Dancing with the Witchdoctor: One Woman's Stories of Mystery and Adventure in Africa Review

Dancing with the Witchdoctor: One Woman's Stories of Mystery and Adventure in Africa
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Dancing with the Witchdoctor is a marvelous book, all the more remarkable because it is Kelly James' first one. This account of some of her experiences as a private investigator in Africa reads like a well-crafted novel, a page turner at that. But as she says in the preface, these tales are not about her. James' aim is to tell the stories of women she met and the extraordinary ways they prevailed against the challenges of ordinary life in Africa in these troubled times. She succeeds with gusto.
James calls them "heroines," and does them proud. Among others, she introduces us to the Watusi women of Rwanda, to Moana of Mozambique, and to Lua, a Turkana woman who saves Kelly's life. The qualities James admires in these people come through in the text: courage, compassion, commitment. I found inspiration here.
The land, the elements themselves, have presence in Dancing with the Witchdoctor, notably the unceasing winds of Lake Turkana and the rainforest home of the mountain gorillas. The book smacks of Africa. The beat of life that drew James to that continent resounds in these pages.
This book defies categorization. One Seattle book store originally put it under travel, until an employee who had read it, said "no way." Another has it under World History for some reason. Call it an adventure story (which it is), and people think fiction. Say it's a memoir, and watch people yawn. It's by a woman about women, but it's not a "woman's book," or if it is, you certainly don't have to be a female to treasure it.
One category this book certainly fits: Damn Good Read!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Dancing with the Witchdoctor: One Woman's Stories of Mystery and Adventure in Africa



Buy Now

Click here for more information about Dancing with the Witchdoctor: One Woman's Stories of Mystery and Adventure in Africa

Read More...

Angel Island (Images of America: California) Review

Angel Island (Images of America: California)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This book is about Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. It is a collection of vintage photos and a rich text written by former Mayor Branwell Fanning and journalist William Wong, the native son whose ancestors had successfully passed the Angel Island Immigration Station.
The introduction gave a comprehensive historical overview from the glacier age to the recent years with eight chapters of photos supplemented by a text page orientation. Chapter 1 starts with the Early Years as a den of outlaws and a favorite arena for dueling. Of interest was a picture of Don Antonio Maria Osio who was the Mexican owner 1839-1860.
Chapter 2 focused on the Military History. It served in Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American Wars, the Philippine Insurrection as well as WW I & II. Included are photos of artilleries, bunkers, tents, housing, soldiers, Italian POWs, German civilian seamen. This chapter ends with a couple pictures of USS Delta Queen, which Fanning served.
The following chapter is short with only 14 pictures in Quarantine Station. It started work in 1891 on SS China in detecting disease. Passengers mostly Chinese had to go through strip, scrub and disinfections with baggage being fumigated before heading to shelters - more demanding procedures than millennium security. Infectious diseases passengers either received quarantine medical care or deportation. The photos on p.49 showed three huge chemical steams disinfection steel tubes. A picture on p.51 showed Chinese on board US Public Health Service steamer for quarantine and another on p.52 waiting to be cleaned and disinfected.
Bill wrote Chapter 4 with 40 pages of archive photographs on the Immigration Station. The facing page 56 featured a drawing from PUCK Magazine, showing an American woman with a 5-point star on her hair and a steam engine train falling off her lap, had a pair of scissors engraved 19th Century Progress at a Chinese Mandarin pigtail in words "worn out tradition". This chapter showed the significance as the immigration processing facility for Japanese, Indians, Russians, Africans and Europeans in addition to Chinese. Between 1910 - 1940, there estimated 175,000 Chinese processed and Chinese food was served. The Chinese kitchen team helped in connecting inside with outsider for coaching paper for interrogations on "Paper Son", in response to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. The rare picture on p.68 showed half a banana as the crib sheet carrier. The photo p.63 was a beautifully carved poem in Chinese on barrack wall by a detainee for posterity understanding his saga. Surprisingly, there were many pictures with women and children from different continents. There were two Chinese women pictures on p.72, top one with three women and bottom fourteen with three children. It was a rare sight as incoming Chinese women were suspicious of prostitutes. The picture on p.67 revealed Chinese women living quarter: three sets of three levels bunks, each level with four beds, an occupancy of 36. The Chinese men one on p.88 showed 10 rows each with five double bunks, a total of 100. It was a sharp contrast to San Francisco City 500-footage demand on Chinatown residents. Two pictures on p.79 showed men and boys were bare chested for medical check-up. The treatable disease found on Chinese would be ground for further detention or deportation. Tye Leung on p.84 was the first Chinese woman hired in the service and she married a white immigration inspector. This interracial marriage prompted their resignation due to racial pressure. This chapter ends with National Historic Landmark designation with a picture of Park Ranger Alexander Weiss, who called attention to Chinese poems and the two Chow, Paul and Christopher among others pushed hard in preservation and designation.
Chapter 5 was short with only three pages. It was interesting that this Pacific Island provided maritime navigation signals by sight and sound in three lighthouses. The mighty bell on p.99 reminded its bygone glory.
The following was a chapter on Missile Base. Cold War once again turned it into an outpost with full military installation. The collection illustrated the sophisticated defense system against air attacks.
Chapter 7 showed the Transition with pictures of Italian POWs, empty buildings and the ghost town. The last chapter was the State Park. It was a favorable spot for holiday-makers
This book gives a comprehensive history on the different combination segments of Angel Island. It is like Ellis Island to process immigrants but lack of the compassion of the Statue of Liberty poem:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretch refuse of your teaming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
This Island was the fearful guarding Angel at Golden Gate to keep immigrants, especially Chinese from entering the Gold Mountain. Surviving the lengthy and tedious quarantine, physical exam and interrogations meant a new life in the new world. Angle Island was the enforcer of 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act which politicians framed and blamed Chinese as the main source of all problems from economic, social to moral. This book, especially Chapter 4 highlights the historical importance in US immigration policy. With this unusual landmark, it helps in understanding the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, an immigration policy based on race and addressing the impact of the 2007 Immigration Reform which sacrifices family preference in a new visa point system - education, employment and English proficiency, with a racial agenda. Even though this book does not include a reading lists about 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, Paper Son, Chinese poem, it will be a good companion and orientation for visitors when the Island reopens in early 2008 after restoration. This book will lead readers to explore and learn more about Asian immigration in the West Coast.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Angel Island (Images of America: California)

