The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Average customer rating:

Steve!

Putting humor on the scales

Classic Moore

What's not to love about a Moore Novel?

hmm

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Christopher Moore
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0060735457
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Amazon.com

Reading a Christopher Moore novel is a little like eating a potato chip--it's hard to stop at just one. And you don't have to look beyond the titles to understand the allure; who could pass up a book called Practical Demonkeeping or Island of the Sequined Love Nun? Each of Moore's tales skewers a particular literary genre. In Coyote Blue he nailed New Age fascination with Native American religion; in Blood-Sucking Fiends: A Love Story he put a new twist on the classic vampire tale. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove is a companion piece to his first novel, the hilariously twisted horror story Practical Demonkeeping, and readers of that book will recognize the setting, Pine Cove, California. In addition, Moore includes plenty of his patented weird sex, occasional gross-out death, several off-kilter but nonetheless affecting love stories, and some fabulous secondary characters such as Mavis Sand:

Mavis first began augmenting her parts in the fifties, first out of vanity: breasts, eyelashes, hair. Later, as she aged and the concept of maintenance eluded her, she began having parts replaced as they failed, until almost half of her body weight was composed of stainless steel (hips, elbows, shoulders, finger joints, rods fused to vertebrae five through twelve), silicon wafers (hearing aids, pacemaker, insulin pump), advanced polymer resins (cataract replacement lenses, dentures), Kevlar fabric (abdominal wall reinforcement), titanium (knees, ankles), and pork (ventricular heart valve).

In a nutshell, the plot revolves around a gigantic prehistoric lizard whose slumber deep beneath the ocean surface is interrupted by a radioactive leak from a nearby power plant. At the same time, a woman in Pine Cove hangs herself; the local psychiatrist (who has been prescribing antidepressants to everyone in town with gay abandon) decides the suicide was her fault and yanks everyone's medication; and an elderly black blues singer named Catfish Jefferson arrives to perform at the Head of the Slug saloon. Into this already strange brew mix one schizoid former B-movie starlet, a pot-head town constable, a bereaved local artist, a biologist tracking anomalous behavior in rats, a crooked sheriff, and a pharmacist with a bizarre sexual fixation on sea mammals, and you have a recipe for the kind of madness Moore does so well. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

The town psychiatrist has decided to switch everybody in Pine Cove, California, from their normal antidepressants to placebos, so naturally—well, to be accurate, artificially—business is booming at the local blues bar. Trouble is, those lonely slide-guitar notes have also attracted a colossal sea beast named Steve with, shall we say, a thing for explosive oil tanker trucks. Suddenly, morose Pine Cove turns libidinous and is hit by a mysterious crime wave, and a beleaguered constable has to fight off his own gonzo appetites to find out what's wrong and what, if anything, to do about it.

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The town psychiatrist has decided to switch everybody in Pine Cove, California, from their normal antidepressants to placebos, so naturally -- well, to be accurate, artificially -- business is booming at the local blues bar. Trouble is, those lonely slide-guitar notes have also attracted a colossal sea beast named Steve with, shall we say, a thing for explosive oil tanker trucks. Suddenly, morose Pine Cove turns libidinous and is hit by a mysterious crime wave, and a beleaguered constable has to fight off his own gonzo appetites to find out what's wrong and what, if anything, to do about it.

Customer Reviews:

Steve!.......2007-09-22

Moore's 5th novel takes us back to the town and surrounding area where his career kicked off, Pine Cove. A few of the main characters from Practical Demonkeeping return but the main stars of this one are fresh, eccentric and very enjoyable to read about. A stand alone novel, not a sequel to his first novel, reading this book before that one won't spoil anything!

It's the off season tourist wise in Pine Cove but a leaking pipe from a Californian Power Plant attracts a tourist even bigger than your normal American human one. When a fuel truck gets angry with him he must take refuge in trailer park to recover and wonder why she couldn't just have told him no! Meanwhile a psychiatrist decides to switch all her patients' drugs with placebos resulting in hilarious consequences for the town but great business for the Slug (town bar). The town rent a cop is addicted to pot. A former B grade movie star existing as a crazy woman is getting attached to her new neighbour in more ways than one. Throw in a nerdy guy obsessed with finding out why his microchiped rats fled town and the whole town suddenly getting their libido back and you've got one hilarious tale. You've got to get all of his books!

If you like the surreal eccentric character comedy novels also check out the authors Bill Fitzhugh (Pest Control's a great place to start), Carl Hiassen (Stormy Weather's as good as any other), Dave Barry (Tricky Business) and Max Barry (Syrup).

Putting humor on the scales.......2007-07-28

After Harry Leon Wilson died in 1940, American comic novels stopped being funny about people. They didn't stop being funny.

But if they were writing about real people, the fun ended in tragedy, so that we had the comitragic novels of Peter de Vries. Or they wrote about giant monsters of amorphous instincts and physiology, like Christopher Moore in "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove."

This is, at least, funny. Some recent comic novels are either disgusting or puzzling without being fun.

Moore is a little puzzling. He appears to be making some point about psychotropic medicine, but I can't figure out what. And it is at least a little disgusting that his protagonist eats so many people.

