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Mr. Easy's father is a philosopher, with a very naive view of human nature. This comic figure is the major influence in Jack Easy's life until he is convinced Jack needs to be sent off to school. There begins Jack Easy's REAL schooling in life, followed by his entry into the British Navy. After all, isn't everyone equal on the sea, which belongs to no man?!

Marryat's major strength in this book is that he can make almost any situation comical. You may roll your eyes at some of his puns,(He must really have enjoyed them!)but you can't help but laugh!

Although lots of sea interested people have reviewed this book, I would heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys a pleasant read and a good laugh. It's clean enough for children, interesting enough for dads, has adventure enough for boys, and stinging rebuke enough for moms. (My daughters also enjoyed it, especially the "duel".)

Only 4 stars because it's not as great literature as R.L. Stevenson's Kidnapped.

Well, this book helped a little but not much. It really is meant for those that are single and looking for Mr. Right. There are many activities that the author wants the reader to do to help him understand himself before he goes galavanting off into the next relationship. The book offers good advice, but I think the activities are kinda cheesy. One activity was to go to a restaurant by yourself. Now, I can see going to a diner by yourself for a quick meal, but the author was talking about a real restaurant. You're supposed to "date yourself." That's just silly if you ask me. I would rather go out to dinner with a friend, someone to talk to. It's important to feel comfortable with yourself, but most of these activities seem to taken right out of a text book without much thought about how practical they really are.

The books strong points, though, are in the text. It talks about keeping the sex great in a lasting relationship. It even talks about those that want to have open relationships and the possible benefits or consequences of that type of relationship. The book hit every point one could think of about the area of dating and relationships.

I plan to hang on to this book for when my boyfriend and I break up (I see the end approaching). Maybe it will be of more use then. Until then, this is not meant for couples. It is meant for single people and I highly reccommend it to those that don't understand why they can't find a lasting relationship.

Much of the material in the first few chapters is available in books like Epstein's Relativity Visualized, which I highly recommend. I really like the last three chapters, which were added to the book. The chapters on how particle accelerators work and on elementary particles were very good. The later was a very insightful treatment on how the particles got their properties. Very well done. Also liked the chapter on space curvature. A reference might be good here on non-euclidean geometry, or naybe a reference to Abbott's Flatland or Ian Stewart's Flatterland, although they aren't on non-euclidean geometry.

The introduction of fictional characters in the Tompkins book is quite useful and helpful. It somehow makes the facts more appealing. That alone perhaps encouraged me to read it from cover to cover. It softened the material at appropriate times rather than keep it on a hard track.

The book had some trouble with the Andromeda Galaxy. In two places it had the distance wrong and in disagreement with one another. 800K ly (circa 1950s value) and 1M ly (not sure where that came from). I believe the accepted value is 2M ly. In one place it called the galaxy The Great Andromeda Nebula. It's not a nebula.

Mr.Tompkins and George Gamow transforms Physics into a fun interesting subject while really teaching you the mechanisms of Physics and going in Quite deep into the world of Physics.It will spark your imagination to look at things with different perspectives. It talks about quarks, Einstein's theory of Relativity, Speed of Light, Closed Universe,space warps, the Quantum World and lots more!!

I would definately recomend this book to everyone. From people that are really interested in Physics to the people who are a little reluctant to read anything about Physics. this is the book that will wrap you up into the world of Physics.

For example, one mistake occurs on the pages 34-35, "Paying Rent." They say there are two instances when you can't collect rent one of which is when you do not ask for it within a certain time limit. The time limit during which an opponent must pay rent is before the "second player to your left." This is clearly incorrect, it is the second player to *your opponent's* left. This whole section is mismatched, saying "your left" instead of your opponent's left. It is almost as if they didn't proofread it or didn't know the rules. (The Rules:"The owner may not collect the rent if they fail to ask for it before the second player following throws the dice.") And this isn't the only spot with problems. There are little things like this which people won't catch and will be misled.

If you are interested in some of the history, then fine, it is reasonably accurate. ;-) . If you want play tips and have much experience at the game, it is NOT worth it. The tips provided are common sense, there is perhaps one tip that a beginner might find useful. And there is even no index (how hard is it to have an index?).

In short the book is disappointing and if you are looking for a book with substance about Monopoly, this is not it. Maxine Brady's book (not published now) is better, but still not a complete treatment.

