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The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 4)
Laurell K. Hamilton
Manufacturer: Jove
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Hamilton, Laurell K.
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ASIN: 051513452X |
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The zombie-raising business gets slow in December, so Anita Blake is starting to see some oddball cases. She's got a neatly typed list of eight missing lycanthropes given to her by Marcus, the leader of the local werewolf pack, who wants her to find them. The trouble is, Anita's occasionally furry boyfriend Richard is locked in a power struggle with Marcus. Jean-Claude, master vampire of the city and Anita's other love interest, is getting jealous as well. To top it off, Anita has to solve some horrific murders and keep her bounty-hunting friend Edward from killing Richard and Jean-Claude. Hamilton alternates between funny and fearsome in this larky series about a monster hunter with a few dark secrets.
Book Description
In Laurell K. Hamilton's New York Times bestselling novels, Vampire Hunter and zombie animator Anita Blake is an expert at sniffing out the bad from the good. But she's about to learn that nothing is ever as it seems-especially in matters of the not-so-human heart...
Dating a werewolf with self-esteem issues is stressing Anita out. Especially when something-or someone-starts taking out the city's shapeshifters.
Download Description
Anita Blake has fallen for the leader of a local pack of werewolves. She's survived a lot, but this love affair may kill her yet.
Customer Reviews:
Good Read.......2007-09-06
So I needed a Vamp fix after Black Dagger Brotherhood (best series I have read so far action, drama, passion, romance ...the works). So I decided to check out Anita Blake, it was not what I expected there has been no romance, or steamy scenes of any kind so far Im on book 3....but I AM NOT disappointed the action and drama is fast paced. I love a cycnical kick @$$ chick. I bought the first 11 and intend to read them all. It's a great series, very gory, gritty, and abit scary I LUV it;)Hard to stop reading once you start! I just wish she would get with Jean-Claude already... besides Richard is too good for her:)
Super Reader.......2007-08-26
Anita begins to get over herself, then finds out the sweet teacher guy she wants to shag is really into the turn furry and howl at the moon thing.
The were side of Richard draws her into the lycanthrope society more and more as time goes on and she discovers what really happens there.
Prono snuff films are not what you would really expect to come up with when you think werewolf, but there you go.
Some investigating and bad guy stopping to be done.
Richard and Anita, Sitting in a Tree..........2007-04-03
After reading "The Lunatic Cafe", the fourth novel in the Anita Blake series, it is safe to say that I'm hooked. The first three novels were excellent, and this one was good. However, there were a couple of downers.
NEGATIVES...
- DESCRIPTION: Hamilton's description of places is often awkward in this book. In a scene where Anita approaches a house, Hamilton describes the house and THEN the road leading up to it. It would make more sense visually to describe the road first, and lead up to the house. And I know it's difficult to decide how much description to weave in, but in one scene early on in the book, there is just two pages of straight description, totally interrupting the flow of the story.
- THE MYSTERY: In books 1-3, Hamilton dishes out just enough clues for the reader to actively participate with Anita as she solves the mystery of the book. However, in this volume, there are so many characters and so many things going on that it becomes hard to follow everything that Anita is taking in, thus separating the readers from the mystery.
- RICHARD AND ANITA: Their relationship moved a bit too quickly (emotionally) in the beginning of the book to be believable.
POSITIVES...
+ Hamilton is a great character writer. At this point in the series, she's got Anita, Richard, Jean-Claude, Dolph, Zerbrowski, and Edward down perfectly. Her baddies are characterized well here too.
+ The climax of the book was done perfectly. I was totally enveloped.
+ RICHARD AND ANITA- Halfway through the book, Hamilton took this relationship in directions I hadn't foreseen; good save.
So, all in all, "The Lunatic Cafe" had its moments, but wasn't as stunning as the first three Anita Blake novels. But I--with no reservations--recommend this book.
8/10
prudish.......2007-03-13
After the disappointment of the third episode it was with some apprehension that I approached the fourth.
