Book Description
Like Freakonomics, here is a book that combines counterintuitive thinking with stories from everyday life to provide a striking new view of how our world works. Ever since Einstein's study of Brownian Motion, scientists have understood that a little disorder actually makes systems more effective. But most people still shun disorder--or suffer guilt over the mess they can't avoid. No longer! With a spectacular array of anecdotes and case studies of the useful role mess can play, here is an antidote to the accepted wisdom that tight schedules, neatness, and consistency are the keys to success. Drawing on examples from business, parenting, cooking, the war on terrorism, retail, and even the meteoric career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, coauthors Abrahamson and Freedman demonstrate that moderately messy systems use resources more efficiently, yield better solutions, and are harder to break than neat ones. A Perfect Mess will help readers assess what the right amount of disorder is for a given system, and how to apply these ideas onto a large scale--government, society-- and on a small scale--in your attic, kitchen, or office. A Perfect Mess will forever change the way we think about those unruly heaps of paper on our desks.
Customer Reviews:
Disorder at its best........2007-10-09
I love this book it has shown me that it is ok to be disorganized, to a point. I bought it with a passing interest and the more I read the more I was able to line up the themes in the chapters with aspects of my life, which was rewarding and sometime eye-opening. The concepts in this book could prove to be useful to all types of people, but I mostly found myself examining the many examples as they related to my own business.
Great book!
TOTAL UNADULTERATED GARBAGE.......2007-09-14
I've reviewed a lot of books on Amazon; this may be the single worst. As a former "clutterholic", I know how clutter can literally destroy your life. Believe me, there is NOTHING good about clutter, and being a contrarian for its own sake, or to hawk books, is doing a disservice to the readers who are sincerly looking for help. You don't tell a person with a serious eating disorder that he/she is alright the way he/she is, and you don't tell a person with a serious clutter problem that he/she is alright the way he/she is!
So you don't have to be a neatnik after all!.......2007-06-09
The inside flap of the book says, "Ever Since Einstein's study of Brownian motion" scientistshave understooed that a little disorder can actually make systems more effective. But most people still shun disorder-- or suffer guilt over the mess they an't avoid! No longer do you have to be a neatnik to be PERFECT...a little mess goes a long way to creativity. The biggest surprise is that the authors show that strategic planning for corporation is not as effective as being nimble and responding to change. There are 13 chapters -- note not 12 -- just a bit messy, right? And they range from "The Cost of Neatness" to "The Aesthetics of Mess" . Written by Eric Abrahamson, professor of management at Columbia Business School and David Freedman, contributing editor and the tech columnist for INC magazine this is a highly readable and informative book. BUT don't think it's going to let you off the hook for being a clutter bug. Cluttering is just one aspect of "mess" and 'neatness'. Alas no rules for managers abougt how much mess and what kind of mess to include. Seems every manager that uses some degree of mess seems to do it differently. So I can't summarize it all for you hear. Plus I don't know why you're reading this. Me -- because I tend to collect clutter in my office. And then I put it in boxes and have to sort it out. EEKS...but I almost NEVER lose anything....same when I had a real office in a corporate environment. Even though I'm in high tech, I tend to use low-tech systems that don't take up much time in my busy and ever-changing world of consulting. Plus, I don't have to pay extra for people who work for me to just keep things NEAT....although now and then I do bring in people to help sort out supply closets etc and then I'm able to keep them in order for 6 months or so. You'll find your own rhyme and reason in this book. Plus it finally gives you a retort when people say you're office is 'messy' -- so was Einstein's and Edison's and more.
Don't buy this book if you count your paperclips.......2007-06-02
Despite the title, this book doesn't advocate disorder, at least not in the dictionary sense of the word.
For example, a neat-freak's desk, and one used by someone like me were compared.
The neat-freak has an "orderly" desk, with all paper filed out of sight. To get at any paper, the neatnik must take time to access the filing system: generally a matter of walking to a filing cabinet, opening a drawer, and riffling through folders.
The other desk is covered with piles of papers and folders. More often than not, the 'disorganized' worker has the paper he or she needs at or near the top of a pile within arm's length.
The point is that having the sort of rigid, non-priority-oriented, organization that many workplaces use isn't as efficient as a sort of ad hoc organization based on use and needs.
Even if you don't embrace the book's approach to organization, reading it will be an anodyne to the alphabetized drumbeat of advice from the compulsive pencil-arrangers of this world.
a explanation for the disarray.......2007-05-27
The authors put ryme and reason to the sense of disarray. At first, I was skeptical of this book but as i read it and they presented examaples and their arguments, I found myself sold on what they were discussing. There is order to the world of self contained chaos.
