MO

Timothy Mo's novels have not always appealed to me (especially 'The Insular Possession') but I found this book depressingly capivating. I would unhesitatingly recommend it and have done so to numerous friends over the years. By the way, Timothy Mo's 'Sour Sweet' is also a good read, and especially so for those familiar with both Hong Kong and the U.K.

I have recently re-read this book during a trip to Dili, where I was fortunate enough to meet some of the resistance leaders who feature in "Redundancy" (If Timothy Mo reads this, I would enjoy seeing if my identification of the 'fictional' characters is correct!). This is a shocking story of devastation and brutality on a massive scale, ignored and even aided and abetted by the major Western powers for 25 years. Mo himself seems torn between the cynicism and self-interest of his narrator, self-described as "The Cynical Chinaman", and his own admiration for the FALINTIL guerrillas and the legitimacy of their struggle. Thus on the one hand we have the fictitious account of FAK(sic)INTIL's post-invasion decapitation of the IP (UDT)leaders (Nicolau Lobato, apparently the model for Osvaldo, certainly undertook no such action), on the other we have the final page of the book, a moving and entirely uncynical tribute to 'ordinary people asked extraordinary things in terrible circumsatnces - and delivering'. One could question Mo's judgement in attributing fictitious deeds to identifiable characters in what is really a history book. That, however, in no way detracts from the power of this extremely important work. All of Mo's books seem initially to offer a detached and amused account of aspects of Asian life, whether in Asia or elsewhere, but ultimately surprise and move the reader with compassionate and heartfelt conclusions. "Redundancy" is however different in that it seeks to and succeeds in demonstrating, through these true events, the power and triumph of the human spirit in the face of seemingly impossible odds. "Nothing can stop the march of a people seeking their freedom. Nothing and no one". Osvaldo was right, Adolph Ng was wrong, and the world is a richer and better place for it. This book should not be out of print. It should be compulsory reading for the men and women serving with UNTAET in East Timor today. It should act as a reminder to politicians around the world, that the conscious ignoring of and appeasement of aggression by one people against another diminishes us all.

It is the best I have read. The title is the theme: individual courage in any 20th century national poltical struggle is redundant, irrelevant to the outcome of that struggle. I saw the same thing - on both sides of the conflict- living in Chile during and after the Allende government. Mo's narrator saw it in East Timor after the Indonesian invasion. It is simply brilliant: a War and Peace for the "Third World" and this century. Since I first read it in the year of publication the only thing I can wonder is: why does Timothy Mo not write more? I've read all of his books and I would read many more.

An extremely wonderful book, and a must-have for all die-hard Nightmare fans. Aside from the new special edition DVD of the film, this will give you all the behind-the-scenes info that's readily availible to the public. The book tells everything about Nightmare--from the poem Burton wrote while at Disney, to the credits of who worked on the movie.

I got this book for my husband and it's a must have for fans of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. The book contains beautiful photographs and drawings that made this movie come alive.

i love this book! its like watching the movie, but reading it. it takes you back to halloweentown without leaving your house!

This book is defenitely a must-read for any CATS lover. It answers questions such as "Why wasn't the Italian aria in the Original London show," as well as giving insights into the preparation, rehersal and immense effort that was put into the original Broadway production. Also wonderfully written are the relationships between the author and the rest of the cast and production team. This book is a CATS fan's dream!