Plot construction still seems to be the major weakness of Ms Hamilton's novels -it may be that she is simply not interested in it- but here at least we have sort of a story that begins at the beginning and kind of ends at the end, leaving nonetheless some open threads probably to be developped in following episodes. The mistery element is not that important, the privilege belonging to the characters' interaction which could be fine but is not.
Anita and her co-stars were perfectly rounded in the first episode and do not seem to experience any further maturation in the course of the four novels: take Anita's relationship with Jean Claude: we know right from the start that she is attracted to him and at the same time repelled by his being undead. Ms Hamilton continues to set confrontations among the two, fairly charged with sexual tension, but nothing new really happens, they are motionless and unchanging. This can be true in real life, I have known people who keep on emotionally butchering one another always returning to square one but, unless we are faced with a one volume masterpiece, this is hardly an interesting situation prolonged during four different novels. I even felt slightly irritated by Anita and Jean Claude rather childish behaviour and more so by the author's lack of creativity.
The only device Ms Hamilton is capable of is introducing new characters, but this may make the scene more colourful but hardly more interesting. Not to mention that, after slaying a million year old vampire one would expect Anita to get rid of a silly 200 y.o. Gretchen with a well shot silver bullet.
This leads me to discuss another problem: there is no real sense of growing powers in Anita's character. Had she been able to kill the first villain out of sheer luck there could be a sense of growing self assurance facing ever stronger foes. There is not. She is perforce alternating moments when she is a real butch to others when she is nearly helpless. This is not believable.
What else? Oh yeah, in this volume we have a more pronounced sexual charge, but stop the yippees: hear hear Anita is not only a believer, therefore loathe of doing casual sex, but she was also hurt when younger therefore afraid of being hurt again. Once again this could be a nice endearing touch but the author wastes it with a rather shabby handling of the issue.
All above notwithstanding the fourth episode can still be fun for most readers -it was for me- but set aside any hope of having much more than that: simple, rather cheap fun.
Series is starting to slow down........2007-02-28
Laurell K. Hamilton, The Lunatic Cafe (Jove, 1996)
I've been hearing for many years about how Hamilton's Anita Blake series starts off with a bang and then slides kicking and screaming down a very steep slope. I'm now up to book four, and I'm starting to see the evidence. While there's a mystery to be found here, a tale of eight missing lycanthropes Anita has to find, the real story is Anita, the untouchable Jean-Claude (and a vampire who wants to rival Anita for his affections, refusing to believe Anita doesn't want him), and Richard, who's obviously supposed to be the good guy but all too often comes off less as a principled hero than a whining prat. I'm all for romance novels, and even mystery novels with a heavy dose of romance (how else would I have managed to make it through the last twenty years of Dean Koontz?), but the mystery's starting to take a back seat. This is not an inherently bad feature; Jean-Claude and Anita, at least, are interesting and well-done characters, and some of the minor recurring folks are lots of fun (I want a book that focuses on Zerbrowski!), but the werewolves, on the whole, seem a rather boring, two-dimensional lot. I found myself caring not a whit about the power struggle between Richard and current pack leader Marcus, who might as well have been a clone of Alejandro from Circus of the Damned with a different supernatural bent.
I'll keep on with the series. At least this one-- hopefully-- prepared me for what's coming. ***
Customer Reviews:
Fun!.......2007-09-09
I bought this series for my boyfriend and have found myself paging through it. Hamilton's novels are quite fun and full of action, which keeps the reader energized. However, those expecting these works to mirror Anne Rice will not be satisfied, as these novels lack the level of detail present in Anne Rice novels. They do of course concern themselves with vampires, so those fond of Anne Rice will have fun with these. Definitely worth the read!