Average customer rating:
- fantastic
- Taryn Simon Is Artistically All Over The Map, But This Book Confirms Her Status As One Of Our Most Important Photographers
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Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar
Manufacturer: Steidl
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ASIN: 3865213804
Release Date: 2007-06-01 |
Book Description
In An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, Taryn Simon documents spaces that are integral to America's foundation, mythology and daily functioning, but remain inaccessible or unknown to a public audience. She has photographed rarely seen sites from domains including: science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature security and religion. This index examines subjects that, while provocative or controversial, are currently legal. The work responds to a desire to discover unknown territories, to see everything. Simon makes use of the annotated-photograph's capacity to engage and inform the public. Transforming that which is off-limits or under-the-radar into a visible and intelligible form, she confronts the divide between the privileged access of the few and the limited access of the public. Photographed with a large format view camera (except when prohibited), Simon's 70 color plates form a seductive collection that reflects and reveals a national identity. In addition to this monograph, there is also an exhibition of Simon's work opening at the Whitney Museum of American Art in March 2007.
Customer Reviews:
fantastic.......2007-07-30
It's really amazing all the work and effort that was put into creating these images. I saw her show at The Whitney like the other reviewer, and i really enjoyed her work so i bought the book on amazon (I'm not trying to plug amazon, but it was a lot cheaper here than other places i looked) The photographs absolutely stand on their own, but the captions are extremely important to the images. The book is simple, as are the images, but it is definately unique and unfamiliar.
Taryn Simon Is Artistically All Over The Map, But This Book Confirms Her Status As One Of Our Most Important Photographers.......2007-05-05
Having seen the small exhibition at the Whitney Museum devoted to this body of work (It's currently on view there until early June.), I strongly believe that this book confirms what many people - myself included - have thought of fellow Brunonian Taryn Simon's work ever since she made her spectacular debut with "The Innocents" a few years ago. "An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar" demonstrates that she has become one of our most important documentary photographers, stretching her artistic terrain to encompass much more than the fine environmental portraiture that she demonstrated so well in "The Innocents". Stylistically, Simon is indeed all over the map, but she still has made memorable color images which pay homage to work from the likes of Lewis Baltz, Richard Mishrach, Walker Evans and Richard Avedon to name but a few (I might add too that like most of these photographers, Simon works primarily with a large format camera, using availiable light only to photograph her subjects.). If there is a serious artistic criticism to be made of her latest body of work, then it's probably one related to her sequencing of images (It's a point that I've remembered vividly well from an intermediate photography course I had taken years before, which was taught by distinguished photographer Harold Jones, the founding director of both New York City's Light Gallery and the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography.) - though this may be more the fault of her editors than of Ms. Simon herself. If you're unfamiliar with Simon's memorable imagery, then "An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar" is a superb place to begin your artistic journey.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Study, Worthwhile Reading.......2007-09-21
I had read Barzini's well known works on the Europeans and thoroughly enjoyed this book on the English.
The approach is academic yet palatable, laden with insightful observations and well deserves consideration as a work of anthropological interest. The author maintains an objective distance and professional methodology which impart a delicious irony; we are conditioned to primitive cultures as the provenance of these studies, she turns the focus upon what some may argue as the bastion of civilization.
As a guidebook to a cultural understanding of the English this work is invaluable. The expose on class is penetrating and amuses as there are unexpected twists; such as decorating your home or garden with a modicum of lower class objects, the inside joke apparent only to the cognoscienti.
Hilarious and revealing observation of the English by a social anthropologist.......2007-06-28
Kate Fox, a social anthropologist and Co-Director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, who has lived in England, America, Ireland and France, takes a revealing look at the quirks and habits of the English people. Being very English herself, she holds a mirror up to the English national character and reveals the most famous traits as well as the most bizarre reflex reactions. She attempts to discover the curious, hidden rules of behaviour that all English people seem to follow, but few are aware even exist. In a separate section consisting of 14 pages she focuses on defining Englishness and attempts to define Englishness in contrast to being British.
Writing with gentle humour and astute perception she portrays the foibles in the English and in herself as well. Kate Fox is immensely perceptive about all kinds of English cultural values, behaviours and oddities. Watching the English falls into two main parts: part one - Conversation codes; part two - Behaviour codes. The first part covers everything from the obsession with the weather through English humour to how people use mobile phones. The second part deals with how the English behave inside their own homes or when visiting other people's homes, life in the workplace, food, drink, eating-habits, sex... and many more topics.
Though the smallish print might irritate some, it's an easy read with good flow and the reader will get much material to provoke lively discussion with anyone interested in the English.
Anthropologist Kate Fox, has forced herself to engage in many humiliating field tests-- like bumping into people on purpose and seeing how many people say `sorry'-- in order to test the common theories about English behaviour. Watching the English is the result of her research. Fox's book displays most of the traits that she points out as representing the English: being sensitive to the tiny signifiers of class status (e.g. the `M&S test', which identifies your class by your shopping choices at that particular department store), it purposely avoids taking itself too seriously and is continuously self-deprecating (of course, this is the `popular anthropology', not the real scientific one). Admitting to being neither, Watching the English is positioned between satire and science.
