Half-life

Selcer has produced an historical account of Fort Worth's early years, and the relationship of vice to its growth. I found the book difficult to put down until I had read each sordid detail.

You want the truth about the good old days, back when times were simpler? Selcer will give it to you, in spades, enjoy them, and reflect on the lives of our great grandparents.

This book definately brightened my day. It didn't take long to read, but it kept me laughing!!! It's one of those books that people look at you funny while you're reading it, because you randomly start laughing! :)

It's good to see a book like this focused on the issues confronting retirees, and those approaching retirement. The book provides a very broad and general overview of the issues involved.

I applaud the author's advice to consider a 4% annual withdrawal rate from investments. In my experience, many financial advisors, influenced by the prolonged bull market, have suggested higher rates.

I caution against following every opinion in this book, however. Three broad suggestions by the author stood out as troublesome, in my view:

First, that "you're better off including individual stocks and stock utual funds in your retirement account (where taxes are deferred) and bonds in your regular account (which is currently taxable." (Page 184.) Adopting a contrary strategy, and minimizing taxes on the equity portion of your portfolio (held in a regular account), can in my view yield far superior results, from both a financial planning and estate planning perspective.

Second, the statement "If you have a Roth IRA, I sugest you withdraw from it first [to generate retirement income] since your withdrawals are not taxed." This statement completely ignores the tremendous long-term benefit of tax-free growth, and I completely disagree.

Third, the suggested asset allocation models are too simplistic -each individual's own asset allocation should be affected by many factors, only some of which are discussed in the book.

While a brief discussion is made of Modern Portfolio Theory and probability analysis (Monte Carlo), more insight into these areas could have been provided, given their utility.

The foregoing comments illustrate the limitations of any book seeking to address the very complicated tax, actuarial, financial planning, asset protection planning, and estate planning issues confronting the retiree today. Despite this, I recommend the book (with reservations) to both retirees, and those approaching retirement, who need to increase their knowledge of basic planning concepts. There is tremendous value in each person educating themselves on financial planning concepts. Just don't take this (or any) one book as gospel.

This is a book that everyone should have in their personal development library. Is it a great read or does it have cutting-edge insights? Probably, no. But wisdom is wisdom and doing what's right with your money is more a matter of principle than fancy strategy. If your strategy is too far removed from this book, then you're probably taking on far more risk than you should. I think that a lot more should have been written about wills and trusts for estate planning. That's an area that would have only taken another 10 pages, but would have completed the works and is something that everyone over 50 with bucks needs to know well.

Schwab's book provides solid and practical information for those of us who no longer can be called young no matter what the definition is. Unfortunately, helpful financial books that target Baby Boomers and older folks are in shamefully short supply! For readers who want another indepth look at the financial issues that face older investors, I'd suggest another excellent book-the Retirement Bible. Like Schwab's book, the Retirement Bible provides advise on recommended portfolio withdrawal levels and devotes an entire chapter to discussing in what order money should be withdrawn during retirement. Unlike Schwab, Lynn O'Shaughnessy, the author of the Retirement Bible, suggests that Roth IRA money should ideally be touched last. I definitely agree with her opinion and many financial experts do too. What I also like about the book is that she demystifies a lot of estate planning issues, which books written by attorneys hopelessly fail at. You can't go wrong getting either of these books.

The book perpetuates harmful stereotypes about aging. Cohen chastises older people who try to take care of their health. He claims that they are searching in vain for a "magic bullet" to regain their youth. Cohen then advocates a false mind/body dualism. Through this dualism, one gives up taking care of their body in order to follow their creativity. I honor the author's belief in the importance of creativity; however, I believe that the approach presented is self-defeating.

As a 64-year-old elder, I was delighted by Dr. Cohen's marvelous book. What an inspiration to me and others in my age group Wait - Not only to me but for me and others of any age - The recommendations and ideas presented are superb - the examples delightful. Also - a key element is Dr. Cohen's TR/Bio - a program of visual stimulants to help caregivers and family and friends to deal more effectively and humanely with sufferers of Alzeimer's Disease. All told - the book cannot be praised too highly!