Moore is a stylish writer and every chapter or two he gets off an amusing line. The plot is clever although Moore does have an irritating habit of forgetting what he wrote one or two pages earlier so that characters have to be in two places at once.

Ah, well, I cared enough about the poor monster to finish the book. I can't say as much about very many other recent comic novels.

Classic Moore.......2007-06-06

If you are a fan of Moore's other books, you will recognize some common characters. Set a little earlier than his "The Stupidest Angel", the book never disappoints. Outrageous characters, great story, and unbelievable laughter on each page. No one makes me laugh out loud like Christopher Moore.

What's not to love about a Moore Novel?.......2007-04-02

So far, I've read probably 2/3rds of Moore's offerings and I have to say, each one is thoroughly entertaining. Lust Lizard is no exception! Moore has the uncanny ability to take the most offbeat topics and turn them into great books.

In many ways, I feel the people of Pine Cove (Pine Cove is to Moore as Castle Rock is to Stephen King...a recurring locale where the unusual happens to ordinary people) are much like those kids from South Park where strange and unusal things happen and no one really questions the underlying idea of what's going on....but the characters just deal with the present crisis. No one in Lust Lizard really gets overly excited about the propsect of some ancient sea creature gobbling up Pine Cove denizens, rather the characters just sort of accept the "reality" and deal with it.

Moore has a strange sense of humor (well, strange to some at least) and if you have read any of his other books then you are quite prepared to pick this book up. Ever since reading Lamb, I've been on a non-stop tear to get through all of Moore's books. Its not that he's a modern-day literary genius, or that his works will be critically acclaimed as modern day masterpieces, its because they are pure entertainmnet and hard to put down. Honestly, every time I've ever read a review that says such and such a book is "non-stop hilarious, you'll laugh out loud" I rarely, if ever do. However, in the case of Moore's books, I find myself repeatedly laughing out loud (much to the amusement of those around me) and Lust Lizard was no exception.

In short, I loved this book and you will too!

hmm.......2007-03-23

Well I wouldn't say this book is for kids but it is truly amazing how much detail and whittyness went into this book. This book I could not put down! I finished it in two days! its truly funny and good.

Average customer rating:

Amazing - A Must Read
Compulsive
Beautiful writing in a strong story!
The Lizard Cage

The Lizard Cage: A Novel
Karen Connelly
Manufacturer: Nan A. Talese
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Dream of a Thousand Lives: A Sojourn in Thailand
The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma
Tree of Smoke: A Novel
Out Stealing Horses: A Novel
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa

ASIN: 0385518188
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Book Description

Beautifully written and taking us into an exotic land, Karen Connelly’s debut novel The Lizard Cage is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit.

Teza once electrified the people of Burma with his protest songs against the dictatorship. Arrested by the Burmese secret police in the days of mass protest, he is seven years into a twenty-year sentence in solitary confinement. Cut off from his family and contact with other prisoners, he applies his acute intelligence, Buddhist patience, and humor to find meaning in the interminable days, and searches for news in every being and object that is grudgingly allowed into his cell.

Despite his isolation, Teza has a profound influence on the people around him. His very existence challenges the brutal authority of the jailers, and his steadfast spirit inspires radical change. Even when Teza’s criminal server tries to compromise the singer for his own gain, Teza befriends him and risks falling into the trap of forbidden conversation, food, and the most dangerous contraband of all: paper and pen.

Yet, it is through Teza’s relationship with Little Brother, a twelve-year-old orphan who’s grown up inside the walls, that we ultimately come to understand the importance of hope and human connection in the midst of injustice and violence. Teza and the boy are prisoners of different orders: only one of them dreams of escape and only one of them will achieve it—their extraordinary friendship frees both of them in utterly surprising ways.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing - A Must Read.......2007-09-26

This book is amazing. I think we owe a great debt to Karen Connelly for writing this novel which eloquently exposes the brutality of the military regime in Burma while celebrating the beauty of Burmese culture, food and buddhism. This book is a great contribution and has the potential to entertain through its strong writing and story line while educating readers about the reality of life in Burma. On a grand scale, Connelly has found a way to write beautifully and inspiringly about humanity with all its darkness, flaws, hope and gentleness. Well Done!

Compulsive.......2007-07-18

A common enough technique - a book that begins with its ending and circles back to tell the story. The problem here, and why I picked it up three times before realizing just how good it was, is that we're in Burma living among characters who have between one and three names. It makes those first pages a burden, lifted of course, when you finish the book and turn to them again. The Lizard Cage is a dense novel, lush with the words, extremely well paced (after that first chapter) and for the most part, an absolute pleasure. Burma is a mystery to me. I can't account for the accuracy of the book, but in the end, novels are supposed to convince you of their own worlds, not reflect the real one. In that, Lizard Cage succeeds as you step into a world of prison brutality, rape, torture and tiny moments of transcendence. Occasionally Connelly lets her words get the better of her and brief bumps of purple prose jar an otherwise smooth four hundred odd pages. It's quite a feat in the end, a Canadian woman stepping into the shows of a collection of Burmese men, so hats off and heads bent.