Angel Island, in the Town of Tiburon, is a mile-square jewel set in San Francisco Bay that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Few of those who hike, bike, camp, or enjoy the spectacular vistas in this California State Park realize its diverse history. From the Spanish ships that anchored at Ayala Cove in 1775 to the 1960s cold war era missile silos, Angel Island has endured to become one of the most popular parks in the state. Although many building were demolished, there are still countless reminders of the island's multifaceted evolution, including a quarantine station, army base, and immigration station.

Buy NowGet 22% OFF

Click here for more information about Angel Island (Images of America: California)

Read More...

The Way Some People Die (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) Review

The Way Some People Die (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This early Lew Archer novel starts off in straightforward fashion. Mrs. Samuel Lawrence of Santa Monica, a poor but proud widow, hires Archer to find her missing daughter, a young nurse named Galley. Archer goes where the clues lead and soon finds he is involved in something more than a simple missing persons case. Slowly but surely, the hardboiled PI becomes immersed in the sordid world of heroin addicts and dealers.
The Way Some People Die contains plenty of good dialogue as well as numerous descriptive passages notable for their insightful detail. The intricately constructed narrative contains several intriguing plot elements that are ultimately tied together in the final pages. A 4 star effort, not quite up to the standard of Macdonald's best work, but nevertheless a worthwhile read for hardboiled crime fans.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Way Some People Die (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)



Buy NowGet 20% OFF

Click here for more information about The Way Some People Die (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

Read More...

Quiet As They Come Review

Quiet As They Come
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
In tracking how a group of characters drift into mainstream American culture, Angie Chau has written a book that confluences elegantly with the currents of contemporary U.S. fiction. The book is both an endearing account of a becoming-American family's survival, and a nuanced report on the deracination and integration of Vietnamese individuals in a new place, namely the San Francisco bay area--with all the personal connections, emotional fragmentations, pop culture explosions, and social fissures that occur along the way...