Bubble Gum.......2007-08-18
Bubble gum is not good for your teeth, but I chew it anyhow. I know it will satisfy a craving consistently. Like bubble gum, I cannot stop chewing up these books. It is primarily the sexual tension on the pages and the fact that I am a Buffy fan and need my vampire fix. The plots are formulaic, and Ms. Hamilton does need a better editor. "Alright," though used, is not really acceptable in formal text. In the third volume, Anita's car gets totaled, and then suddenly, she has a car again to follow someone to the million-year-old vampire's digs. I also cannot stand some of the author's phrases, such as "heap big vampire slayer." Quite possibly I cringe because no young woman would talk like this. As well, I have a hard time buying some of Anita's outfits. I was in my twenties in the late 90's, and I never would have worn the ensembles Anita wears. Thank God that Blake is taking some hints from the Master of the City. Granted the protagonist has bigger things on her mind; however, she dresses like the would-be love child of Richard Simmons and Minnie Pearl. There are some other typos and logical inconsistencies scattered throughout other books. All the things I just mentioned are "nitpicky," but some of them do stop me in my tracks as I am flying through the pages. I do not want to encounter sand when I am chewing my gum.
Amazing books.......2007-06-27
Perfect! I finished this box set in less than a week. The books have excellent plots, detailed characters, and witty humor that have me laughing out loud. I made the mistake of getting one of the later books first and was so glad I started at the beginning. These books are fun and frisky. Definitely a recommended read for those who like action, romance, and refreshing characters.
Got me Started.......2007-03-17
This 4-book set was the first I had read of the Anita Blake series. I have since ordered another 5 books from that series and will order the rest after I read those. These are really well written and move right along with interesting characters and plots.
Anita Blake foursome...........2007-03-15
Anyone who loves Laurell K Hamilton will love this foursome. These are the first books in the Anita Blake series and well worth your time for a great price.
Book Description
I feel deep gratitude for the compassionate contribution that my friend and colleague, Michael Ramseur, has made to the memory of those thousands of souls who dwelled there in search of reclaimed sanity, and to the memory of their loving families and exhausted caretakers. Like no others before him, he has truly understood the whole enterprise, for better or worse, that was the lunatic asylum in Danvers. He has deftly recreated for us in this richly illustrated tome, a tribute to the all-too- human limits of that project in time.
Customer Reviews:
Danvers State YHospital Review.......2007-07-07
The author both illustrated and wrote this paperback book. It is an excellent historical rendition of a Kirkbride mental asylum in Massachusetts. As a lifelong Massachusetts resident, I had heard stories about Danvers State and some of the things that happened there. The author describes a young girl who was admitted more than 50 years ago for "smiling too much"; these stories will break your heart. In the early 1900s, the patients farmed the land around Danvers State as therapy. The list of harvested vegetables in the book is fascinating to read. I would recommend this book if you are interested in the historical aspect of mental illness treatment, not that it's much improved today.
A History Captures in Pictures.......2006-08-15
Most people outside of Massachusetts think of ghosts and demons when they hear the name of Danvers State Hospital. The old brick building, now being torn down, is one of the paranormal hot spots of the state and the holy grail of investigations. In thinking about Danvers, too often the great tragedies that took place are thought of just as the cause of the disturbances felt today. The pain left by the people there, and the great stories of recovery, are lost among EVP's and EMF readings.
But the heart and soul of Danvers has been preserved by Michael Ramseur in his book, the Eye of Danvers. Told through historical records and first hand accounts, it chronicles the rise and fall of a place once considered the crowning jewel of the mental health system and now stands as a representative of all that went wrong with it. The hospital was more than stone and mental and glass. Danvers was built on people, some who suffered greatly there. Ramseur is able to convey the power of the emotion felt by those who called the institution home.
The ultimate power of the book lies in the breathtaking artwork of Ramseur. As an artist looking at the buildings and the people behind the walls for decades, he brings a unique view of the landscape and the inner emotion of the place. If the book had no words, his paintings would still connect the people, trapped in time, and the emotions they dealt with.
As they slowly replace Danvers State Hospital with condos and playgrounds, what happened there will be lost. The people touched, in a positive and a negative way, will slowly die off and their stories lost. All we will have left are written accounts, and The Eye of Danvers will be the complete record, told through words and pictures, of a history many want to forget.
A Time Capsul of Ghostly Images.......2006-08-14
The Eye of Danvers: A History of Danvers State Hospital
by Michael Ramseur, is a chilling look at a recent past history that some would rather forget. This book brings to the forefront images that should not be forgotten, but learned from and studied.