Beautiful writing in a strong story!.......2007-07-13

How can a book be both beautiful and luminescent, and also dark and painful? The pain is because this book is based on stories out of Burmese prisons. Connelly, the author of Touch the Dragon, a Thai Journal, lived for almost two years on the Thai/Burma border among Burmese exiles and dissidents.

Teza, a young singer, is sentenced to prison for 20 years for his work against the repressive regime in Burma. Teza supports dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was placed under house arrest. (Even though she won the election in 1989--this part of the book is based on actual events).

Teza has been in prison for seven years, in solitary confinement. Teza calls his home the Lizard Cage, because of the importance of the little green lizards in his life. Sometimes he catches and eats them to help keep him alive. And sometimes he watches them, because they inspire him. One day he has a new warder, a food server, a young orphaned boy.

The book follows their relationship, and their relationship with the Senior Jailor Chit Niang and other prisoners. They all seem to be a sort of insane dysfunctional family--one trying to survive incredibly brutal and inhumane conditions. Teza and the boy both find a different sort of release, with the boy truly freeing Teza.

There is brutality and pain in the world and there is genocide, torture, families being driven apart, disease, abandoned orphaned children. It is hard to remember all this in our privileged, calm and stable lives. Can we do something? Yes, sometimes we can--and should.

Is this book easy to read? Is it fun? There are light and beautiful moments, moments of transcendent joy. Connelly is also a poet, and her words are strung together almost like a long prose poem, like natural pearls strung on a cord, warm to the touch and reflecting light.

Armchair Interviews says: Hard to read because of the subject but beautifully written.

The Lizard Cage.......2007-03-16

Imagine serving a 20 year sentence for writing protest songs, or eating lizards (raw) to ward off starvation and disease. Imagine that possession of a pen could add another 10 years to your sentence, along with beatings and disgusting tortures. This is Teza's world, as narrated by Karen Connelly, in this honest portrayal of life under the generals in Burma (Myanmar). Connelly doesn't pull any punches. Nor does she offer false hopes and solutions for her characters to assuage the reader's sensibilities. This can make the book, at times, a hard read. However, don't let this put you off. Despite the horrors, one thing shines through - the indefatigable human spirit. Karen Connelly is a poet and this is her first novel. Her poetic talent is evident in the descriptions of the beauty of Burma, its history and its people. Her poet's soul leads me to my one minor criticism - I think it sometimes interrupts the story's momentum. But this small quibble doesn't prevent me from giving the book 5 stars.

I had known a little about Burma and its problems before reading The Lizard Cage, but had not given it much thought, because of, I suppose, lack of media coverage. A sad comment on our media (and me). Anyone who reads this book will surely be unable to extinguish Burma from their thoughts and, hopefully, will add their voice to the campaign against the inhumane regime of the generals.

Mean Markets and Lizard Brains: How to Profit from the New Science of Irrationality

Average customer rating:

How people have built in problems with thinking rationally and how to exploit irrationality in markets
Not a Comprehensive Look at the Topic
Very good read, more intellectual rigor perhaps
Almost 5 stars; and a very enjoyable read.
Insightful and Fun!

Mean Markets and Lizard Brains: How to Profit from the New Science of Irrationality
Terry Burnham
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0471602450

Book Description

Everyone from journalists to market pros are turning to behavioral finance to explain, analyze, and predict market direction. In contrast to old-school assumptions of cool-headed rationality, the new behavioral school embraces hot-blooded human irrationality as a core feature of both individuals and financial markets. The 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to scholars of this new scientific approach to irrationality. In Mean Markets and Lizard Brains, Terry Burnham, an economist who has a proven ability to translate complex topics into everyday language, reveals the biological causes of irrationality. The human brain contains ancient structures that exert powerful and often unconscious influences on behavior. This "lizard brain" may have helped our ancestors eat and reproduce, but it wreaks havoc with our finances. Going far beyond cataloguing our financial foibles, Dr. Burnham applies this novel approach to all of today's most important financial topics: the stock market, the economy, real estate, bonds, mortgages, inflation, and savings. This broad and scholarly investigation provides an in-depth look at why manias, panics, and crashes happen, and why people are built to want to buy at irrationally high prices and sell at irrationally low prices. Most importantly, by incorporating the new science of irrationality, readers can position themselves to profit from financial markets that often seem downright mean. Mean Markets and Lizard Brains skillfully identifies the craziness that is part of human nature, helps us see it in ourselves, and then shows us how to profit from a world that doesn't always make sense.

TERRY BURNHAM is a leader in the application of biology to economics and finance. He was an economics professor at Harvard for many years, beginning at the Kennedy School and, most recently, at the Harvard Business School. His biological research has taken him to Africa to observe wild chimpanzees and to the laboratory to study the role of testosterone in negotiation. He is coauthor of the international bestseller Mean Genes. Before joining the Harvard faculty, he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. and was the president and CFO of the successful start-up biotechnology firm, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, whose work in AIDS and cancer treatment has been widely praised. Dr. Burnham has a PhD in business economics from Harvard University, a master's in finance from MIT, an MS in computer science from San Diego State University, and a BS in biophysics from the University of Michigan. He served with distinction as a tank driver in the U.S. Marine Corps. .