Click Here to see more reviews about: Quiet As They Come



Buy NowGet 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Quiet As They Come

Read More...

Mongrel : Essays, Diatribes, Pranks Review

Mongrel : Essays, Diatribes, Pranks
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Mongrel is a wondrous, devious little book, full of itself, yes, but also full of innovative insights about being a diasporic Chinese in white America and a contrarian gay in a politically correct Bay Area in love with it self too much. I especially like his wry take on Singapore as a homey mall (his first home), and on his trip through the whitey south on a shoestring poet's budget. Justin Chin is a legend in Hawai'i, where I write and teach, and now I see why; and he should send Morgan Blair an inscribed copy of his book so she (one of his teachers)can see that he remembers her amid the postmodern muck of it all.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Mongrel : Essays, Diatribes, Pranks



Buy Now

Click here for more information about Mongrel : Essays, Diatribes, Pranks

Read More...

The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America Review

The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I loved this story. Pati writes in an engaging manner which makes it easy to read. I saw the author at a reading and she is throughly engaging. Her story is humorous, touching and will bring back many memories of growing up. It's interesting how a half-japanese and caucasian male can relate to so many of her stories of growing up in the Bay Area in the 1970's and 80's.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America



Buy Now

Click here for more information about The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America

Read More...

Out in the Castro: Desire, Promise, Activism Review

Out in the Castro: Desire, Promise, Activism
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This is something of a prejudiced review since I was one of the contributors to this book. But there is NO other book that covers the history of the "gay mecca" of San Francisco as thoroughly and as completely as this one does. The book is a paean to the "gay ghetto" of San Francisco with particular attention paid to the time when Harvey Milk was its cultural and spiritual leader. The writing professionalism of the contributions varies but all of them come from the heart. The photographs alone chronicling the heyday of the Castro are worth the price of admission. Frequently touching, frequently shocking in their nakedness and nudity, they capture the Castro in photographs to make the book a complete volume of text and pictures of a tiny urban area whose influence extended far beyond its geographical size.
I am somewhat surprised that the book has drawn so few reviews, especially locally in San Francisco. There has never been as complete and frank a depiction of any other urban area in America. In that respect, the book is unique. To this day, I doubt that the publisher realizes what he accomplished.
The book chronicles the last of the "grass roots" politicians in the United States from the viewpoints of those who knew him best. "Same-sex marriaage" was not even a twinkle in anybody's eye back then but this is where it started. For a pictorial history of a lifestyle, there is nothing to match it. The same can be said for the multi-faceted view of a politician slowly slipping into an undeserved obscurity but who was the Martin Luther King of the Gay movement.
I confess as to my prejudices on the subject but for those interested in Harvey Milk and his era, "Out in the Castro" is its Baedeker. A well deserved five stars.
Frank M. Robinson, San Francisco

Click Here to see more reviews about: Out in the Castro: Desire, Promise, Activism



Buy Now

Click here for more information about Out in the Castro: Desire, Promise, Activism

Read More...

Blue Lonesome Review

Blue Lonesome
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
When an accomplished, experienced author tackles loneliness, frustration, chicanery and murder, you get something like Blue Lonesome. Jim Messenger is a lonely, bored San Francisco CPA, drifting through life. He observes a woman called Janet Mitchell at a cafe where he eats dinner every night. Messenger wonders about her and when she stops coming, he is idly moved to learn why. What Messenger discovers is that she has committed suicide.
Gradually, he becomes more and more obsessed with learning her story. His physical journey takes him several hundred miles east to the dried-up desert town of Beulah, Nevada. His emotional journey takes him much farther, and is not finished when the book ends.
Beulah is a town of simmering desires, dusty secrets and vicious attitudes. It is also a town peopled with good citizens. Part of Pronzini's strength is his ability to create a place and characters that are in everyone's sight. Beulah could be any town. It could be yours.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Blue Lonesome



Buy Now

Click here for more information about Blue Lonesome

Read More...