Mr. Ramseur, has taken ghost like images as if from a tortured mind and captured them in a way to give a glimpse of another world that some of our earthly inhabitants must and do surely edure.
His paintings do more than give an interpretation of horrors and mind numbing insights of humans that some say are strange. They give a look at a way of life and thinking that is unique to many of the souls that have been cast aside by the more "normal" of our civilization.
Let it be said that this book is a capsule that is as timeless as the institution that was and is, Danvers State Hospital.
A WRITER/ ARTIST/ SOCIAL WORKER'S VIEW OF A MENTAL HOSPITAL .......2006-08-12
WHEN MICHAEL RAMSEUR FIRST SAW THE 700,000 SQUARE FOOT BULK OF THE DANVERS STATE HOSPITAL HE WONDERED HOW IT WAS BUILT AND WHAT WENT ON BEHIND ITS FORBIDDING WALLS. WHEN HE CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK, HE WAS WEARING THREE HATS: HE WAS A WRITER, AN ARTIST AND A SOCIAL WORKER, AND IT IS THE COMBINATION OF THESE THREE AREAS OF EXPERTISE THAT MAKES THE BOOK SO PIERCINGLY MEANINGFUL AND POWERFUL: THE WRITER'S EYE FOR INTRIGUING, LIVELY ANECDOTES AND DETAIL, THE ARTIST'S ABILITY TO SHOW DANVERS INSIDE AND OUT WITH BOTH INSIGHT AND COMPASSION, AND THE SOCIAL WORKER'S PROFESSIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF MENTAL ILLNESS. IT IS AN IMPRESSIVE AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING HISTORY OF DANVERS AS IT CHANGED OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME FROM AN ASYLUM FOR "CRAZY PEOPLE" TO A HOSPITAL FOR PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS.
Haunting Images.......2006-08-12
Danvers State Hospital is an historic landmark to both the good and bad of institutionalized medicine. Sadly, these images and other old photographs will soon be all that remains. The book pays homage to the large brooding structure on the hillside. The author/artist captures the dark imagery of the facility both inside and out. The interviews and comments of former health care workers provide a snapshot into the world beyond the Gothic spires. The image of the single unmarked grave with its faded etched number "115" is a sad tribute to the many lost and forgotten souls. The 85 pages just scratch the surface and leave you wanting more.
Book Description
A Wall Street Journal writer spends a season in a fantasy baseball league to explore the inner workings and contagious passions of one of the country's most popular pursuits
Every spring, millions of Americans prepare to take part in one of the oddest, most obsessive and engrossing rituals in the sports pantheon: rotisserie baseball, a fantasy game where armchair fans match wits by building their own teams. Starting with a player “draft” before the Major League season, contenders spend six months scouring the box scores to see if their handpicked players can outperform the opposition. It's a pastime that threatens to overtake traditional baseball in the passions it generates.
In 2004, Sam Walker, a sports columnist for The Wall Street Journal, decided to explore this phenomenon by talking his way into Tout Wars, a private league generally reserved for the nation's top experts. Using his baseball contacts and access to locker rooms, Walker spent a year trying to dredge up information that might give him a competitive edge over his eccentric cast of competitors. But in his quest for victory he also endeavored to settle the great question that divides modern baseball thinkers: Can excellence be predicted by statistics alone or is the human element more important?
Together with his crack research team, Sig (a statistician) and Nando (a baseball savant), Walker finds himself possessed by the game and determined to win at any expense, spending weeks on the road interacting with his real Major League players and trying to “manage” them. We follow his descent into sleeplessness, panic, triumph (temporarily), treachery, and even consultations with an astrologer as he keeps his ever-blearier eyes on his elusive goal. The result is one of the most entertaining sports books in years and a matchless look into the heart and soul of our national pastime.
Customer Reviews:
Riveting.......2007-09-19
Held my attention from page one to the end. Well written, fascinating and inspiring. I loved it.