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Customer Reviews:

How people have built in problems with thinking rationally and how to exploit irrationality in markets.......2007-05-01

What a cool book! Terry Burnham wants to help his readers understand that while we fancy ourselves users of reason and rational beings we still have blind spots in our thinking and behavior that can get us into a great deal of trouble when making investment decisions. That is, unless we are explicitly aware of these problems and consciously work to train ourselves to avoid them and be continuously on guard against falling into their pit.

Burnham organizes the book into four parts. The first chapter is the introduction and presents the gist of the book. What is a mean market? The fact that markets can defy the accepted bromides about rational markets and wipe out investors surprisingly quickly and without any hint of mercy. The idea of cosmological indifference comes to mind. The author's vivid image of the "Lizard Brain" refers less to any explicit structure in the brain or any claim to specific evolutionary path to brain development.

Instead, Burnham is referring to the fact that we all have a set of tendencies, hard wired ways of perceiving the world, and bred in behavioral tendencies that worked well in keeping our ancestors alive in the ancient world. However, they are as out of place in our technological world as a lizard might be at the Met. For example, our brains are very good in seeing patterns. The problem is we often see patterns where none exist. On the other hand, we are terrible at perceiving frequencies. However, with training and discipline we can learn to deal with both of these natural tendencies. Without being aware of these potential problems, we too often get ourselves in trouble.

The first part weighs the traditional Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) of rational markets against the oceans of evidence that people do behave irrationally. Here is where I differ slightly with Burnham. My understanding of EMH does not require that each individual act rationally or that any given price at any instant in time be the "right" price. Instead, it indicates that in the aggregate that most irrationality cancels each other out and resources get allocated surprisingly efficiently. As for prices, the notion is not that the price is free from being too high or too low, but that there is a "right" price at all that will be in the area of most of the trading with some of it too high and some too low.

However, the EMH doesn't help the investor account for irrationality or how to avoid its dangers in one's own behavior or capitalize on its existence in others. And this is where the book's strengths are to be found.

The second part takes us through a survey of evidence of irrationality in the American markets and the limits of growth that are so often ignored in pricing equities. The author also takes us through the uses and perceptions of money, barter, inflation, and deflation. All interesting and useful information.

In part three we get Burnham's actual views on how to pull all this together in viewing Bonds, Stocks, and Real Estate for investments at the time of this book (2005). Burnham is an economist and discounts the optimism of many people who tout these products. I think he makes a great deal of sense. However, it is up to you to make your own decisions.

Part four provides two chapters full of principles for us to apply in making our own investment decisions. The first chapter gives "timeless advice". That is, those principles that are applicable in any type of market at any time. The second chapter offers "timely advice". That is, advice that is market condition specific. Burnham gives us principles to apply in rising or declining markets and how to know when to use them.

The issue is whether we have the discipline to apply them or will we surrender to the emotional pull of the lizard brain and find ourselves in trouble.

Burnham makes this subject quite lively, is able to put some nice color to it with some good anecdotes, illustrative stories, and some actually funny jokes.

Recommended.

Not a Comprehensive Look at the Topic.......2007-03-21

I purchased this book with the assumption that it would be a more in-depth treatise on investor psychology/behavioral economics. There was some of this sprinkled throughout the book, but overall it was not comprehensive. This does not, per se, make it a bad read. In fact, it was an easy read despite the annoying movie references throughout the book. But if you are looking for a more thorough look at this topic, your best bet is to look at the offerings of other authors.

Very good read, more intellectual rigor perhaps.......2006-10-04

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Almost 2 years before the fact, it was pretty predictive of what might happen to the housing bubble. Actually I am thinking about making career moves in the direction of Behavioral Finance/Economics so was happy to see a 'popular" book in this area. But this is also the problem, I am looking for more scholarly accounts too!

Almost 5 stars; and a very enjoyable read........2006-05-01

A great read; appeals to the counter-intuitive insights of successful investors and explains a lot of human nature and how destructive it can be from an investment standpoint.
I found his advice at the end however strange and incorrect. He argues against adding to a position when it goes down in price. I have added to positions and this I have found to be very effective. For similar reasons, he argues against dollar cost averaging, which I have also found to be profitable. The reasons both of these strategies can be useful are that they are counter intuitive, so his opposition to these strategies seems out of place with the rest of the book. Also, in both these instances, I find his justification not to be persuasive.
The author is clearly a smart guy who writes well. I would have given the book 5 stars if it were not for those 2 issues. I purchased the book on Amazon.com and would recommend that every investor read this book.

Insightful and Fun!.......2006-04-17

I found my time well spent reading this book. For would be readers - it seemed to me that there really were two parts to this book:

1. An investigation of irrational economic decisions by investors with roots in our evolutionary history.
2. A reasoned (but somewhat superficial) analysis of current macroeconomic situation (US debt, current account deficit, stock valuations).

And there are numerous references to modern studies that help debunk some of the myths of investing and finance. I particularly enjoyed learning about 'survivorship-bias'. And finally, loved the sense of humor! Memorable quotes from popular works of arts kept me laughing and makes this a page-turner from the start.