The Jury Master Review

The Jury Master
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Billed as a stunning debut and legal thriller, this book is neither. It is filled with caricatures - highly successful attorney, (and an ex-marine), with a near genius IQ; his girl Friday, a young attractive single mother with a heart of gold; street wise, sarcastic yet tenacious homicide detective; an ex-CIA agent who lives as a hermit; and self-important, over-zealous political types, (there are more but I won't belabor the point), - all involved in a predictable plot which degenerates into a Freud meets The Amazing Kreskin psychological farce. Every trick in the book is used to keep this story "moving" including short chapters ending at (in)opportune moments to keep the reader hanging on, lame wise-cracking by the protagonists during moments of crisis and of course, flashbacks. To top it all off it is painfully overwritten - eye-glazingly so - at over 400 pages this would have been a chore to finish at half that length. I paid a buck and a half for this book and felt cheated. Pass on this one.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Jury Master



Buy Now

Click here for more information about The Jury Master

Read More...

Treasures of the Conservatory of Flowers Review

Treasures of the Conservatory of Flowers
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Nina Sazevich's informative text is beautifully enhanced with the full color photography of Kevin J. Rest in "Treasures Of The Conservatory Of Flowers", a showcase compilation of diverse flowering plants carefully cultivated at San Francisco's Conservatory of Flowers. This is the oldest surviving municipal wood and glass greenhouse in the United States having been founded in 1879. "Treasures Of The Conservatory Of Flowers" is nicely organized into four sections: lowland tropics; highland tropics; acquatic plants; and potted plants. Each entry reveals details on that particular flower and taken altogether represents a kind of descriptive tour of the Conservatory's main sections. Of special note is an illustration of the overall structure of this enduring and impressive example of Victorian architecture. "Treasures Of The Conservatory Of Flowers" is an excellent and recommended addition to personal, professional, and academic Gardening Studies and Floral Studies reference collection.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Treasures of the Conservatory of Flowers

The Conservatory of Flowers is an elegant piece of San Francisco's Victorian past and a spectacular living museum of rare and beautiful tropical plants. From Borneo to Bolivia, the 1700 species of plants at the Conservatory represent unusual and often endangered flora from more than 50 countries around the world.Treasures of the Conservatory of Flowers is a breathtaking companion to this national, state, and city landmark. First built in 1887, it is the oldest surviving municipal wood and glass greenhouse in the United States. Like the building itself, Treasures of the Conservatory of Flowers is divided into four parts—lowland tropics, highland tropics, aquatic plants, potted plants—an elegant book that engulfs readers in its lush tropical worlds.

Buy Now

Click here for more information about Treasures of the Conservatory of Flowers

Read More...

City Come A-Walkin' Review

City Come A-Walkin'
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
For those of you that don't know john shirley, he is the father of Cyberpunk...a master of it. his novel, city come a-walkin', is one of my favorites, telling the story of a club owner who is visited by a representation of a city , in the form of a man. i highly recomend this book for those who are into dark, funny novels...

Click Here to see more reviews about: City Come A-Walkin'



Buy NowGet 20% OFF

Click here for more information about City Come A-Walkin'

Read More...

Lonely Planet USA (Country Travel Guide) Review

Lonely Planet USA (Country Travel Guide)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
By trying to pack so much information into one book, this one loses the depth I've come to expect from Lonely Planet. I just can't imagine a trip where this would be more helpful than the more specific, regional books on the United States. Also, Lonely Planet in general offers some of the best travel guides out there, but is very urban-focused and doesn't offer a lot for someone hoping to get a little further off the beaten path and outside the cities.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Lonely Planet USA (Country Travel Guide)

Hit the road for a classic American journey through forests, fields, metropolises and oases. Whether it's day-tripping form New York City, cruising along the Mississippi, delving into the Grand Canyon, or driving the California coast, this definitive guide inspires you to go the distance and discover the USA's very best.Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.In This Guide:Complete road-trip coverage and customized itinerariesColor chapter reveals the grandeur and adventure of USA's national parksPull-out map guides you along the country's most legendary routes

Buy NowGet 34% OFF

Click here for more information about Lonely Planet USA (Country Travel Guide)

Read More...

Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island 1910-1940 Review

Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island 1910-1940
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
No immigrant population has ever been treated as shabbily and violently as the Chinese, who began arriving in large numbers during the California Gold Rush and who were recruited in even larger numbers to build transcontinental railroads, build levees in California, and to supplant African-American cotton pickers in Mississippi. The Chinese were brutalized, excluded, mocked, and TAXED! In 1852, a Foreign Miner's Tax, which accounted for more than half of the tax revenue collected in California between 1850 and 1870, was imposed on Chinese miners. Parallel fears fueled the antagonism against the Chinese: first, that they were unassimilable; second, that they would pollute the bloodlines of the Great Race, the Anglo-Saxon stock, which would seem to imply a measure of assimilation, or else outbreed "us". Laws were passed to exclude Chinese women, and then, in 1882, to exclude all immigration from China. Laws continued to severely curtail Chinese immigration until the 1960s, but exclusion was never 100% effective. The principal loohole was the acknowledged human right of Chinese-Americans to bring their wives and children to "Gold Mountain." The officials charged with overseeing this trickle of migration were invariably convinced that most of it was fraudulent; they were fierce and self-righteous in ferreting out the "paper sons," those illegal immigrants of yesteryear.
From 1910 to 1940, all immigrants arriving in California from China - including many who were en route to Mexico or Cuba - were quarantined in wooden barracks on the hidden side of Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, north of Alcatraz. About 175,000 Chinese, men, women and children, spent from three days to three years in detention on Angel Island, and quite a few of them ended up being shipped home. This book tells the story of that immigration in thirty pages of general history and through interviews with thirty-nine elderly survivors of the Island experience. Pictures of the detention station and its operations are also included, and suggest the bleak, crowded, disrespectful conditions that prevailed.
In 1940, the barracks on Angel Island were closed and abandoned. The buildings remained in disrepair until 1970, by which time Angel Island was a state park. Then the buildings were slated for demolition, but during an inspection, a park ranger, Alexander Weiss, noticed that the walls of the wooden buildings were covered with Chinese characters, carved or inscribed. He notified scholars at San Francisco State University, the inscriptions were photographed and translated, it was confirmed that they were chiefly poems composed in inmates during detention, and the Asian American community of San Francisco bagan to lobby for preservation of the historical site, equivalent to Ellis Island in the memory of European American immigrant descendents.
The station is now a major tourist attraction of the Bay Area, and easily one of the most interesting, to which thousands of visitors travel by ferry. The calligraphic inscriptions are visible, and translations are readily available. Unlike the stereoptype of "coolie" immigrants, the Chinese who cut these characters in the walls were literate representatives of a great civilization, however penniless and friendless they may have been when they arrived in the Land of the Free, only to be imprisoned.
The bulk of this touching book is composed of selected poems, in Chinese and in English translation, from the walls of the Island. Some express desolation:
"Living on Island, away from home elicits a hundred feelings.
My chest is filled with a sadness I cannot bear to explain.
Night and day, I sit passively and listlessly.
Fortunately, I have a novel as my companion."
Some are angry:
"Sadly, I listen to insects and angry surf.
The laws pile layer upon layer; how can I dissipate my hatred?
Drifting in as a traveler, I met with thsi calamity.
It's more miserable than owning only a flute
in the marketplace of Wu."
A few are vengeful:
"I have 10,000 hopes that the revolutionary armies
will complete their victory,
And help make the mining enterprises successful
in the ancestral land.
They will build many battleships and come
to the U.S. territory,
Vowing never to stop till the white men
are completely annihilated."
Of course the battleships never came. Instead there were waves of industrious and civil immigrants, and then further waves of industrial wares which we in America have come to depend on. Have the Chinese terrorized America? Stolen American jobs? Degraded American racial purity? Here in San Francisco, it seems obvious that the Chinese have been among the most valuable and assimilable immigrant populations ever. Their crime rate and public assistance rate are extremely low, and their employment rate is unmatched by any European American group. They've excelled in our public schools, raising the standards of performance for "white" students by their example of seriousness. They exceed the averages of European Americans in education, income, and marital stability. Their consumption of illegal drugs is far lower than that of white suburbanites. They are a major component of the thriving multi-culturalism that makes San Francisco the most desirable place to live in all the United States, as proven by housing prices.
America was built by immigrants, and then rebuilt again and again by later waves of immigrants, each time a richer and stronger culture. Those who blame problems on recent immigrants are wrong; they themselves are the problem.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island 1910-1940



Buy NowGet 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island 1910-1940

Read More...

Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression Review

Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
When I read this book I felt a certain nostalgia, because the "Howl" obscenity trial took place fifty years ago when I was a kid, and the Beatnik writers, of whom Ginsberg became the most famous, seem so rarified to me now. It's as though they had been filmed in black and white and the movies now jump and rattle as we watch them, the images scratched, browned and antiquarian. Also, it gave me considerable pleasure to know that the government censorship that the "not guilty" judgment in that trial abolished had remained abolished ever since.
In October, 2007, however, I learned that this is not true.
For the fiftieth anniversary of the trial, Pacifica Radio, the organization made up of the community-supported radio stations KPFA, KPFK, WBAI and others, considered the possibility of broadcasting a reading of the poem "Howl". It happens that, besides being the object of a landmark First Amendment freedom of speech judgment in a court of law, "Howl" is one of the truly remarkable poems of the twentieth century. So a commemoration of it seemed altogether laudable. But because of feared Federal Communications Commission rules on what constitutes obscene or unacceptable speech on the public airwaves, Pacifica determined not to do the broadcast on its stations. They worry that if the FCC fines them for broadcasting unacceptable speech, they will have to involve themselves in a freedom of speech trial, the costs of which could bankrupt Pacifica and put the stations out of business.
So the problem is subtler now than it was in 1957. You don't have to wait for actual censorship itself. The very fear that it will come causes organizations to muzzle themselves now. Perhaps you'd win in a trial. But you don't test the waters willy-nilly because you'll drown in the attorney fees that will result, no matter the judgment in court.
Luckily, though, we have the internet. The rules regarding broadcasting do not pertain to webcasts, and Pacifica has posted a reading of "Howl" by Ginsberg himself on their site (http://www.audioport.org/audioport_files/specials/Howl-Final-128.mp3) as part of a longer program in which a very illuminating discussion of the history of the poem's publication, the 1957 trial and the importance of the poem as literature can also be found. Besides the poem itself, the highlight of the program is a conversation with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, now eighty-eight years old, the San Francisco poet and bookseller who originally published "Howl."
The First Amendment right guaranteeing free speech is the issue here, even though it's being obscured by the FCC's self-important view of what constitutes "acceptable" speech. But even though the situation highlights the true dunderheaded silliness of the FCC's point of view, all is not bad, because the censorship of an artistic event by the government usually results in unruly fame for that event.
Poetry is not much read in the United States, and without the 1957 trial, "Howl" would probably have remained an important work by an obscure poet, read only by students in the academy and the struggling few who actually write poetry themselves. But because of the trial, Howl, And Other Poems has now sold almost a million copies, and continues to sell briskly. Happily, it is such a fine poem, so terrifying a view of contemporary society, and one so beautifully written that it is my opinion that few who read it will be unaffected by it.
Ginsberg was culturally prescient as well. In the second section of the poem, a long accusation of American industrial/government rapaciousness, he uses the figure of Moloch as a symbol of corporate indifference to the individual.
"Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose
blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!"
The biblical Moloch was one of the princes of Hell. A terrifying demon, he is described by Milton in Paradise Lost as "besmeared with blood/Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears," a fearsome devil who eats the children of the faithful. Ginsberg's Moloch is the self-serving corporate entity who, for money, foments armed conflict. A more accurate metaphor for the current war footing of the United States cannot be found.
Perhaps the muffling of "Howl" in 2007 will bring about the same firestorm of wild enthusiasm on the part of a general public that the 1957 trial caused. As was the case as described in this fine book by Nancy. J Peters and Bill Morgan, this would be a humorous and good thing, and it may just happen. One hopes that imaginative minds will prevail against the FCC watchdogs of your public morals, in the way that Judge Clayton W. Horn prevailed, who officiated at the 1957 "Howl" obscenity trial. He wrote in his opinion, "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemism?"
The answer, of course, is no.
Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets)

Click Here to see more reviews about: Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression



Buy NowGet 25% OFF

Click here for more information about Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression

Read More...