I've found that it is a fine companion book, and does fine to supplement the official rules(so I put it in my monopoly box and leave the rules with the sets I don't use). It may have editorial errors...but the "error" that the disgruntled reader pointed out is not an error...the "second player to your left" is the same as the "second player following" unless you're going counterclockwise...because after you take a turn, the "first player to your left" goes...followed by the second player to your left...so I don't see the problem there.

The only problem I have with it, is that I follow the rules too carefully, so now when I talk about building shortages or making deals between others turns my friends think I'm making up rules.

Go get this book and enjoy!

Of the numerous young women gathered before him, he chooses Joanna, sisters Rachel and Rebecca, Hannah, an unbeliever, Dinah, a cripple, Martha, a mute, and Leah, an unwed mother. As part of the bargain, Leah brings her infant into the home under the guise of a foundling.

The young women soon fall into their natural order, performing household tasks, laundering, planting a vegetable garden, their days filled with neverending chores. Occasionally, Mr. Wroe takes some of the girls along when he preaches to the townspeople, who are mostly illiterate mill workers. Mr. Wroe also requires that one of the virgins read from the Bible to him each evening.

The story is related through the eyes of four of the girls: Joanna, Hannah, Leah and Martha. Joanna is pious, constantly praying for guidance, while Hannah is skeptical but helpful, and Leah opportunistic, with a child to care for. Martha, the mute, eventually finds a means of expression through Joanna's patient teaching; she relives her past while preparing for the future. The story takes an interesting turn when one of the girls makes shocking allegations. Consequently, the household of virgins is disbanded, each left to find her own way.

As a religious period piece, the story creates a particular atmosphere of candle light, rustling petticoats and starched linens, as well as the crackling pages of a well worn Bible.

Told from the point of view of four women -- four of the 'virgins' taken into the home of Prophet John Wroe, 'for comfort and succor' -- but never from that of Wroe himself, Rogers' novel goes beyond simply telling a story. The voices of these four women are individual and distinct. The sections of the story they each relate overlap in time a bit, and their various points of view illuminate descrepancies in the way they view the events depicted here.

Leah is a beautiful, haughty, self-centered young woman -- she is sure in her own mind that she is the most beautiful and desirable of the seven chosen, and she is determined to play this to her own advantage. She sees her 'sisters' as competition, and she views their motives -- innocent though most of them may be -- with great suspicion, seeing and imagining things not quite as they actually are at times.

Hannah is an unbeliever, thrown in with this group of Christian Israelites, feeling much like a fish out of water. Rather than accepting Mr. Wroe's dire predictions of the imminent end of the world -- Judgement Day -- she instead sees the answer to humanity's woes through education, through working together for the common good. These beliefs lead her to working with the poor of the town, teaching them to read, attempting to raise their social and political consciousness, and getting involved in the birth of the trade union movement in England.

Joanna -- Saint Joanna, as she is called by most of the other women -- is completely devoted, in heart, body and soul, to God and to Mr. Wroe's movement. She views every single event in her life through scriptural interpretaion, bending to God's will every chance she gets. From the opposite end of the scale, her view is thus just as skewed as that of Leah.

Martha -- the fourth narrator -- comes to the house as a mute, obviously horribly beaten and abused by her father at home, who has seen Mr. Wroe's call for seven virgins to serve him as an easy way to rid himself of a daughter he doesn't want, a burden. Martha's narrative is, for me, the most striking in the novel. At first, it comes in fragments, little bursts of words, the most rudimentary images and feelings. As the novel progresses, Martha's thoughts and expression become more organized -- she is being taught speech and hymns by 'Saint Joanna', who evidently possesses the patience of Job -- and the horrors of her earlier life, which she sees as so completely separate that she thinks of it as happening to the 'other Martha', become clearer and clearer. The abuse and suffering she has endured is unbelievable and heartbreaking -- and it explains her temperament, which could at times be seen as epileptic or schizophrenic. This is an incredibly damaged young woman.

As the Prophet of his church, Mr. Wroe weilds immense power and influence. He hears instructions and illuminations directly from God, almost on a nightly basis -- even with a council of Elders to aid in governing the affairs of the church, Wroe's word is practically law. Living in a house with seven young women, it is inevitable that suspicions and accusations begin to mount -- the novel is set, after all, in 1830s England, a much more puritanical society that we enjoy today. Wroe himself is tempted by the presence of the women as well -- and this temptations, combined with his human frailty, lead to much trouble for him and his church.