Warmly recommended for anyone from another culture, who tries to survive living in Britain, or live among the English abroad. People working in international teams with English members or bosses would have many aha-insights through this book.
useful in understdg ppl's behaviour.......2007-06-18
Written by an English anthropologist about her own nation's behaviour. There're some interesting explanation on why British ppl are so uneasy socializing, talking about money and may sometimes talking in the opp way (hypocrisy). While many of the explanations suggested by the author are convincing, I found those behaviour not unique to the British, they can be observed in our Chi society as well! So it's useful in understdg ppl's behaviour.
Prodigious - and prodigiously funny.......2007-06-03
As an American social scientist who has an English partner and has visited the UK multiple times, I found this book engrossing for many reasons. Kate Fox does the miraculous: she makes fascinating reading out of chapters on tea, queue-jumping, arrangements of knick-knacks, incessant talking about the weather, and myriad other English characteristics that so charm, frustrate, and baffle we non-English of the world. Moreover, her writing is hilarious - she has a droll, tongue-in-cheek, utterly English sense of humor that had me laughing through every chapter.
The book is incredibly useful, too. I read it after my English partner recommended it to me, saying he had never read anything that captured the English so well. The insights in the book clarified several things to me and greatly reduced the quantity of cultural faux pas on my part. It also gave my partner a great deal of insight into his own personality as well as his interactions with Americans. Plus, it led to many, many fascinating discussions between us about (among other things) the markers of class and attitudes about it, the nature (and point) of politeness, and how it is that societies can make us who we are.
The only shortcoming of the book is that I still don't understand Vegemite, but I think that may just be beyond comprehension.
Best book on the English ever.......2007-03-23
I have read a few books on the British lately filled with sweeping generalizations--many of their ideas are false or outdated or narrowed to one section of society. This is not one of them. It is written by an anthropologist who has taken great trouble and pains to find out the reasons behind the behavior of Brits. I would definitely recommend this book, but remember there are exceptions to the norm such as Richard Branson, Jamie Oliver, Michael Caine, any of the Beatles, J.K. Rowling. These are just some of the Great Brits who are creative, optimistic and entrepreneurial.
Book Description
Hidden Track shows how contemporary visual culture is breaking out of the second dimension and printed form and entering into three-dimensional space, where it can be experienced. The book demonstrates how rooms are being occupied creatively and how items are being transformed. It presents the diverse exhibition possibilities that currently exist - a spectrum ranging from live painting to installations and 3D objects.
At the same time the book illustrates how urban and street art have recently moved even further out of the subculture and are now being featured more often in galleries and museums worldwide. It analyses how these public art forms are being perceived in an international art context and investigates the fundamentally different forms of presentation that this new context demands.
Through abundant images and incisive text Hidden Track also introduces the artists and exhibition spaces that are taking current visual culture out of the underground to the level of high culture.
Customer Reviews:
perfect.......2007-01-10
O livro é ótimo!
Tem referencias ótimas. Do mundo do grafite, stickers e afins!
illustrated survey of the influence and diversity of visual culture .......2005-11-10
HIDDEN TRACK - How Visual Culture Is Going Places, edited by Robert Klanten and Sven Ehmann. Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany; [...]. 2005. 208 pp. xxpricexx 9-3/4" x 11", ISBN 3-89955-084-6. color photographs.
"Hidden Track" demonstrates that "quite often works of extraordinary artistic quality come into existence in the context of design, advertising, and entertainment" by featuring over four pages on average works of 49 contemporary artists and art businesses in these areas. Office reception areas, street corners, lobbies, showrooms and store windows, walls, signs, and in a few cases art galleries are among the many and varied places where the works are seen. Besides briefly showcasing the work of the many contemporary, mostly commercial, artists, the anthology is meant to make the point of how much such art is already a part of public spaces playing a role in generating their ambiance and working toward both social and business purposes. The implication of the title is that this "track" of art has not been given sufficient attention or appreciation. The title can also be taken ironically in that this ubiquitous art making for the visual culture of contemporary life is so taken for granted that it is "hidden," and its influence on noncommercial artists and the public's preferences in art has been only barely explored. With the wide range of imaginative art styles hardly different and in many cases indistinguishable from works exhibited in many galleries and museums, one cannot disagree with the book's central point that the line between art work in design, advertising, and entertainment and art by pure artists outside of these areas has become porous and all-but-eroded. While this is not a new point, "Hidden Track" decisively, informatively, and visually attests to it.
Average customer rating:
- many indications that this is largely a 20th Century work
- Ian Myles Slater on: A Remarkable Book, as Memoir or Fiction
- Excellent.
- Boring!
- Brilliant. ...One way or another.
