

go to college is so
that she never can(kno
wledge is po
wer)say o

if i

'd
OH
n
lygawntueco

llege

There may be some problem, like am I being retro? with the way that I think about the poems in this book, because I tried to read the whole book more than twenty years ago, and was so impressed that when an Etcetera collection of additional poems came out in 1983, I bought that too. I'm not sure I know anyone now who would even consider reading a book this big if it was just poems. The big revelation in the 1913-1962 collection, as far as I was concerned, was the poem "the boys i mean are not refined," which was first published in a limited edition of nine copies in 1935, according to the first paragraph of the inside flap of the First American edition 1972 of Complete Poems 1913-1962, which I still have. That poem, in particular, taught me a lot about culture, and how someone (famous) who knew what culture was could know what could be said, while others might just "speak whatever's on their mind." This might be close to what the verses in Proverbs that try to describe the difference between a wise man and a fool are trying to say, and it was great to find that someone who might be considered almost as modern as myself could be sensitive to this kind of thing, almost like hearing John Prine wondering if it would be possible for him to still blush in some song he wrote.

Even I don't read much of this book at any one time, anymore, but I appreciate how well it stores its pleasures. One of the curiosities of poetry is that it can be incredibly difficult to find a poem unless the first line is the one that pops into the appropriate recall mechanism, whenever a poem is thought of, and this book has been around a long time because, even when I don't know if I will be able to find what I am looking for, it is interesting to look through it trying to find the last line of a great poem that was greater at the end than at the beginning. My favorite poem in this book starts out with "jake hates/all the girls" but the great thing is an unexpected rhyme scheme, which jumps around from bold, meek, sleek, cold in the first verse to lean, mean, clean, green in the last. Actually, this poem might be considered utterly devastating if there was anything personal about it, but thoughts about all the girls have been on the conscience of philosophy about as long as books have been maintained for the future, and it does my heart good to see a poet try to join in the mess surrounding this topic. What I mean is, I think this poem is good in a way that centuries of being modern might try to deny, but it is here, under a number 21 in a section titled XAIPE, originally published in 1950, when I was alive and maybe even speaking, if something reminded me of my mother. Actually, she might not like this poem, so I think it's funny, if anyone can understand the humor in that. These reviews aren't supposed to be by great critics; they are just supposed to say: buy this book.

'anybody lived in a pretty how town
with up so floating many bells down'

The poetry of ee cummings is something that most Americans gain exposure to during secondary school (and very rarely in the education of those outside America) -- he is often seen as an acceptable example of one who broke the rules -- rules, the teacher will often hasten to add, which must be mastered before they can be acceptably broken.

Yet this is not what ee cummings would hope had come of his legacy. In reading his poetry in this edition, his prose, his theatrical writings, and his unpublished manuscripts (some of which have been published under the title Etc.), a new vision begins to emerge of a real maverick--not someone who wanted to break the rules, but someone who eschewed the idea of rules so completely that breaking them was beyond the question, for that would have to recognise the value of the rules.

And yet, some rules creep in:

'the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also, with the church's protestant blessings
daughters, unscented shapeless spirited)'

This is a classic example of a cummings sonnet--adhering to rhyme and meter, yet very original.

Or, perhaps not that original. Unfortunately, ee cummings has become a conventional unconventionality. He was a success at being different--at one point only cummings and Frost, New Englanders both, with very different vines growing on the respective sides of their fence, were able to make a living solely from their writing while concentrating on poetry.

This text almost all of the poetry cummings produced in his lifetime. In this we find his faith, his politics, his social criticism and his social prejudices, and his ideas of love and desire. There are other poems that go beyond this text (including ones never published in his lifetime) that are not included here, but this contains everything major, and all for which cummings became known.

Some of his poetry is best meant to be read aloud, as all good poetry ultimately finds its best expression not on the lifeless page but in the spirited, feeling telling. There is an incredible sense (try reading it aloud, slowly).

Some of the cummings poetry, however, is simplicity and verges on the concrete. These sometimes resort to cleverness that might have been genius of observation at the time but unfortunately due to overexposure now just seem an elementary type of cleverness. Of course, simplicity is so often overlooked, that when it is seen, we often react not as we should.

Arrangement on the page is so critical to cummings perception of how things must be that the lastest editions of his poetry are put in typewriter typeset (the way he composed and envisioned his poetry). The medium is part of the message, he would have said.

Try to read cummings with a new eye, and look for that which would have been shocking to the more standard and rule-bound Cambridge soul.