My only complaint is that the book drags a tad in the middle. It's probably a little long and I sensed the author was padding a bit, which was completely unnecessary. But it was a fun summer read.
My other favorite summer read, although barely related, was Cat's Cradle. Cat's Cradle
Must read for fantasy sports fans.......2007-09-06
What a great ride to go on... side by side with Sam Walker in pursuit of the elusive, but validating, title of fantasy champion. As a fantasy sports enthusiast it was easy to identify with all the particpants, charatcers, methodologies and most importantly experiences. The ups and downs, the good nights and bad, are all accurately on display and this is an excellent representation of what it is to play fantasy baseball. I only wish their had been a sequel! Hats off to a touch of history, a smattering of shared experience, and a ton of inside jokes and laughs...
Humor and History.......2007-08-12
I picked up this book because it was in the $6.99 bargain bin and it related to one of my interests, fantasy sports. It was worth far more than th5 $6.99 I spent. Sam Walker provided an everyman angle to the story and recounted his experiences turning into a fantasy sports junkie, something many of us can relate to. Every fantasy sports concept is explaining without confusing jargon and he provides a mildly interesting history of rotisserie baseball. All in all a great book at a great price.
The REAL Stuff.......2007-06-26
Whant some "Dirt" on some of the biggest names in the game? This is the book for you. Funny and thought provoking. The writer takes the time to go into a world that he only slightly familiar with and the results are just amazing as to where Fantacy: sports have gone. Get it, read it!!
The Tout Wars.......2007-04-10
This hilarious romp into the world of fantasy league baseball will keep fans laughing. It's pure entertainment for all new roto junkies!
Book Description
Robyn Dawes defines irrationality as adhering to beliefs that are inherently self-contradictory, not just incorrect, self-defeating, or the basis of poor decisions. Such beliefs are unfortunately common. Witness two examples: the belief that child sexual abuse can be diagnosed by observing symptoms typically resulting from such abuse, rather than symptoms that differentiate between abused and non-abused children; and the belief that a physical or personal disaster can be understood by studying it alone in-depth rather than by comparing the situation in which it occurred to similar situations where nothing bad happened. This book first demonstrates how such irrationality results from ignoring obvious comparisons. Such neglect is traced to associational and story-based thinking, while true rational judgment requires comparative thinking. Strong emotion--or even insanity--is one reason for making automatic associations without comparison, but as the author demonstrates, a lot of everyday judgment, unsupported professional claims, and even social policy is based on the same kind of irrationality.
Customer Reviews:
Get off it already.......2007-03-19
This book is about decision science. It's written by one of the most famous judgment and decision making psycholgists of all time. I do acknowledge that the title may be a tad misleading. THIS IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT HOW STUPID EVERYONE IS AND THE MISTAKES THEY MAKE IN REASONING. Rather, this book is an introduction for the lay person to decision science, a branch of experimental psychology as well as one of the only subsets of psychology that actually constitutes science. For practicing researchers, Dawes' writing will also be informative. He writes about a plethora of topics, such as the self-esteem sham, our inability to recognize the absence of something as information, our insistence that our judgments are accurate and valid when often they aren't (such as employers' insistence that interviewing the hiree is in any way informative, when really interviews DECREASE the accuracy of hiring decisions), why clinical psychology is not a science, etc. Dawes is an extraordinary writer, and I sincerely hope this will not be his last book!
Good in places but..........2004-08-12
This book covers in some detail some hows and whys of irrational thinking in adults with some excellent examples.
Dawes definition of irrationality is more broad than I suspect most people would consider. Dawes regards as irrational what most people would regard as simply sloppy thinking. In a couple of places I was unconvinced that there was irrationality per se just dodgy inferences. For example in the preface Dawes mentions a commentator who assumes because a person was a supporter of a "peace organisation" in the late 1950s that person was a communist. Perhaps a dodgy inductive inference but hardly profoundly irrational even by the author's own criteria of self-contradiction.