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The City Of Light: The Hidden Journal of the Man Who Entered China Four Years Before Marco Polo
Jacob D'Ancona
Manufacturer: Citadel
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ASIN: 1559725230 |
Book Description
In 1270 a scholarly Jewish merchant called Jacob d'Ancona set out on a voyage from Italy. A year later, he arrived in China at the coastal metropolis of Zaitun, the "City of Light" (now known as Quanzhou), four years before Marco Polo arrived at Xanadu in 1275. Nothing was known of this epochal journey until 1990, when David Selbourne was shown d'Ancona's account of his travels, a remarkable manuscript that had been hidden from public view for more than seven centuries. Eventually translated and edited by Selbourne and published in Great Britain in October 1997 as The City of Light, the account was praised as providing an unparalleled insight into life in the medieval world.
Controversy followed. Selbourne had pledged to the manuscript's owner that he would not reveal its whereabouts, and that raised doubts about its authenticity. As a result of U.S. sinologists' criticism of plans for American publication, the first edition was canceled.
Now, a year later, Birch Lane Press happily publishes the controversial work. Criticisms of the textual evidence of d'Ancona's account have been answered by Selbourne. Most notably, other academics--particularly and significantly, in China--have come to the support of d'Ancona's account. The work is to be published in a Chinese translation.
Vivid and insightful, this account has great historical significance. It not only describes the adventures of a medieval trader, but also comments on Chinese society and manners through the eyes of a European man of learning. The City of Light brings spectacularly to life d'Ancona's encounter with one of the world's great civilizations.
Customer Reviews:
many indications that this is largely a 20th Century work.......2004-05-27
This volume starts out as a plausable enough chronicle of a Jewish merchant from Italy who travels to China and so on, but very quickly it becomes apparent that this is just the setting for a series of philosophical debates that the merchant partakes in with other groups in the "City of Light".
It is written like no other narrative from the past I have seen and is quite long as well. Although I am no expert on that time and place, and there are none who truly are, what really makes it suspect is the fact that most of the work fails to give details of how people lived and what things were like at that time and place and instead concentrates on the dialogues that he is invited to and partakes in. And all of the matters that they discuss are those that would preoccupy the mind of a person in the late 20th Century. Which either means that people in the 13th Century had identical problems to those we have today, or that this was written by someone in the late 20th Century. He even forsees the Holocaust at one point.
There is nothing that would secure it as authentic and many indications that this is largely a 20th Century work, enough to make it well accepted as a forgery until proven otherwise (which I never expect to happen). As for what it contains and the value of its philosophical debates, it offers nothing in the way of secure arguments, unless you already accept the Jewish religious teachings as a source of unchallenged wisdom. It also was rather long without adding much. It might have been better to publish this as a modern philosophical novel, which would have permitted it to be a better novel, without attempting to mislead scholars, that can cause trouble for years. Although I realize that from a publishing standpoint, it gets more attention to claim authenticity.
Also, he (Selbourne) clips off the return journey, which might have been one of the only authentic parts in the book. I paid full price for this book when it was first published and I consider it was not worth it.
Ian Myles Slater on: A Remarkable Book, as Memoir or Fiction.......2003-10-17
I am glad to see that the (delayed) American edition of this book is now in paperback. It differs from the UK edition (which I have also reviewed) mainly by including "Remarks on The City of Light " by Wang Lianmao, in which modern Chinese scholarship is used to reply to some of the criticism directed against it by Westerners. Specialists in the history of the region find some puzzles, and probable errors made by a foreigner, but nothing to suggest a modern fraud. They seem willing to accept it as an authentic account of southern China by a foreigner, describing events shortly before the arrival of Marco Polo in the following of the Mongol (Yuan) conqueror. (Probably wisely, they do not seem to have offered an opinion on how authentic the foreigner -- an Italian Jew -- looks to them.)
Curiously, Frances Wood, whose "Did Marco Polo Go to China?" argues that the Venetian merchant stayed in western Asia, and got all his information from others, who left no record of their adventures, seems to have joined in denouncing Jacob of Ancona as a fabrication, even though this must have seemed like manna from heaven for her theory. (By the way, it seems clear to me that, despite various major and minor interpolations and deletions in the manuscript tradition, Marco Polo did travel in East Asia -- so maybe I'm gullible.)
I would add, from my own cursory research, that I have some problems with the supposedly convincing argument that the use of the term "mellah" for "Jewish Quarter" in Muslim lands is anachronistic. This argument depends on accepting one version of the etymology and history of the word. It is, however, less than completely certain; Roger Le Tourneau, in "Fez in the Age of the Marinides" (English translation 1961), reviewed the complicated evidence, and suggested that the consensus, including how long the word was in use and when and where it was adopted, might be wrong.
From a Jewish perspective, I can accept Jacob of Ancona as a plausible figure (and perhaps more typical than Selbourne, to judge from his notes, realizes). The combination of length and literary quality in a memoir seems unusual for the period, but the translator reports omitting some sections at the end, and felicitous translation can add charm without being unfaithful. Some medieval writings *are* inordinately long -- and long-winded.