    Seven Tony Awards. Box office receipts of more than a billion dollars. A Broadway run of nearly 8,000 performances. And yet, if I asked you to name the actors and actresses who became stars because of "Cats," you'd probably be stumped.
   Okay, Broadway buffs, so you recall Betty Buckley, for singing "Memory."
   Next?
  In fact, although this was the ultimate ensemble piece, there was one cat who outshone the others. His name is Stephen Mo Hanan, and in the original Broadway cast, he played Bustopher, Asparagus and Growltiger. "Hanan is fantastic," purred Clive Barnes in the New York Post. And the Times, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker agreed.
    Hanan's had to wait two decades for his next plum role --- this Spring, he stars as Al Jolson in an off-Broadway production --- but he's going to be immortal for a slim little book that he never intended to publish: "A Cat's Diary." Written during the rehearsal period, these nightly entries are l00 pages of delight and insight.
    DisneyWorld has spoiled us --- people disappear into animal costumes and goof around and we find them charming, in a sentimental, how-can-you-not-like-this way. But being a cat in a musical inspired by T.S. Eliot and directed by Trevor Nunn?  Not so easy. Hard physical work, in fact. And that's just the outside preparation --- as Hanan tells it, there's immense psychological inquiry and tons of improvisation.
     Although the diaries tell us a great deal about the technical challenges of mounting this musical, there's a strong human narrative (the march toward opening night) and one heroic figure (Trevor Nunn). Mostly, Nunn stands on the sidelines, watching. When he makes a comment, it's rarely what you'd expect --- before an actress does a song in rehearsal, he asks, "But are you having fun?" And, as it happens, that innocent query opens her up to deliver a terrific performance.
      Hanan, for his part, also serves up terrific little insights: "What is the acting approach? Everyone had an opinion, and I began to understand why it took so long to set up the protocols for the Vietnam peace talks." He doesn't shrink from self-deprecating anecdotes: "Trevor said, 'You've got to look like nothing anyone has ever seen before, which is easy if you're Steve Hanan, but for the rest of us....'" And, boy, does he ever show us how the griity, unglamorous work of acting takes its toll: "I come home so tired I can hardly find my way to bed."
      As the cast becomes an extraordinary performing unit, Hanan --- who is pre-disposed to a lovely hippie-esque spirituality --- doesn't fail to get the larger point. He's amazed at how far he's come, he's constantly on the verge of tears. Trevor Nunn makes the spiritual lesson less overtly. "You must remember what the greatest power in the theater is," he tells the company. "It has nothing to do with sets and special effects. It's what's going on in your minds, and how that affects the minds of the audience."
     Hanan's account of opening night is appropriately triumphant. And, because this actor is as emotional as he is analytical, you'll tear up when it's time for Nunn to leave New York and go on to his next production. Fifteen months later, with a Tony nomination on his resume, Hanan also left "Cats." To the indelible performance he gave during his stint can now be added this slim but potent book. "Cats" lovers will enjoy it. Actors, if they are smart, will turn it into gold.

Thoroughly enjoyable. The pages flew by. You get a real appreciation of how close the company grew, and how grueling the rehersals were. It is amazing how much was done in a relatively short rehersal period. I saw the show and loved it. I do not know if that made difference, but I would think that for anyone interested in the theater, this would be a wonderful book.

This book was an inspiration to me. Since reading it, I've added many of the plants discussed in this book to my garden. I've also found the author's ideas on shade gardening to be very helpful as I, too, have a shady garden.

Although I've got a shelf full of every conceivable type of gardening book, there aren't many out there written specifically from the Midwest gardner's point of view. And this is the first gardening book that I would call a real page-turner! Joan takes the reader on a gardening adventure, giving us invaluable tips and opinions along the way, and showing us wonderful photos of her garden. Based on her perennial choices for sun and shade, I've already put together my wish list for next year!

The writing of this book was a self-fulfillment project. A graduate of Wisconsin's Master Gardener Program, I am pledged to do what I can to further gardening. Speaking to groups of people is nice, but a BOOK can reach many more people! I write to help beginners and intermediate gardeners come to terms with making gardens. I favor the organic way, but not exclusively. I love native and common plants, but not exclusively. I specialize in shade gardening, but, you guessed it, not exclusively! My book is meant to be encouraging. I am a senior citizen and I do all my own work. It keeps me young.

This is my favorite microelectronics textbook. (Out of the 5 or six that I've read.) It is very simple and straightforward material. When I need a microelectronics reference, this is the first book I look at.
The one improvement I would like to see is a better chapter written about SPICE modeling.

No other book gives a more effective treatment of the subject. A thorough explanation of the basics followed by a stepwise approach towards advanced topics. Thanks Kang and Leblebici for coming up with such a great book.

This book introduces CMOS digital IC at a introductory graduate level; good reference for Electrical Engineers in the memory business.

I live in Platte County Missouri, just south of St. joe. It was very interesting to see what happened in that time period many years ago. Heck! it could've happened where i'm living! As a Civil War buff, some of these things really hit close to home, and I overall enjoyed it.

Preston Filbert's The Half Not Told: The Civil War In A Frontier Town focuses on a part of the American Civil War that is often overlooked or downplayed by other sources that concentrate on the armies and campaigns in the East. The Half Not Told is about the Civil War in the West, particularly in Missouri. The frontier town of St. Joseph, Missouri, which became torn apart and saw its fortunes fall due to stagflation, is a reflection of how dramatically the war changed Western American life forever. The Half Not Told draws very heavily upon primary sources, as its highly extensive endnotes section and a bibliographical essay attest. The Half Not Told is a very welcome contribution to Civil War studies, and highly recommended for anyone with an interest Civil War history -- particularly because much of the telling is in the eye-witness words of the people who were there.