However this is a minor quibble. My major grief with this book is the convolutions the author occasionally seems to get himself into where simple words and concepts could be invoked to aid the reader. A book that is all about making inferences but doesn't mention "control" or "induction" is a very strange book indeed.
A Journalistic Account of Solid Psychological Research.......2004-08-06
Robyn Dawes is a distinguished psychological researcher whose personal contributions to understanding human behavior have been prescient and pathbreaking. This is very lively, informal, and humorous commentary on our society based on rigorous psychological research undertaken by Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky,Richard Thaler, and their coworkers over the past few decades. I know other readers found this book tedious, but I'm not sure why. Perhaps because it has some math in it? At any rate, I treated the book like pleasant light reading.
Dawes claims to hold a very tight definition of rationality, but in fact, he uses the term to describe a host of different behaviors, including holding unfounded beliefs, having weird personal moral values, or just ignoring the evidence. I use a
very narrow definition of rationality in my work (preference consistency is the substance of it), and I generally disapprove of throwing the term "rationality" around ad libidem---academics invoke rationality to justify their prejudices in the same manner clergy invoke God to justify theirs. But Dawes is sloppy in such a disarming way in his usage that it is hard to fault him.
Dawes actually relies on only a couple of well document psychological phenomena (he could have dealt with several more). One is a framing effect, in which if a choice is framed in terms of losses, people choose one way, and if in terms of gains, a very different way. It is actually closely related to loss aversion, which Dawes does not discuss.
A second phenomenon is ignoring base rates. For instance, suppose you learn that a test for HIV is 90% accurate, and you ask people what is the probability they have HIV is they test positive. Most say 90%. However, suppose only one person out of
100 is HIV positive. Take a group of 1000 people. Ten will be HIV positive (on average...) and nine will test positive. But 990 will be HIV negative and 99 of these will test positive. Thus, if you test positive, your chances of being HIV positive are only 9/(99+9)=8.33%.
This is an important phenomenon, but "irrational" is a bit strong here, as elsewhere in the book. We expect experts to know how to do conditional probabilities, but it is no more "irrational" to get this wrong than to fail to solve third order partial differential equations.
I very much liked Dawes' treatment of Sexual Abuse Hysteria. In this chapter, he really does show the aberrant reasoning of the judges and attornies associated with the incredible miscarriages of justice associated with this dark period in American history.
More an informal journal article than a book.......2001-11-12
Potential readers of this book should first of all be careful not to confuse it with the usual debunking books that tell amusing stories about how foolish we are to believe what we believe. This is a different kind of book altogether. There is only a trace of "debunking" here, regarding a few of the authors' pet peeves, such as the overemphasis on self-esteem by many psychologists, the sexual abuse/memory recovery controversies, and the usefulness of clinical experience vs. statistical predictive models. However, those are certainly not discussed sufficiently to get the book for that purpose.
This is also not a book on critical thinking, or one listing all the various ways thinking can go wrong. There are much better books on those subjects as well.
This is specifically a book describing a certain type of yet poorly understood cognitive mechanisms that the Dawes feels is at the root of much of our irrational thinking. He considers the theories that assume out emotion leads us astray, and decides that even within cold thinking processes devoid of strong emotion, there are tendencies toward irrationality. He makes the point for example that most support of Nazi fascism was not motivated by rage so much as cold cognitive processes: a suppression of sympathetic emotion more than the expression of hatred.
Dawes defines irrationality is a very specific way, as self-contradictory thinking processes and conclusions. He then points out that there are a number of easily demonstrated biases in human thinking, even when there is no strong emotions involved.
Dawes does not believe that we understand this very well yet, but his central culprit is our failure to make sufficient comparisons in our thinking. He is quick to point out that this is not usually because there are too many choices to consider; that even when we only have two options, we often fail to consider the second one. Dawes does not really offer much of a unifying explanation for cognitive irrationality biases, though he alludes to some of the theories very briefly.
What he does do is to point out that human thinking is fundamentally irrational by default in some ways, and he believes it can be corrected if we understand and pay attention to the comparisons we make in our thinking.