Jaob's report of debates with Chinese officials leaves me wondering if both his contacts and his discussions were really on such a high level (especially with both sides using some sort of "trade speech" and translators), but self-congratulatory memoirs are not a modern invention.
On the basis of Chinese reactions, I am prepared to accept the work as authentic, although not completely reliable as a record of fact (is anything?). If it is a fraud -- and only an examination of the manuscript seems likely to prove it -- its creator would surely have been better rewarded by emulating Eco's "Name of the Rose," and publishing it as historical fiction of a high order.
Excellent........2002-04-11
OK, nobody else has seen the original, so there's no way of verifying if this is a true translation or a hoax. If it is a hoax, it's a danmed good one, written so well, with lots of research to back it up, that I for one don't care.
This is just brilliant, true or hoax, it gives a deep insight into the Jewish support network and all the opposition & prejudice that Jews had to deal with.
It knocks Marco Polo's account into a cocked hat; incisive philosophy, intimate desriptions of mediaeval life and trade are enough to grant this a place on anyone's bookshelf, true or not.
Boring!.......2001-08-03
In a word: BORING! This book would have been twice as good were it half as long. Selbourne has cut the end and would have done well to cut the middle as well. Jacob's incessant protestations of piety are tedious. He hypocritically condemns everyone around him for greed and self-interest but his own actions, though ostensibly high-minded, are also dictated almost solely by financial motives. For this reason his criticism of others rings hollow. His world view is remarkably narrow and parochial for someone so widely traveled. While he makes extensive observations of the conduct of others, there is no effort to appreciate their viewpoints. I am also skeptical of the provenance of this book. The social debates described have a very contemporary tenor and are relevant to our own times. If this were in fact an authenticated manuscript, this resonance would be remarkable. However, the provenance of the book is in dispute and much space is devoted to supporting its authenticity. The resolution of this issue must await examination of the original manuscript but in the meantime I am skeptical because the discussions seem too modern.
Brilliant. ...One way or another........2001-07-14
This is simply one of the best books I have ever read. And it is definitely, hands down, with a doubt, the single funniest book I have ever read... though it isn't actually intended to be. Until the actual Ancona manuscript itself is made available for scrutiny, we will never know for sure if this text is authentic or a stunningly brilliant, almost cruelly sharp-witted satirical hoax. If it is the latter, it is still extremely impressive, informative and entertaining. Nearly every sentence is punctuated by the author Jacob's constant use of "May God be praised" or "May God spare me", or, for those individuals and groups he really despises: "May God strike them down" or "May God shorten their lives". I just could not stop laughing! - nor could I put the book down. Mr. Selbourne, wherever you are, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, sir. One way or another you have given us an amazing piece of work. May God magnify and bless you, and may He extend your life! Amen, Amen, Amen!
Average customer rating:
- Much Better Than the TV Movie!
- Better than the movie
- Aunt Batty and Eliza's Guardian Angel . . .
- Excellent
- You can't hide forever
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Hidden Places: A Novel
Lynn Austin
Manufacturer: Bethany House
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ASIN: 0764221973
Release Date: 2001-07-01 |
Book Description
A deep yearning for home had led Eliza to Wyatt Orchards ten years ago. Now widowed with three young children, she faces mounting debts and the realization it is all up to her. But she has no idea how to run an orchard alone. When a stranger appears at her doorstep, Eliza guesses he is no different than the other out-of-luck characters searching for work during the Depression. But the familiarity with which Gabe tends to the farm raises unanswered questions. With a vulnerable heart, she is unwittingly drawn to his gentle ways. But Eliza also fears that Gabe hides a past and motives that could jeopardize all she has fought to attain for herself and her children....
Customer Reviews:
Much Better Than the TV Movie!.......2007-06-27
The title first caught my attention as a TV Movie, that seemed like a nice, romantic story, along with plenty of struggles for characters of its historical time, and included Christian inspiration. In my search for the book - which I knew had to be better than the movie - I was happy to find out that Lynn Austin is an author of so many historical, Christian novels. I am close to the end of Hidden Places, and don't want to put it down. I can't decide who my favorite character is: Aunt Batty, Walter, Gabe, or Eliza. This book is full of struggles and hope. It shows how the characters keep their Faith in those difficulties of life.
I recently bought another one of Lynn Austin's titles. I love her style of historical, Christian fiction. I am hooked on Lynn Austin! Keep on writing! We're waiting for more!
Better than the movie.......2007-01-10
This book was made into a Hallmark movie. The movie does not do this book justice. The book is much better and tells you things that are left out of the movie. The book is more in depth on the character relationships than the movie and gives you character background information. Excellent Read!
Aunt Batty and Eliza's Guardian Angel . . . .......2006-04-10
. . . and things not being what they seem. Lynn Austin weaves the consequences of bitterness, deceit into a satisfying tale of redemption and fresh starts. Lots of heart, some humor and a whole lot of trying to figure out why people do what they do.