Rogers skills in both narrating this tale -- and, again, the use of the four narrators is done to stunning effect -- share the spotlight here with her ability to convey the contradictions inherit in organized religion in general. When one person -- or even a group of persons -- holds such power and influence over their 'followers', there is bound to be trouble. The weight of the organization's purpose is too much for a leader to bear. When the people rely on a human leader to tell them how to follow the will of God -- rather than listening to their own hearts and finding their own path -- that leader's humanity will almost inevitably lead to disaster.

The novel is very 'heady' -- but at the same time very readable, being compelling and entertaining. It's a wonderful achievement. Knowing that Rogers wrote the script for the BBC's adaptation of the novel, I'd be very interested to see that as well.

Mr. Palomar is about a man who is so afraid of living in the harsh world of change and interaction that he develops a system of order and analyzation that will explain the reason for everything. For example, at the beginning of the novel he is watching waves crash on the beach. The watching makes him uncomfortable until he puts a logical system in place that will allow him to predict how each wave will rise and fall.

Palomar tries to get at the underlying first cause and reason of everything he encounters. For example, he tries to figure out the language of birds, or the thought processes of an albino gorilla. The problem is that there is always something around which messes up his perfect system and sends him back to the drawing board. There is no plot in this book so no summary will explain what goes on in the book. It is merely one character's ramblings about the world and himself.

Frankly, I thought this book was drop dead boring. I'm all for intellectual head scratching but this book just wouldn't shut up. There is no motion in the novel. It just sits there and expects you to say "great book". Well, that wouldn't be a true statement. There isn't even a shadow of a plot and the whole thing just seems lifeless. I would recommend The Baron in the Trees or Marcovaldo, also by Calvino instead of getting this book.

Mr. Palomar is the main character (in fact, one of the only characters) and the world simply befuddles him to an extent that he needs to find order and meaning in everything. His attempts are often very funny, but how they're all inevitably spoilt is even funnier. Probably the best example of this is the section entitled "The Naked Bosom" - Palomar tries to find a way to both not deny himself the natural pleasure of seeing a topless sunbather and not denying the naked sunbather digity and respect. His attempts cause him to pass by the sunbather so frequently that she gets up in a huff. Good intentions, bad implementation. The book circles around similar themes, but within many different contexts. Palomar looks at waves, rhapsodizes on mating turtles, examines the night sky, examines the patrons of a cheese shop, etc. Mr. Palomar is always in natural and real-life situations, but over-analyzing them to a degree almost of unreality. Though it sometimes reads like a very heady, and bordering on the pretentious, book, it's actually a very funny book about trying to find meaning in life, and the inevitable problems one will likely have in finding meaning all by oneself. It almost reads like a parody of intellectualism; of someone so thirsting for knowledge that they forget their very surroundings and paradoxically neglect themselves and others in the process. The more Palomar examines the world, the less he feels comfortable in it, and the further he seems to drift from people and society. By the end of the book, Palomar is in pretty bad shape in this regard, and the book's final sentence will either stun you or make you laugh very hard. Yes, there is a story (and arguably a plot) it's just told very unconventionally.

Some of the standout sections are "The Naked Bosom" (mentioned earlier, about the sunbather), "Marble and Blood" (about hidden guilt in a butcher's shop), and "Serpents and Skulls" (about interpreting ancient meanings). All of these are at once funny and profound. Through Palomar's search the reader gets a peek at some of the great questions and some controversial issues. How one deals with these questions and issues is something every reflective, for those fortunate enough to have time and resources for reflection, human being must wrestle with. In the end the book asks a big question: "How to deal with all of this?" It is doubtful that Mr. Palomar provides a good example, but it is entertaining to follow his steps through the maze of existence's puzzles.

The table of contents of this book are not where one would expect. They have been put to the back of the book as an index, and coded thematically and experientially. The index explains the structure of the book. I can't say I've seen this approach elsewhere, but it makes me wonder if Palomar is responsible for them - is the index part of the parody?

Palomar is experimental, funny, profound, unconventional, and at last entertaining and challenging to read. This pretty much sums up all of Calvino's books. He never settled on one approach or one style for too long. One never knows what they're going to get when one picks up a book by Calvino.