This book has technically solid explanations, good examples, and useful scientific content. On the other hand, I found it a pretty dull book to read, it felt a little more like it should have been an informal version of a journal article on decision theory and heuristics than a book.
I didn't give it a '1' because it could have been worse.......2001-09-20
Everyday Irrationality by Robyn Dawes was not at all what I thought it would be. I chose to purchase this book because I thought it would be an exposé (possibly entertaining) of the ridiculous, illogical behavior exhibited by everyone. That is a topic upon which I frequently harp. Unfortunately, Everyday Irrationality is a tedious book of another color.
Contrary to what the full title might suggest, this book is less about HOW pseudo-scientists, lunatics, and the rest of us systematically fail to think rationally and more of an explanation of WHY. Dawes is a psychologist, and nearly all of his examples of irrationality come from that field. While pointing out the poor logic of psychology, as with faith or astrology, is similar to shooting fish in a barrel of self-contradiction, the irony, though delicious, was barely enough to keep my attention.
Dawes defined irrationality as an argument involving self-contradictions. The author, however, frequently found his contradictory evidence for irrationality from outside the argument. If assumptions are amended to an argument, then one is no longer testing the consistency of the same reasoning. Because of this, 'irrationality' is different than 'logic,' and it is unclear to me whether or not Dawes is simply interested in the 'truth' of a statement over its internal consistency.
What were the most interesting were the self-contradictory arguments presented to explain various irrationalities. The obvious example is Chapter 7 where Dawes selects several anecdotes to explain why stories of individual incidents are not useful to describe generalities.
Another example occurs in Chapter 3 where Dawes investigates the public health argument that anyone irresponsible enough to be addicted to heroine would not be interested in using sterile needles to avoid HIV. Dawes claims that this argument is irrational because, as people "...are not paragons of consistently good - or, for that matter, bad - health practices, there is nothing contradictory about engaging in one unhealthy habit while refraining from another." (p. 31) Granted, such contradictory behavior is clearly popular - I myself have tried to reduce the saturated fats in my diet, but I have made no plans to put down my pipe or the occasional cigar. However, commonplace or not, concern over the effects of a variable on a potential undesirable outcome while ignoring other variables that could lead to the same outcome is self-contradictory and, therefore, irrational according to our working definition. Can a self-contradictory statement be used to demonstrate the irrationality of another?
Everyday Irrationality does provide a bright spot or two. There is a brief but successful introduction to hypothesis testing using statistics and limited logical symbolism. Where arithmetic is involved, it may be possible to expect 'truth.' In addition, Dawes does a fine job of suggesting the causes (incomplete specification, etc.) of irrationality that everyone should be aware of in their everyday thinking and thoughting.
Book Description
The best-bred lunatics in England live in Clankwood, and Francis Beveridge is that community's newest resident. Rather than attending the asylum's Saturday dances, though, Beveridge goes on the lam in London. And thus, when a traveling German noble finds himself at the luxurious Hotel Mayonnaise without a guide to England's customs, who better to escort him than the amnesiac Englishman who materializes by his side? Beveridge provides the German with much useful knowledge, like giving a splendid tutor in bringing rail stations to a standstill, revealing the best way to fake a rabies attack, and showing how to crash London's most exclusive clubs — quite literally. A much-loved Victorian comic masterpiece, this is the original anarchic novel that ushered in the age of Wodehouse and Waugh.
Download Description
One of J.Storer Clouston's comic novels.
Average customer rating:
- Funny in places
- Amusing and unusual traveller's tale
- Inspiration for a sad lad...
- Outstanding!!
- Post-modern Siddhartha
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The Bone Man of Benares: A Lunatic Trip Through Love and the World
Terry Tarnoff
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Travel
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Memoirs
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Essays & Travelogues
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0312324472 |
Book Description
In 1971, fed up with the politics and culture of America, Terry Tarnoff packed a bag, a guitar, and sixteen harmonicas and headed out on an eight year journey that would take him into the jungles of Africa, the mountains of India, and beyond. Smoking a chillum around a funeral pyre with lepers, battling fist size cockroaches in Africa or driving through the poppy fields of Thailand with a kamikaze cab driver, each adventure leads Terry further into worlds unlike those he has ever known. And through the people he meets-from a heroine addict to the girl of his dreams-Terry begins to find the true purpose of his travels. The Bone Man of Benares traverses the chasm of time, speaking to readers young and old about the universal need for connection.