I have just read The Half Not Told and was fascinated by the tale of a town ripped apart by divided loyalties during the Civil War,
a town devastated by the war, yet with a story completely unlike that of towns truly in the South. The author tells of a Border Town which was ravaged by both the North and the South. The book introduces you to the very real people who lived in the town through this violent time, often quoting their own words from a letter or a diary. The town was populated by colorful characters, many of whom are introduced and then reappear later, maybe several times, as the history of the town unfolds. The events described are exciting and violent and often very personal. I found myself anxious to get to the next chapter to see what would happen in this engrossing tale, as I often do when I'm reading a work of fiction; yet this is a true story, a history with extremely good documentation and pictures of the people and events of the time. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an exciting and accurate picture of a town which experienced the Civil War in a way you may not have known about before.

This is a moving memoire of Rhodes' abusive childhood and how he grew out of it but still carries much of it with him. He is such an exquisite writer that every page aches with anger and regret. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand what some foster children go through. One of America's best writers.

Mr Rhodes' writing is clear as a pristine lake, to the bottom of which one can see, with all stones, underwater plants, fish and monsters visible in sharp outline. I could not put the book down; it made me weep; following his story made me feel both tenderness and horror, and led me to both healing of brokenness, and deeper sorrow for brokenness that can never heal.

Some books excite you; some bore you; some interest you. This book embraces and engulfs you. It is impossible to imagine anyone reading it without both raging and exhulting. A wonderful, beautiful, searing book. The first paragraph (which I read to my students as an example of 'The Event That Most Changed My Life') will suck you in so far you'll read it with fury, passion, and an intensity that makes both most autobiography seem limp and most writing seem pale. Richard Rhodes is a fine writer, but this book is more than written. It is bled.

Its amazing how quickly we forget our leaders. After serving 31 years in Congress, running one of the most likeable Presidential campaigns in history, and nearly getting elected majority leader of the U.S. House of Represenatives, Democrat Morris Udall's political career was cruelly and tragically brought to a halt by Parkinson's disease. Once famed as perhaps the wittiest man in Congress (as well as one of the most effective), Udall died seven years after his retirement -- his sterling wit permanently silenced as the disease robbed him of his ability to speak. Most tragically, this man who -- with his brother Stewart -- co-founded both the current conservation movement and America's first Mormon political clan, died a forgotten figure, remembered only by a few political junkies like myself. Fortunately, however, Donald Carson and James Johnson have produced a wonderfully engaging biography of this man that gives us a warts-and-all portrait of a remarkable public servant. While giving ample reason why the man was so beloved, they also don't flinch from revealing why Morris Udall ultimately remained a mystery to even his own family. Unlike other political biographies, this book neither sets out to debunk or canonize Rep. Udall but instead stands as a sharp portrait of a complex man whose public service -- whether you agreed with his liberal politics or not (I certainly don't) -- made this country a better place.

Written in a breezy, conversational tone that still manages to maintain a proper biographical distance, Mo follows Udall from his strict Mormon childhood in Arizona to his first election to the U.S. House. While a great deal of the book focuses on Udall's legislative achievements -- Udall was an environmentalist before it become trendy -- the best of the early chapters deal with Udall as a liberal upstart setting out to reform the stodgy House. As Udall himself would often wryly point out, his political life was often a bizarre tragic comedy of second-place finishes that ultimately became victories for others. Both of Udall's insurgent campaigns for both Speaker and Majority Leader ended in failure but sparked the revolution that overthrew (however briefly) the Congressional seniority system. The book's highlight is the detailing of Udall's 1976 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination where he managed to finish second in a record number of primaries without ever once finishing first. If Udall didn't set the electorate on fire, he did distinguish himself by revealing himself to be one of the most genuinely witty Presidential wanna-bes to ever pop up on a primary ballot (or, as one columnist put it, "Is Morris Udall to funny to be President?" That's the 70s talking. As of late, some genuine and intentional humor in American politics would be a bit of a relief, I'd think.) The campaign made Udall famous for his wit but as this biography reveals, that wit often concealed a rather distant temperment that so focused on work that even his own children grew up calling him "Mo." As a politician, Udall was that rare thing -- an honest and sincere compassionate liberal who actually saw big government as a way to help the downtrodden. Yet this same man who dedicated his life to helping strangers drove one wife to divorce and another to alcoholism and suicide. The dichotomy makes for a fascinating read and Carson and Johnson explore these issues without ever descending into lurid muckracking. The book concludes with a touching (and quite frankly heartbreaking) section dealing with Udall's final, brave, and tragic battle with Parkinson's Disease (which, as I read it, was also sadly reminicent of Ronald Reagan's -- another politician never given the respect that was his due -- current battle with Alzheimer's; another nefarious disease that, like Parkinson's, cruelly robs men and women of their dignity without reason or warning.)