This is one of the best books I have read on the subject of Creativity in Later Life. I recommend it heartily. Dr. Cohen, M.D. & Ph.D. has become the acknowledged leader in this field with his brilliant synthesis of his 25 years of experience working with older adults as a geriatric physician and creativity researcher. "We need a new frame of reference in which to picture ourselves growing and recognize how the influence of inner resources and life circumstances can present us with opportunities to revive our lives in meaningful and satisfying ways," Cohen maintains. His experience with his patients and his studies of aging and creativity in the arts led him to revise Erik Erikson's model of adult development in the later years. He divided Erikson's final stages of generativity & integrity into four developmental phases which he claims shape the way our creative energy grows and the way we express it. Each phase, he says, is shaped by our chronological age, our history, and our circumstances. And each phase is characterized by changes in how we view and experience life in a combined psychological, emotional and intellectual sense. The four phases are: 1. Midlife Reevaluation/Quest Phase 2. Liberation Phase (Formerly called Retirement) 3. Late-life Summing-Up Phase 4. The Encore Phase If we look beyond age markers for the Retirement of Liberation phase and search, instead, for the underlying developmental phase here, we find that it is defined by a kind of personal liberation combined with life experience that lifts inhibitions and gives us the courage to ignore social conventions that restrict our creative expression. In this Liberation phase creative endeavors are shaped with the added energy of a new degree of personal freedom that comes both psychologically from within us and externally through retirement. Our creative juices may be mobilized by the thought "If not now, when?" People tend to feel pretty comfortable about themselves at this time , knowing that if they should make a mistake it won't undo the image others have of them, and more importantly, it won't undo the image they have of themselves. This psychological and emotional understanding provides a new context for experimentation, and retirement often provides a new feeling of finally having free time to try something new. Both these inner and outer elements are liberating and additive. This new sense of available Time and personal Liberty in later life, combined with significant life experience, produces new feelings of freedom, courage, and confidence commonly described by men and women of advanced age. Here, too, contrary to negative stereotypes, the feeling of being more free allows older individuals to experiment, to take a risk, to try something new. Most of us, as we head into our sixties, have become more comfortable with who we are. If we make a mistake while trying something new, it doesn't shatter our self-image. So while someone in his twenties may not dare to take an art class for fear of looking incompetent, doing something unfamiliar, a person in his forties or beyond will be much less concerned with appearances, and more interested in experimenting with new ways to learn. Cohen's research underscores the adventurous nature of adults in this liberated phase of development. His investigations show that older adults who are not handicapped by extenuating circumstances such as poor health or financial constraints--are just as venturesome as their younger counterparts. This greater freedom and courage helps explain why throughout history so many older adults in their late sixties, seventies or beyond have assumed the role of shapers and shakers of society. One thinks of Socrates, Copernicus, Titian, Montaigne,Goethe, Rembrandt, Newton, Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Simone de Beauvoir, May Sarton, Eleanor Roosevelt, as people who rose to greatness in their later years. In the advancing years of late life, in what Cohen calls the Encore Stage, there is a desire--a developmental urgency, really--to affirm life in a number of ways. It might be through completing a creative work,or the resolution of a longstanding problem, a statement waiting to be said, or the right thing to do that had been on hold for years. The encore phenomenon taps the inner pressure that many feel to do or say something before it's too late. The phrase applies strongly to the field of music, reminding us of how many noted musical achievements have come late or at the end of a musicain's or composer's career or life cycle--like the late works of Verdi, Liszt, and Stravinsky. This is the time of advancing age, in which creative expression is shaped by the desire to make strong, lasting contributions on a personal or community level, to affirm life, take care of unfinished business, and celebrate one's own contribution. This phase typically occurs among those in their eighties or older. The multidisciplinary Dr. Cohen cites some fascinating biological studies of the the brain that reveal that between one's early fifties and late seventies there is actually an increase in both the number and length of branches from individual brain cells in different parts of the brain involved with higher intellectual functioning (Cohen,p.79) These branching changes compensate for brain cell loss that can occur over time. They also and give further evidence of the platicity or modifiabilty of the brain as it ages. Something even more interesting about these neuro-biological findings is that they directly correspond timewise to the unfolding of the above human potential phases pointing to a possible biological connection to the changes in human development in the second half of life. These human potential phases combine elements of age-based developmental stages as described by Erikson with the greater fluidity of life transitions that we experience today. Sometimes we might experience a phase in sync with others our age, but not always, the age of occurrence varies. Sometimes they co-exist, intersect, even synergize or combine in a way that adds even greater energy to the mix.The significance of these human potential phases is that they set the state for a new creative thrust at different points in our lives. Our awareness of these phases can help close the gap between recognizing our potential and acutually harnessing it. Knowing that the natural course of development can bring us closer to tapping our creative potential at different times can provide a much needed measure of confidence or faith which we sometimes need to begin, change or energize our creative efforts. I have only scratched the surface of this book, but this summary should be sufficient to indicate its importance. I recommend that everyone interested in new discoveries about human behavior,creativity and longevity read it.-John-Raphael Staude, Ph.D. proteus60@aol.com

The first half of Naipaul's much heralded HALF A LIFE makes a fine promise that this writer can spin delectable webs. Perhaps a familiarity with the atmosphere and history of both India and England makes the gradual growth of this story delicious. Then POW - we're off to Africa and for this reader the story becomes less important and less interesting, and yes, a bit preachy. I think the premise of this short novel is well drawn - that what we as individuals inherit genetically and sociologically and philosophically creates a destiny that need not be folllowed. There is much to be learned about the caste system of India, the concept of the class system in England, and the disintegration of race indentification in Africa: reading this book will certainly inform us of the sad state of affairs that retards our beliefs in equalization of all men. Maybe that is enough for a book to accomplish. But the characters mouthing these social blunders are less than fleshed out. With the exception of Willie, the main character, the rest of the cast is vaguely painted and doesn't carry our hearts the way this writer usually reveals. I'm not sure this is a good starting book for readers who want to know a Nobel Peace Prize recipient's work.