Customer Reviews:
Funny in places.......2006-12-08
The Bone Man of Benares is pretty much one man's obsession with a specific woman and drugs in the 1970's. This book should be subtitled taking drugs in exotic places. While he can be extremely funny at times, most of the book reads like an over-obsessed childhood crush on drugs. It isn't until the author gets to Africa that you get any indication of the society around him (other than the drug taking that is). All the way to the end of the book you get endless lessons on Bangi, hash-smoking and acid-taking. While I understand this was a major part of the era it seems to be mentioned a little too often and makes you wonder just exactly how much of the other stuff he describes really happened or if it was all just a bad acid trip.
Amusing and unusual traveller's tale.......2006-07-20
This is an amusing account of Tern Tarnoff's travels around the world in the early 1970s. Interwoven with his travels is the tale of his compicated on-off love affair with Annika, the charming girl he meets in Sweden, and remains enamoured of throughout his subsequent travels. When he isn't indulging in somewhat tiresome stream-of-consciousness ramblings, he describes his adventures in an entertaining way, and the book is often very funny. His time in African is particularly vividly described, and his eventual and startline encounter with the Bone Man of Benares is one of th ehighlights of the book, even though our curiosity as to what the bone man does with his bones remains unsatisfied. Very amusing.
Inspiration for a sad lad..........2005-05-12
I spent a while reading this book and I have to say that I felt so many different emotions that I found it hard to put the book down. True love, the ripped heart, the soulmate, the music, the scares, the feeling of being part of something special... It's a book that you should pick up as soon as possible and hopefully a moment of your life will be filled with a rollercoaster of emotions!!
Outstanding!!.......2004-08-20
This book was an adventure all the way through. Every time that I picked it up, I found myself captured for hours as I devoured this fascinating book. Tarnoff does a magnificent job of transporting the reader with him to experience wondrous adventures in Europe, Africa, and Asia. I loved his picturesque descriptions as well as the poetic style of writing that emerges when he is describing certain experiences. Read this book and be prepared for a journey that will often make you laugh, sometimes make you cry, but in the end will leave you feeling good and triumphant.
Post-modern Siddhartha.......2004-05-29
I loved this book! It's a fantastic, beautifully-written hilarious poetic journey of one man whose search for manhood, spirituality and love takes him to the far corners of the world most of us only wish we could visit. Tarnoff writes with such color and verve that I felt transported to the cobblestone streets of Sweden, to the plains of Africa, to the perfect insanity of India, to the pristine altitudes of Nepal. Un-put-down-able, compelling, vivid, magical, funny, human. What more can I say? Read it!
Average customer rating:
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Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics
Deke Leonard
Manufacturer: Northdown Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Rock
| Musical Genres
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1900711001 |
Average customer rating:
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Lunatic: Poems
Crystal Williams
Manufacturer: Michigan State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
20th Century
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
20th Century
| Poetry
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Single Authors
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Kin: Poems
ASIN: 0870136429 |
Customer Reviews:
Another Triumph!.......2003-06-24
Williams, a beautiful, intellecutal, slam champion, wordsmith offers us another volume of poetry ringing with truth and depth. I know truth is relative, but dang if she doesn't expose so many truths that we try to hide about relationship, loss, love, and longing.
Books:
- The New Essential Guide to Characters (Star Wars)
- The Nymph King (Atlantis, Book 3)
- The Pack: Touch Of The Wolf (Book 5) (Silhouette Nocturne)
- The Poison Master
- The Precipice (The Grand Tour; also Asteroid Wars)
- The Silent Cinema Reader
- The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition
- The Spirit Stone: The Silver Wyrm, Book Two (The Silver Wyrm)
- The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
- The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality
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