Usability Engineering Review

Usability Engineering
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
As a Web site designer, I've long been an advocate of JakobNielsen's ideas -- to an extent. Usability is arguably the mostimportant aspect of any design project, and an aspect too often ignored by many software and Web site designers.
Mr. Nielsen, in his book, very aptly points out typical errors and common stumbling blocks of interface design, and presents very convincing arguments and methods for solving these problems. However, strict adherence to Mr. Nielsen's interface design techniques, at the expense of less easily measured human factors, will often result in a sterile and boring product. Both are eminently efficient and usable, but are also wonderful examples of visual blandness -- nearly devoid of the human and aesthetic factors that contributes to a depth of personality and a richness of sensory stimulation.
Although Mr. Nielsen never specifically advocates this, the logical conclusion of his approach is an interface design whose personality and soul have been stripped away in a slavish preference for pure, unencumbered efficiency and usability. Contrary to Mr. Nielsen's examples, the quest for usability should not abrogate the need to avoid ugliness.
For the sake of efficient usability, I wonder if Mr. Nielsen has replaced his impractical, hard-to-maintain backyard lawn with efficient asphalt paving. Or maybe pulled out his expensive, hard-to-clean, dirt collecting, living room carpet and replaced it with an efficient concrete floor. I'm joking of course, but even if Mr. Nielson thinks this way, most do not. Yet, this is the result achieved by many of his user interface examples.
Perhaps on the planet Vulcan where everyone thinks like Mr. Spock, Mr. Nielsen's conclusions and methods might be the eminently rational final word on good interface design. But on Earth the value of his conclusions and usability tests must be weighed against the somewhat hard-to-measure and difficult-to-quantify factors of illogical human personality and perception.
Although Mr. Nielsen's observations, conclusions and suggestions continue to be very valuable in helping to pull interface design towards much needed greater usability and functionality, his mistake seems to be that this is all he sees as being important.
Cory Maylett

Click Here to see more reviews about: Usability Engineering



Buy NowGet 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Usability Engineering

Read More...

Delivery Boy Review

Delivery Boy
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Roland Bianchi has written a charming and warm story about the fabulous days in San Francisco, which made it the special place that it is today. His recollections of the Italians in North Beach are terrific, interesting and accurate. The stories of his wives are touching and truly beautiful. Recommend for anyone who wants some excellent insights on San Francisco, and life.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Delivery Boy

Roland Bianchi recalls growing up in San Francisco during the 1930s and 1940s. This memoir sheds light on theItalian-American community and the values Americans had during the Depression and the World War II years. The author also remembers theKorean War and his long career with the Bank of America. Mostly, though, this is the story of two wonderful marriages: the first ended whenhis wife died of breast cancer; the second is still going strong.

Buy Now

Click here for more information about Delivery Boy

Read More...

Great Escapes: Northern California (Great Escapes) Review

Great Escapes: Northern California (Great Escapes)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I always thought you should have a really heavy guidebook when traveling, even close to home. But I don't think that any more after reading this one. This book is a great deal, an excellent guide for both locals and visitors to the Bay Area. From Big Sur to Mendocino to Lake Tahoe, it gathers a wide range of both well-known and more obscure Northern California destinations in a concise, informative, and personable volume. Its less than 200 pages are packed with dozens of ideas for one- to three-day getaways with ample specifics to keep you busy.
The book pulls it off through a combination of tight, interesting writing and limited but thoughtful and discerning listings for things like food and lodging. Other examples of this approach: This isn't the guide for a full-bore winery tour, but it will get you to some smaller off-the-beaten-track vintners. And while Great Escapes includes San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, it skips the typical tourist attractions, instead opting to describe some neighborhoods and spots that locals will recognize approvingly.
Use this book on its own for some outstanding and even unexpected experiences, or as a starting point for your Northern California travels. As someone who has lived in San Francisco for several years, the book makes me realize how many places I didn't even know I wanted to visit.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Great Escapes: Northern California (Great Escapes)



Buy NowGet 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Great Escapes: Northern California (Great Escapes)

Read More...