On the downside, by the time I got to the end, I was more than a little tiresome of the repeated references to 'lizard-brain'. That point is made pretty well early on. And while Terry makes a convincing case that the bull market run in U.S. Real Estate, Bonds and Stocks is short on breath - this does not (IMHO) come close to justifying his 10% stock allocation advice. In this respect - not incorporating international stocks into a recommended financial strategy seems particularly glaring. Like never before, investors today have the ability to invest in overseas markets. By Terry's own theories, Japan (and perhaps emerging markets) would seem to be primed for a long bull market (coming off a long period of low growth and adverse investor sentiment). Keeping savings in declining US dollars while overseas currencies and markets appreciate seems ostrich like (if not lizard brained). Material, perhaps, for a second edition ?

Rhacodactylus: The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care

Average customer rating:

Very Interesting and great knowledge...
The Definitive Work
Best Rhacodactylus Book in print
a must have for any rhacodatylus owner!!
If you have ANY interest in Rhacodactylus, get this book!

Rhacodactylus: The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care
Philippe De Vosjoli , Allen Repashy , and Frank Fast
Manufacturer: Advanced Visions Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Reptiles & Amphibians | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0974297100

Book Description

With 250 color photographs, Rhacodactylus is the most complete photographic and husbandry reference on crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, giant geckos, and other members of the genus. The three authors were pioneers in establishing these popular lizards in U.S. herpetoculture

Customer Reviews:

Very Interesting and great knowledge..........2007-06-29

This book is a description in very specific details of the rhacodactylus family. I find it very important to know where these animals come from, how to maintain them in the most naturalistic way possible, etc. This book is a must need for Rhacodactylus keepers!

5 big thumbs up!

The Definitive Work.......2006-07-05

The nature of human beings is to explore, to examine, and to try to understand everything around us. This book benefits our instinctual search for information about the natural ecosystems around us. It provides us with an insight into the world of some of the rarest and most beautiful creatures in the world and lays bare the world in which they live. Anyone who has an interest in herpetology or is simply hoping to delve into the amazing world of reptile study can gain so much from this book and from Phillipe De Vosjoli's other outstanding and contemplative works.

Best Rhacodactylus Book in print.......2005-08-16

This is by far the best book in print on Rhac's. It covers Crested, Gargoyle, Chahoua, and the Giant Leachianus Geckos among others. It has sections on all aspects of careing for them including breeding. Many helpful photos to demonstrate the various color and structure morphs (especially of the Crested Geckos). The only thing that could be added here (maybe in a second edition) is what combinations of different morphs are likely to produce what morphs. Also some info on on temperature sex determination for incubation temps would be helpful in the future after more research is done in this area. The Authors all have plenty of first hand experience and some of the largest collections of these geckos in the world. All in all, the best book available on Rhac's at this time.

a must have for any rhacodatylus owner!!.......2003-12-13

This book is excellant! The text is thorough, and the illustrations are phenomenal. There is virtually no stone left unturned. Every question concerning the husbandry and natural history of rhacodactylus is explored and explained. The authors attention to detail is unmatched. This book is a must have for any person whom wants to own, or already owns any species of rhacodactylus, novice and expert alike.

If you have ANY interest in Rhacodactylus, get this book!.......2003-12-12

This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone interested in this amazing group of geckos. Rhacodactylus are a small group of geckos that are found only on the island of New Caledonia, that lies roughly between Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. For such a small group, these geckos occur in a diverse array of beautiful and often bizarre forms. One member of this genus, Rhacodactylus leachianus, holds the distinction of being the largest living species of gecko in the world, reaching a total length of up to 17 inches and weighing nearly a pound!

I have been keeping reptiles for 30+ years. I can remember back when the only readily available books on reptile or amphibian care had lots of pretty (or sometimes not so pretty and often mislabeled) pictures, but little useful information on the natural history or husbandry of these animals. Worse yet, what little information was there was frequently just plain wrong! Those of us who were really dedicated to the hobby had to go to university libraries and search out obscure zoo and animal care journals to gain insight on how to keep our animals healthy, happy and reproducing.

That all changed when Philippe de Vosjoli introduced his Advanced Vivarium Systems "Care and Maintenence" series of books that emphasized good, solid husbandry information, based on years of research by the top experts in the field. Many of these he authored or co-authored himself along with some of the other top reptile and amphibian keepers in the world. The goal of these books was to make good, solid information on proper care of reptiles and amphibians readily available, both to long time keepers and people just starting out in the hobby.

This latest work by he and his co-authors, Frank Fast and Allen Repashy, is one of his best and most ambitious works yet. In addition to the main authors, the information in this book has been compiled from many of the other top gecko keepers/breeders in the the U.S. and Europe. The book covers all six species and 2 subspecies of Rhacodactylus, giving descriptions of each, and excellent information on all aspects of their husbandry and breeding. Everything from nutrition, caging, breeding and much more are covered in great detail. In addition, the book contains some of the latest information on the habitat and ecology of these animals, along with numerous beautiful pictures of the different forms and color morphs of the geckos and their habitats.

This book is also an excellent companion volume for anyone lucky enough to own the now out of print Rhacodactylus - Biology, Natural History and Husbandry by Robert Seipp and Friedrich Wilhelm Henkel. The new book updates and greatly expands on much of the information presented in the earlier book.