Disgruntled pundits have taken to calling Naipaul's latest "Half a Novel", and it is a criticism not without justification. There is certainly a feeling of the book ending abruptly and without a satisfying resolution.

Still half a Naipaul is better than most authors in their entirety. His simple language and syntax, almost Hemingwayesque in its declaration but vastly more elegant, makes this a deceptively easy read, but beware. There are layers of meaning throughout in his subtle characterizations and descriptions of place and customs; Naipaul's cooly ironic style sometimes keeps them hidden. The irony is thick enough to be cut with a blade.

The title certainly refers to the main character, Willie Chadran, who feels, by age forty-one, that his best years are behind him, never to be recovered, and that he has wasted his life in desultory pursuits of sex and literary fame. But he is not the only character not living life to its fullest. Others fritter theirs away chasing material possessions and political power and social mobility. An air of doom pervades the novel generally, a sense of impending chaos, an end to life as these characters know it, and by the time the book ends there are indeed signs of destruction, departure, and change. All these folks can do is run away from the ephemera of their own artificial lives, their illusions.

Not great Naipaul but compelling throughout and probably better than anything else around at the moment.

V.S. Naipaul is a literary craftsman. His sensitive depiction of Willie's HONEST perspective in this sordid world WE live in is brilliant. He spares no detail, and is as brutally honest with his reader as he always is.

Fantastic!

The whole point of playing the game is to get the story slowly as you puzzle (and fight) your way throught it. Nobody should buy a strategy guide anytime, but certainly not before at least trying to play the game on their own. And with HL2 especially, there is free help from other gamers in online forums if you get stuck. This book is intended to be "acquisition therapy" for those of us impatiently waiting for the game itself.

Plus, unless the guide is sponsored by the makers of HL2 (it does not appear to be), all of its advice is suspect. Valve has released very little information about HL2, so this strategy guide is likely just fan fiction.

i have no clue why they made a strategy guide without the actual GAME!!!!!! Come ON people you would actually buy a strategy guide without a game? you probably just want to look at the final boss obviously, not the MAPS, please, spare me the excuses.

A VERY interesting strategy guide for a game that admittedly has only been released unofficially, so to speak. Anyway for all those who want to read spoilers before the game, then you will find this walkthrough a great font of knowledge, containing some very cool facts that help illuminate some of the first game and help clear up some of Gordon's past. So yeah, if you can't wait for the full game, read this, reveals a much more complicated plot than the first game, with lots of twists and surprises, much more story-oriented (a bit on the level of Deus Ex in it's complexity)

Fans of Half Life who are fed up with waiting for the game will love it, others might just want to take the patient approach and wait a few more months for the full official game release.

I agree with the review from J.K. Kelley. The guide for HL was fantastic! The ideal book would be the HL guide with the map format in the Opposing Force book.

I don't like the paragraph-style walkthrough. The numbered format in the HL guide is excellent.

The Opposing Force guide does have the information you need if you get stuck somewhere, but it doesn't have the step-by-step information like the HL guide.

As stated in my review of the guide for the basic Half-Life game, most guides are lousy. Expectations need to be measured against this unauspicious standard.

In comparison to the one for HL, this guide isn't quite as easy to use due to the paragraph-style walkthrough. The numbered lists and formatting in the HL guide were very helpful; this one has more pictures and does have meaningful maps, but isn't as easy to follow when you're playing through a tough spot. The quality of the information is ok, once you understand that long areas of nothing significant aren't even mentioned in the guide. (I don't fault this, but it threw me a time or two early on until I realized it.)

The Marine DI tone of the book gets a little wearing, but is in keeping with the computer game; first game I've ever played where the actual menu choices call you names.:) Other than that, it's fairly readable but not as usable due to the lack of formatting effort.

Probably worth the money if you're having serious trouble with the game.

Again, I bought this guide after I beat the game. I read it and showed me a couple of spots I didn't visit. All in all a good guide.