Despite the fact that, politically, I'm probably about as far to the right as the late Congressman Morris Udall was to the left, I still find myself mourning the comically tragic failure of his 1976 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination. As the election was the first post-Watergate election and the Republican Party was going through one of its periodic near-deaths, the election of a Democrat was pretty much assured. All Udall had to do was win the nomination and, for four years at least, a one-eyed, 6'5, former probasketball player and nonpracticing Mormon named Mo Udall would have been President. Of course, the nomination didn't go to Udall but instead went to the far less witty Jimmy Carter. Considering the way the world was in the late 70s, its doubtful Udall would have had any a better time of it than Carter but instead of hearing that America's problems were due to "malaise," a President Udall would at least find time to tell at least one corny, Ayatollah joke. And, even if the voters didn't realize it at the time, America would have been better off for that joke. Just as its now better off to have this book to remember Morris Udall by.

Morris King Udall was one of the great Democrats of the 20th century. After reading this book, you will see why - and you will also regard "Mo" as one of the greatest legislators of the last century. Rep. Udall certainly was one of the most complicated.

The strength of this book rests in the writing style as the authors present a human portrait of a legendary politician who is model public servant. The writing is tight and the story is brisk. The book is a solid work that covers all the facts in Udall's public and private lives - warts and all. It is a perfect blend of personality and public policy as the book discusses Udall's towering legislative achievements regarding environmental protection and Native American rights, his legendary and futile White House run, all the while describing the price his career cost his family and, with heart-breaking impact, the toll Parkinson's Disease took on the legendary Arizonan and his unrelenting battle against the illness.

By the end of the book, regardless of political persuasion, you will regret that there are no more Mo Udalls in public life today. And, you may lament, as I did, that Morris Udall never achieved his dream of serving as President of the United States.

Every student of U.S. politics or Arizona history should read this book. Carson and Johnson thoroughly and brilliantly chronicle the life of a man who profoundly influenced the course of America in ways that politicians of greater renown never did. The authors reveal how Mo Udall could champion the most liberal causes and yet gain the respect of someone as conservative as Barry Goldwater. Read this book and you'll wonder what turns America might have taken had Udall fulfilled his dream of becoming president.

The fifth in a great series of mysteries. Rachel is a brilliant, beautiful, crime-solving attorney with an appealing cast of confidants. These books should be far more popular.

This fifth and best of the Rachel Gold mysteries starts with a deception, ends with a surprise and in between involves our heroine in myriad plot twists surrounding a most unusual profit scheme and a most unusual murder. Rachel, spunky and vulnerable, a Jewish attorney with a nose for detection, works her way through all the puzzles most satisfyingly and even ends up close friends with one who started out as an enemy. Rachel is a delight as she peels the layers of the puzzle like a rose and at the end this reader is left with only one question: When will we see the sixth Rachel Gold book?

Rachel gold gets better in every novel. This one is a thoroughly entertaining piece of fiction with an unusual and quite exciting plot.

The characters are very well drawn and I'm really looking forward to the next novel by mr. Kahn.

Maybe I'm a bit biased since two of the four players profiled in this book are now Mets, but I really enjoyed their stories. Siroty takes you from their childhoods through college, to the minor leagues and the majors. Every player has a different path, and not all of them have the traditional happy endings. Every page mentions a new player whose name you'll recognize - I always wondered how every baseball player seemed to know each other, even if their teams never competed. You'll love this book if you love baseball - because it really shows the players' passion for the game.

So many times have I heard stories about career(or dream)-ending injuries and knew it wasn't as mellow to them as they made it seem. It was nice to see Robinson rewarded with the HOF(Seton Hall) in the end. Biggio was destined for greatness, Valentin was better than I thought he was, and Vaughn was a monster from the start. They all have some facinating human stories that make it hard to look at them the same.

The Hit Men and the Kid Who Batted Ninth by sports writer David Siroty is an involved and involving study of the lives of Craig Biggio, Mo Vaughn, and John Valentin, three renowned baseball players, each of whom earned MVP honors, Gold Gloves, and more, -- as well as the life of Marteese Robinson, a friend and college teammate of the three men who was left behind from the professional baseball world. Robinson would eventually find a way to join his friends; just not a way that any of them expected. The Hit Men and the Kid Who Batted Ninth is an engaging tale, featuring an aside with a quotable quote from the men it spotlights on almost every page, as well as an inset section of black-and-white photographs. The Hit Men And The Kid Who Batted Ninth is a very fine read -- especially for baseball fans.