Customer Reviews:

Twelve Snails to One Lizard.......2000-06-18

This is a delightful book about the problems a beaver has measuring a log to repair the dam on his pond. His friend, Bubba Bullfrog, offers him many non-standard measurements that would be appropriate to use. All prove to be a pain for Milo, in more ways than one!Bubba realizes he has a yardstick at home to prove he's correct. What a great way to help children learn about equivalent measure! I recommend it highly.

The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia

Average customer rating:

High School Years
The Most Scholarly and Erudite Book on Jim Morrison Yet!
An exceptional book that is not just for Doors fans
Exhaustively researched and very illuminating
'The Lizard King Was Here' by Mark Opsasnick

The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia
Mark Opsasnick
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

DOORS, THE
Jim Morrison 'Ceremony'
The Jim Morrison Scrapbook
Backstage and Dangerous: The Private Rehearsal
Live at the Matrix, San Francisco, March 10, 1967

ASIN: 1425713300

Book Description

.THE LIZARD KING WAS HERE is an in-depth study of a greatly overlooked period in the mercurial life of Jim Morrison, the late poet and lyricist-vocalist of the rock and roll band ¿The Doors¿ who died at the age of 27 in 1971. Examining Morrison¿s life from January 1959 to August 1961 - the years he resided in Alexandria, Virginia and attended George Washington High School - author Mark Opsasnick reveals a wealth of experiences that served to influence the singer¿s poetry, lyrics, and work as a performing artist with the Doors. The end result is a fresh look at a formative period in the life of one of rock and roll¿s greatest superstars. Dedicated fans of Jim Morrison will be enthralled with THE LIZARD KING WAS HERE.

Customer Reviews:

High School Years.......2007-06-26

I've read a number of Doors books and whenever they talk about his school yrs I often wondered if anyone would investigate it. This book covers Jim's High School yrs from 1959 to 61 graduation. Some of these stories make sense to a number of antics Jim has later done as a rock star. I remember reading that Jim would just leave The Doors for days & no one would know where he ventured. Jim as a 17 yr old done this as well. Plus talking to his high school friends about faking his death. No one ever remembers Jim even talking about forming a band or shown any interest in rock music. Besides influences of philosopher Nietzsche, French poet Rimbaud, British Poet/artist William Blake I liked the chapter that talks about Jim's books and favorite authors like Kafka, James Joyce, Camus, and the Beat Generation Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg to name a few. They also list some the of titles w/ a brief discription. Very interesting to see where Jim got his influences.

The Most Scholarly and Erudite Book on Jim Morrison Yet!.......2007-03-13

WOW! Mark Opsasnick's new book "The Lizard King Was Here..." is by far the
most scholarly and erudite book on Jim Morrison yet! So much factual
never before released information on Jim's life and times in Alexandria,
Virginia that it boggles the reader's mind. One on one interviews with
dozens of Jim's former high school classmates and exhaustive research has
opened a whole new wonderful vista on Jim Morrison's life before he turned
his attention to the west and LA and his cofounding The Doors in 1965.
If you are a Doors fan or not this book is required reading! Puts to shame
all the other efforts by dubious authors to get to the psyche of The
REAL Jim Morrison. If you read this book you will come away knowing a lot
more about Jim than you ever thought you would. The book is packed full of
details about Jim and his Alexandria milieu that will keep you turning the
pages for more and more. This is a FUN book! Rare photos too! Add it to
your library today! This IS the real deal!! I'm on my 3rd reading!!
-Richard Castleton,VA.

An exceptional book that is not just for Doors fans.......2006-12-03

Many of Jim Morrison's influences have been well documented: the French symbolists, James Joyce, the Beat writers, and the 1960s Los Angeles scene. Still, there are gaps in understanding his terrifying genius and talented rage.

Mark Opsasnick highlights the influences of one of the most misunderstood periods in Morrison's brief life, his high school years in the once-sleepy town of Alexandria, Virginia--right outside of Washington, DC. Opsasnick documents these influences with plenty of cultural history and numerous, skillful interviews with people who knew Morrison, or perhaps knew him as well as anyone did.

Unlike some other accounts of the band, the author's scholarship and attention to historical detail are simply exceptional. He is thorough, though never pedantic. Opsasnick, a talented cultural historian, makes these languid years return, alive again in all of their strangling proventialism. Yet he does this without bowing to cheap nostalgia or contemporary cultural haughtiness. He writes like someone who is intensely interested in his topic, the times, and his town. Maybe this is why this book book is so hard to put down.

Opsanick does not try to solve the mystery of who Jim Morrison "really was". (In fact, he lets the reader ponder a delightful new enigma as an epilogue.) Instead, he describes a key developmental period of a petulant introvert, who would later reinvent himself and shock the world. And in doing so, the author wrote an immensely enjoyable book for anyone with even a casual interest in the Doors, the DC area, or the cultural hollowness of the late 1950s.

Exhaustively researched and very illuminating.......2006-11-21

First, I echo the comments from all the other 5-star reviews; they put it best.

Second, I have lived in Arlington/Alexandria since 1989 (with a short detour in the Army) and I am amazed to find that I have been to some of the same places that Jim inhabited while he was here. I never realized that I used to live just a few blocks from his high school, and used to walk through the same tunnel that was shot in his "PINMAN" movie.