Excellent.......2006-01-25
This is an excellent book. I could not put it down! I loved the characters. I am new to Christian fiction and am finding it just as good as other fiction out there and a more wholesome read.
You can't hide forever.......2005-08-08
I loved this book. In fact I have read it three times, and when I get it back (I lent it out) I will read it again. The main woman in this story was hiding/ running from God, her dad, but most of all herself. Eventually it all caught up with her when she found out that she could not make it without the ones who love her. Mixed in with it all is a beautiful love story that any girl/ woman would cry over (and I did several times). I loved this book, and one day when I have little girls, I know that they will love it to.
Book Description
Despite its innumerable tourist attractions, New York City still has many secrets, hidden in the most unlikely places. There is the Edison Hotel in Times Square, where magicians gather 'round the Magic Table to socialize and compete. There is Hua Mei Garden in the Lower East Side, where elderly Chinese men meet to display exotic birds. And there is Sahadi's in Brooklyn, where the culinary arts thrive, and New Yorkers go for just the right ingredients for a Middle Eastern meal. This book details thirty-two unusual locations such as these and enhances them by including a cluster of additional, related spots. Hidden New York shows you why these places matter and guides you through the historical and cultural significance of each one.
Many of them matter because of the opportunities they provide for socializing, such as the Empire Roller Disco in Brooklyn that attracts a community of skaters and the Cube sculpture on Astor Place, which is a meeting spot for homeless youth. Others matter because they are focal points for communities and the spaces are intertwined with how people share in each others' lives. Still others have been lost, like the house under the roller coaster in Coney Island, made famous by Woody Allen in Annie Hall.
This book is not just about Manhattan, but covers all five boroughs in New York City. It is an invitation to visit, revisit, learn, and enjoy all that you didn't know the city has to offer. It will show you what's there, what used to be there, and why it will be there for years to come. The chapters, illustrated with appealing black-and-white photos, include first-person remembrances and commentaries from New Yorkers themselves. Each entry functions as a small travel essay, evoking how certain destinations are experienced. As a guide to the New York City that is less traveled, this unique book shows that some of the best places to visit are ones that you never even thought existed.
Customer Reviews:
Great for vacation.......2007-08-05
This is a great book that shows how to get to the places I would like to visit on my vacation. It shows the subway stops and why the places are interesting. Great book
The Cube, the Mosaic trail, the Hua Mei Garden: What a great New York!.......2007-05-17
Every week, it seems, someone writes from the country beyond the Hudson River to announce a visit to New York.
"What shall I do?" you ask. "What should I see?"
It's a funny request: Because I live uptown, in a lovely, quiet neighborhood that you probably wouldn't want to visit and I never want to leave, I rarely go to what you may think of as "New York."
Still, I muster a list. Soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai. Cafe con leche and flan at La Taza de Oro. Avoid everything in Little Italy. Ditto Times Square. Ditto just about any play/musical on Broadway. Seek out downtown music clubs. Stroll the newly hip Lower East Side. Have a brisket or pastrami sandwich, washed down by Dr. Brown's Cream Soda, at Katz's Deli. Don't overlook the Frick Museum. Like that.
My list has a bias. I can do without anything big, corporate or hyped --- as a general rule, if you've heard of it, I probably don't like it. My preference is for the small, authentic, ethnic. The New York that was. The New York that's threatened daily by the incessant march of gentrification.
Someday --- maybe someday soon --- the New York I cherish will be gone. Manhattan will become Manhattanland, a destination for foreign tourists who are drawn by American media and, even more, the puny American dollar. The residents will be hedge fund titans and media moguls and the upper echelons of those who serve them. The new, the interesting, the ethnic --- you'll find them in the Outer Boroughs and in New Jersey.
But let's not look too far into the crystal ball. There's good news. Marci Reaven and Steve Zeitlin --- who direct a fine site called City Lore --- have pulled together a thick (360 page) paperback of the city's overlooked gems. And more: Their team of writers dug in and did actual reporting, so we not only get directions to some hidden pockets of interest, we get the back story.
They get all the low-hanging fruit: the arches of Grand Central Station just outside the Oyster Bar where a whisper can richochet to a distant pillar, the "Imagine" memorial to John Lennon in Central Park, the pickup basketball game at 6th Avenue and West 3rd Street, Arthur Avenue.
But they also lead you to places I've never heard about, and I've lived here since...oh....I vaguely recall Abe Lincoln's speech at Cooper Union. Like the Hua Mei Bird Garden, in Chinatown, where Chinese men spend their mornings tending rare singing birds. To the casual bystander, it's just guys standing around. Read the history of this garden and the Hua Mei birds before you head downtown, and you'll go home with an experience a lot more interesting to hear about than the latest revival of a grizzled musical.
Many of the selections involve field trips to the Outer Boroughs. And I know, it's not likely that you'll want to hike out to Queens to be served by Pete Benefaremo, "the lemon ice king of Corona." But there are more than enough hidden treasures to keep you hopping around Manhattan. And won't you feel special when you tell your pals, "Meet me at the Cube."