In "Half Life," Hal Clement serves up a fast-paced but unrewarding scientific detective story set in the foreseeable future. Clement's smooth dialogue and well-realized technologies make "Half Life" worth reading, but his peculiarly colorless portrait of deep-space is disconcerting at best. Clement begins with a gruesomely potent premise: Earth's population is being killed off by rapidly evolving diseases. Hope rests in the not-quite-expert hands of a terminally ill team stationed in orbit above Saturn's moon Titan, who hope to find prebiotic clues to explain the epidemics back home. What follows is an often numbing mass of scientific pontification as the chemist-astronauts pilot telerobotic ramjets to and from the Titanian surface. While Clement is a skilled storyteller, he fails to give the reader any particular reason to want his characters to succeed; his future Earth, when addressed at all, is an abstracted concept, and his characters little more than mouth-pieces for Clement's endless supply of facts and figures. (How many times do we really need to know the wind direction on Titan in exacting detail?) Conceptually interesting but stilted in execution, "Half Life" showcases both the merits and potential pitfalls of "hard" SF.

This book is not for everyone. Dealing with a future where countless plagues have ravaged humanity, it details an expedition to Titan. By medical necessity, the crew rarely physically interacts with each other and, in that sense, the relationships are somewhat stilted, somewhat like "Caves of Steel".

This novel harkens back to the days when science fiction was about ideas and the characterization was of secondary import. And boy, do the ideas fly in "Half-Life"! It's a bit of an intellectual tussle, but then, that's why you're reading science fiction, isn't it?

Get this book and read it. Then read everything else by Clement. You owe it to yourself.

I owe Hal Clement: I've been reading him since I was just able to read. He always gives you more than just a plot. In this book the plot isn't his best, but his rules for a research team may be up there with Asimov's laws of Robotics. This is the man who invented hard science sci fi and he still has it!

As a foreigner who has seen the US from abroad throughout the last decade, I must say I was very disapointed by this book. How is it possible to create so much garbage and put it indise a cover, and then get it sold?!!! For a long time I followed the US-debate over the Clintons. And for a long time I thought Hillary Clinton's acusations about a conspiracy was a bit over the top. But after reading this I am in no doubt: The Clintons have recieved a lot more negativety than they deserve! And thruth be told, Bill Clinton was a leader we in the rest of the world had confidence in. He was though on behalf of his nation, but he was a leader in wich we felt trust.

David Maraniss is a real pro and I recommend his books and articles, but I wish he would not have written this little book. It is an interesting idea -- to extrapolate a man's life from a four minute speech -- but I found it to be somewhat self-serving.

For example, Mr. Maraniss makes something of a to-do about the fact that the president of the United States would not make time for him. Mr. Maraniss had been critical of Clinton in some ways, and that might have dampened the president's enthusiasm for meeting with him; but Maraniss is only an author. Bill Clinton was president of the United States.

One other little example: Mr. Maraniss makes something of a deal out of the fact that Clinton once said to him, "Nice tie," and then later someone else told him (D.M.) that that remark should be interpreted as a "F- you." Hm, a pretty far-out interpretation.
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For readers with only a passing interesting in Bill Clinton, this is a short, succint book that you can complete in a day. But for readers looking for bigger game, read "First in His Class" by the same author. That book is the best Clinton biography on the market, covering his life from childhood to his 1992 presidential run. This book was published just before Clinton's impeachment by the House. The author gives some new insights, going through the president's August 17 confession line-by-line, and interprets its meaning. You sense Mr. Maraniss's frustration and obvious disappointment with his subject. But at the same time, he maintains a hue of fairness and objectivity that is badly needed when compared to other Clinton books. Mr. Maraniss will help you understand Bill Clinton, but the truth is that no person can fully understand this true "enigma."

This book has achieved 'classical' status among a certain segment of the population that views history through an ideological lens without the need to process factual information. Unfortunately, this work is lightly regarded by professional historians who take competence seriously. The author has no competence in either the history of medicine and therapeutics, or clinical gynecologic pathology. The work relies primarily on secondary sources, is full of anachronisms, and is useful mainly as a good example of what medical and social history should NOT be. Thoughtful readers might like to read the devastating review of this book in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Don't waste your money on this one. Start with Shorter's A History of Women's Bodies or Irvine Loudon's classic Death in Childbirth, if you want to find out what women's lives were like, from a legitimate medical point of view, a century and a half ago.

I write this as something of an antidote to another review, which I believe missed the point of the book (astute prospective buyers may realize that the contents of the book are still controversial for some!). The reviewer's last phrase may explain the negative reaction: "...if you want to find out what women's lives were like, from a legitimate medical point of view, a century and a half ago."

The book is not about what women's lives were like; it is about the attitudes of a certain group of male physicians toward women. This WAS the "legitimate medical point of view" for many then and, unfortunately, now. (Many physicians of my generation recall vividly being taught in med school about hysterical female patients and have seen some pretty primitive attitudes toward women -- and toward patients in general, frankly -- being inculcated into interns and residents during our training.)