More than just a story about Jim Morrison, the book is a story of DC/Northern Virginia in the 60s, and would give anyone (even a non-Doors fan) an informative cultural history of how our hometown has changed in the last 40 years. How did teens and young adults live before the Metro? What did they do for fun before they had the City Paper and the Internet to tell them what to do?

Some of the places described in the book (Harrigans Restaurant for example) sound like such treasured venues it's a shame that they're gone. I almost wish I never learned they existed, because DC lacks the lustre it once had.

If you are a Doors fan, you should buy this book. If you are a Doors fan from DC, you MUST buy this book.

'The Lizard King Was Here' by Mark Opsasnick.......2006-08-07

'The Lizard King Was Here'is a thorougly documented account of Jim Morrison's years spent at George Washington High School in Alexandria, VA.

THE AUTHOR: I was amazed how author, Mark Opsasnick, was able to locate those who interacted with Morrison and assemble a never-before-published composite of Morrison's high school years. Opsasnick interviewed sixty (60) people who attended GW High when Morrison did.

THE READ: Even though I never was a Doors music fan, I read 'The Lizard King Was Here' because I knew I'd be getting the most researched and fact-checked account of this glanced-over period of Morrison's life.
The author brings to light what Morrison was like during his formative years and fills the void created by all previous books about Morrison
We now learn how Morrison spent his time, where he visited during his bus trips into Washington DC and how he would surprise his school peers by instantly asserting his personality, thus momentarily breaking from his 'in the background, loner' mold.
Another highlight was learning about the clubs downtown (Wash DC) where Morrison actually read his poetry to a live audience.
The author lists 14 other books written on The Doors/Jim Morrison and corrects some basic information woven throughout many of the books, as these books seem to draw on a handful of original sources with mistakes, unfounded claims and exaggerations.

If you have any interest to learn what made Morrison tick, what influences helped shape his adolescent mind, this book is for you. Mr. Opsasnick seems to have it all covered. Some of the influential factors the author investigates are: childhood friends and acquaintences, literature Morrison read for pleasure, the then media, school curricula, films, art and even Virginia's social and political history.

FAVORITE PHOTO: Photo of 'Ronnie and the Offbeats' at Club Log Cabin, where Jim Morrison allegedly would frequent, sit and write poetry. The picture shows a young Danny Gatton on the band (considered by many to be one of the best guitar players...ever).

FAVORITE CHAPTER: Chapter 14. This chapter details a few nightclubs in Alexandria, VA where Jim Morrison would visit and listen to the local bands. No one knows just how directly Morrison was influenced by the mixture of music he exposed himself to).

Thanks Mr. Opsasnick...very entertaining and informative.

Average customer rating:

Lizard Wine is a Disturbing Classic
Her books make me think
Unbearable
Thriller/Mystery - Pretty Gruesome
Unpredictable and Almost Believable

Lizard Wine
Elizabeth Engstrom
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Psychological & Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0385312490
Release Date: 1995-12-01

Amazon.com

Lizard wine is a metaphor for the unpleasant, self-defeating things we sometimes do because we think they offer a way out of life's trap. This intense, violent novel is about three female college students who meet up with three male drifters and their unfolding stories during a long, cold night in Oregon. What's remarkable is that although each character is nailed by circumstance with the bare implications of being either a man or a woman, the predator-prey roles are unpredictable, and for each person, their unique character is the ultimate determinant of their destiny.

Book Description

Three drifters meet up with three coeds out looking for a good time. A snowstorm slams them together in a deserted campground high in the Cascade mountains. Over the course of the night, each is forced to take a long look at who they really are and where they are headed. Not all elect to survive.

An internationally-acclaimed thriller.

Customer Reviews:

Lizard Wine is a Disturbing Classic.......2003-04-02

Three down on their luck buddies spend their last bit of money on gin and head into the mountains, on an ill-equipped, spur of the moment camping trip. Confined to the car by the October weather, they begin to reveal themselves to each other, discovering that perhaps they're not such tight friends after all.
Three co-eds from the local university get dressed up and head to a mountain cowboy bar, to generate some interest and perhaps some income. But their car breaks down outside a closed mountian campground. Arguing and unsettled, the three girls enter the deserted campground looking for a phone,and finding the three heated men instead.
One girl un wisely elects to stay with the men rather than go along with the other girls, and a women in the close confined car is exactley what the men don't need. Explosive tension builds with the addition of the sexual energy and the tequila she adds to fuel their fire.
The two girls get their car started and begin their own horrible adventure, and when they eventually run, wounded, scared, and dangerous back to the camp ground to get their friend, what they find is not exactly what they expected.
Lizard Wine is a disturbing classic. With a true literary voice, Elizabeth Engstorm details the madness of human relationships. Reading this book is like sitting in a snow bounded car with three very dangerous men and three vulnerable young women, and watching in thrall as the balance of power trades hands through the night. But the truth is every decision seems reasonible, every step conceivable, you can imagine yourself in the situation, and as it all goes sour, and you keep trying to find ways for everyone to escape. Engstorm involves her readers equally with the pitiful and the pitiless, and as the sun rises on the living and the dead, we close this novel reminded that we can make our lives, or our lives can make us.