What cube? Why, the one right near the lamppost that Jim Power is decorating with tile. You don't know about "the mosaic trail"? Gee, where you been --- Times Square?
A Unique NYC Guide Book.......2006-11-20
There are many, many NYC guide books but this one is unique in celebrating the places that matter to ordinary New Yorkers. I am sure there are hidden treasures and heroes that sadly have gone uncelebrated in every community. The book is well written, organized and graphically appealing. The research is compiled from information gathered from oral histories with real New Yorkers whose hidden achievements would otherwise go unrecognized.
Book Description
Secret London is an essential companion for anyone committed to discovering the true heart of one of the world's greatest capital cities. In more than 20 miles of original walks, distinguished historian Andrew Duncan uncovers London's best-kept secrets. From ancient waterways and the vast network of tunnels that weave their way beneath the city's streets to easily missed courtyards and gardens-each walk is full of surprises.
Andrew Duncan's fascinating text delves beyond the obvious to reveal both London's little-known gems and the remarkable histories of its most famous landmarks. Readers will be delighted to discover the existence of long-buried rivers, the remains of Roman structures, the web of top-secret offices, wartime shelters, and prison cells beneath the asphalt. Here, too, are intriguing tales of the rancorous battles over the statue of Eros, the mystery surrounding the Coade stone lion, and the grisly secret in one of Westminster Abbey's broom cupboards.
Full-color photographs capture the treasures tucked behind every corner, while clear, easy-to-follow route maps highlight places of special interest. Secret London is without doubt the definitive guidebook to the private side of this very public city. "...offer[s] exceptionally clear maps, public transportation links..., places of interest along the way with interesting historical information and enough fascinating facts to keep the armchair traveller happy too. Highly recommended!" -The Travel Society "Historian and London tour guide Duncan walks tourists through hidden landscapes along spurs and rivers, the subterranean city, private land, Westminster, Whitehall, St. James, The City, and other less known parts of the capital. He includes color photographs, maps and visitor information." -Book News "Secret London uncovers inconspicuous gems and sheds light on the capital's hidden attractions" -The Guardian
"Andrew Duncan has a feel for the city and a knack of finding (and linking) major sights and forgotten corners which few can match" -Journal of the London Society
Customer Reviews:
A handy travel guide for the visitor who wants to see it all.......2004-06-13
One of the outstanding "Interlink Walking Guides" series, Secret London: Exploring The Hiddin City: Exploring The Hidden City, With Original Walks And Unusual Places To Visit is a travel guide especially for the walking tourist determined to explore the greatest sights of London, including obscure treasures such as rivers long buried, ancient buildings, and sites where anyone can enjoy free lectures. Full-color photographs, extensive descriptions, street maps clearly illustrating the route of the walk, contact and opening time information, and much more fill this handy travel guide for the visitor who wants to see it all.
guidebook to london's secrets.......2000-12-02
I love this book! It has detailed instructions to find (and history of) little known spots in London that are marvelous. There are several color pictures and hand-drawn maps to help guide you on your walk.
Some of the fascinating bits of London that you can track down with this book are the rooftop gardens in Kensington, the underground tube stations that are no longer used and the rivers that have been tamed and paved over but still peek out here and there.
Even long-time residents will find new insight into their favorite city. Every time I go to London I search out one thing from this book and I'm always glad I did. For tourists, if you bring this book and an A-Z, and a copy of the latest Fodor's or Eyewitness, you won't want for anything else.
Book Description
Despite being enmeshed in a culture steeped in technology and science, the magic and mysteries of the ancient world can still haunt our imagination. Through their architecture, artefacts and deeds, ancient cultures speak to us across thousands of dusty years—from the labyrinthine palace of Knossos on Crete and the lofty pyramids of Egypt to the remotest jungle temples of Peru and the megalithic mystery of Stonehenge.
Hidden History brings together a fascinating selection of these ancient enigmas, arranging them into three sections: Mysterious Places, Unexplained Artefacts, and Enigmatic People. You'll discover fascinating facts about: • The Great Sphinx—Mysticism and archaeology collide in the ongoing debate over this enigmatic monument. • Mystery Hill—Who built the intriguing megalithic complex lying 40 miles north of Boston? • The Antikythera Mechanism—An ancient Greek computer found beneath the Aegean Sea. • The Giant Hill-Figures of England—The Uffington White Horse and other huge chalk figures cut into the English countryside thousands of years ago. • The Queen of Sheba—Clues to the real identity of this mighty ruler famous for her Biblical visit to King Solomon • Newgrange—Hundreds of years older than the Giza Pyramid and Stonehenge. Who were the builders of this Irish megalithic monument?
Hidden History fills the gap between archaeology and alternative history using the latest available data and a common sense, open-minded approach. The book discusses not only ancient history's major mysteries, but also some of the puzzles of alternative history—like the "Coso Artefact," the possibility of ancient flight, and the mysterious "Voynich Manuscript"—as well as mysterious peoples from the Magi and the Druids to the Knights Templar and the Green Children.
With more than 50 photographs and illustrations, this is the ideal reference work for those interested in the archaeology of these great enigmas.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Look at Ancient Mysteries.......2007-09-14
Unlike similar books, this looks at each mystery or historical object or location even handly. No UFOs and government conspiracies. An excellent collection that all students of ancient history should have.
A scattering of black-and-white photographs illustrate this fantastic volume.......2007-04-07
Written by archaeologist and devote of the esoteric Brian Haughton, Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries is an amazing survey of mystic places, people, events and structures throughout history. From clues to the true identity of the Queen of Sheba, to ongoing debates concerning the Great Sphinx, to the Irish Newgrange megalith hundreds of years older than the Giza Pyramid and Stonehenge, to evidence for the origins of the Greek myth concerning the Minotaur, each chapter sheds new light on ancient quandaries of human history. A scattering of black-and-white photographs illustrate this fantastic volume; though highly speculative at times, Hidden History is sure to be a treat for anyone with a taste for ancient fables, wonders, and conundrums.
Absolute Fun, .......2007-03-14
As a skeptic, I enjoy picking up "conspiracy" type books, such as Cremo's "Forbidden Archaeology" and mentally debunking them. Despite the title of this book, this work is a skeptic's treasure trove!
The work is divided into Places, Artifacts, and People, and covers a wide range of topics, such as: Petra, Chihcen Itza, Easter Island, Helike, the Library of Alexandria, the Piri Reis Map, the Shroud of Turin, the Crystal Skulls, Robin Hood, Bog bodies, the Phaistos disc and so on.
Each chapter is about 5-6 pages long, perfect for a quick break. It doesn't denigrate the folks who would love to believe in more fanciful origins. It just calmly debunks them.
The only critique I might have is that there are no references, although he does refer to researchers, and so one could find the source material fairly readily - the book is geared toward a general audience, after all.
If you like this sort of thing, you can't pass on this work.
Average customer rating:
- A River Journey
- The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey
- The Hidden Canyon : A River Journey
- AWE INSPIRING!!
- Breathtaking
|
The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey
John Blaustein , and
Edward Abbey
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
-
Canyon
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The Grand: The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon a Photo Journey
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Downcanyon: A Naturalist Explores the Colorado River Through Grand Canyon
-
A Field Guide to the Grand Canyon 2nd Edition
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The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (Penguin Classics)
ASIN: 0811822613 |
Book Description
The Grand Canyon continues to be the most popular of our national parks. While millions gaze at its cliffs each year, only 15,000 float through the canyon on the Colorado River. A landmark portrait of the Grand Canyon, this is the only photography book to document this amazing journey from river level. Now this classic is back in print, with an updated preface and introduction and a dozen new photographs. A journal in photos and words, The Hidden Canyon captures the desert landscape and the thrill of the rapids. Edward Abbey’s journal—filled with wry humor and respect for the canyon—describes the journey as the dories (small wooden boats) alternately float and charge through the breathtaking landscapes and some of the roughest white water in North America.
Visit the author's site at: www.johnblaustein.com.
Customer Reviews:
A River Journey.......2007-01-05
I've been down part of the Colorado from Diamond Creek to Lake Mead but have never had the means or opportunity to see the rest at water's edge. Ed Abbey's text and John Blaustein's photos take me on a vicarious trip that brings back all the excitement of white water and the awsome experience of gazing up and up at the canyon's walls that many only view from the rim. It's a different canyon down there and a river journey allows me to see it all and remember the feel of ancient schist and the plaintive song of the canyon wren. It's a book to read and look at again and again even if you can never visit or revisit the river itself.
The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey.......2006-11-05
As a person how recently did a two week raft trip down the Grand Canyon, I can say that this book visually caputures the essence of the experience! The pictures are wonderful. I have recommended it to my rafting friends as well as some Grand Canyon river guides.
The Hidden Canyon : A River Journey.......2006-02-27
Having done the Colorado in a private raft, The Hidden Canyon absolutely thrilled me - again - as much with its elegant pictures as with Edward Abbey's flat-out-fun narration.
AWE INSPIRING!!.......1999-07-28
Having rafted the Colorado myself 2 years ago, this was a perfect souvenir-reminder of my trip. The photos in particular are exquisite - some I have no idea how he managed to capture without ending up in the river himself. I lost my Pentax to the very first rapid! This book definitely gives a sense of what the Canyon, the river, and the rapids are like. Makes me want to go back!
Breathtaking.......1999-07-13
I have traveled through the Grand Canyon many times, both on the river and on the trails. John Blaustein has not only been able to capture the beauty of the canyon but also the soul of the river it contains. Abbey's journal is a fine compliment to the pulchritude of the pictures.
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