Her books make me think.......2003-02-26

Lizard Wine, like all of Elizabeth Engstrom's stories, is riveting and disturbing. Engstrom gets inside of the heads of even the most twisted characters allowing her readers to explore the darker side of human nature. Lizard Wine is chilling, powerful and thought provoking.

Unbearable.......2002-10-25

I have read Lizard Wine, and every one of Elizabeth Engstrom's books that are still in print. They are terrible, each and every one. You might ask why, if I thought that they were terrible, that I would take the time to read them. It's because I was hoping against hope that I'd find something of hers worth reading. - I'd give this book and all her books less than one star if it were possible. This book reads like "rush hour" traffic - slow, plodding, BORING!!!!!

Thriller/Mystery - Pretty Gruesome.......2002-06-05

And thats just the quality of the writing, the real mystery is why the author bothered, and why anyone should want to go to the trouble of publishing it.

Unpredictable and Almost Believable.......2002-05-09

The lives of six troubled, insecure protagonists, and one author, converge during a snowstorm in this suspense thriller. Their current situation is enticingly unpredictable and believable, except for the concatenation of bad choices made by everyone. But we learn that is to be expected, given the tragic or pitiful backgrounds of each character, which the author intertwines, one at a time, with the current story.

It is an ambitious endeavor, handling six POV's, since each of their backstories has enough psychosis or twisted irony to warrant a separate novel. The author solves her problem by condensing the six histories to pivotal events, and clearly stating the lessons unlearned. She wraps up her plot in a similar manner, making certain that her readers will not have compassion for any of her sorry characters.

Book Description

From tiny to gigantic, from drab to remarkably beautiful, from harmless to venomous, lizards are spectacular products of natural selection. This book, lavishly illustrated with color photographs, is the first comprehensive reference on lizards around the world. Accessible, scientifically up-to-date, and written with contagious enthusiasm for the subject, Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity covers species evolution, diversity, ecology, and biology. Eric R. Pianka and Laurie J. Vitt have studied and photographed members of almost all lizard families worldwide, and they bring to the book a deep knowledge based on extensive firsthand experience with the animals in their natural habitats.
Part One explores lizard lifestyles, answering such questions as why lizards are active when they are, why they behave as they do, how they avoid predators, why they eat what they eat, and how they reproduce and socialize. In Part Two the authors take us on a fascinating tour of the world's manifold lizard species, beginning with iguanians, an evolutionary group that includes some of the most bizarre lizards, the true chameleons of Africa and Madagascar. We also meet the glass lizard, able to break its tail into many highly motile pieces to distract a predator from its body; lizards that can run across water; and limbless lizards, such as snakes. Part Three gives an unprecedented global view of evolutionary trends that have shaped present-day lizard communities and considers the impact of humans on their future.
A definitive resource containing many entertaining anecdotes, this magnificent book opens a new window to the natural world and the evolution of life on earth.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderfully comprehensive overview of an amazing group.......2005-02-16

Without a doubt, this book is the most comprehensive overview of lizard evolution and ecology, available on the market today. Pianka & Vitt take readers on a tour through the many aspects of the lacertilian suborder. In the process, they show one how incredibly useful lizards have been for science.

The book is broken up into three sections. The first section gives an overview of lizards in general. It goes over the basic anatomy, and the distinct differences between the three main lizard groups (Iguania, Gekkota & Autarchoglossa). The second section goes more in depth about each major group. It gives a breakdown of all the major families, and even goes so far as to explain the different genera in each. The final section takes the reader through a brief history of the squamata. It explains their evolution throughout the Mesozoic, and ending with a chapter on relationship of lizards with people.

The appendix, at the end, gives a taxonomic summary of all the lizard genera known for each family; along with a total species count. While this is already a bit out of date (sad fate for all published material dealing with taxonomy), it is a nice addition.

The chapter on lizards and humans, has a nice section talking about lizards as pets. In the past, herpetologists have often frowned on the keeping of lizards as pets. Pianka & Vitt considered doing the same. Yet, as they mention: "We would be hypocrites if we did." They realize that most up and coming (and many professional) herpetologists/paleontologists, keep/kept lizards as pets. Herpetoculture is here to stay. As such, it makes more sense to learn the most one can about the animal they intend to keep. Reading words of acceptance from those in the field, is always an encouraging thing to see.

Of course, not everything about the book is perfect. I did have some minor gripes with it.

For starters, I took minor issue with the treatment of the three main lizard groups. In particular, the treatment of Iguanians compared to the scleroglossans. The scleroglossan lizards are often exalted above the iguanians, at the latter's expense. I can understand Pianka & Vitt's reasoning behind this. Scleroglossa make up the majority of living lacertilians, yet remain the least studied group of lizards out there. In that sense, I can't blame the authors for wanting to put more emphasis on this group. I just wish that it didn't appear to be at the expense of the iguanians. It's not done all that often, and it's never intentional, but every once in a while, a comment is made on the archaic nature of iguanians that tends to make them out as sounding inferior.

A neat thing about the second part of the book, is that Pianka & Vitt do explain the meaning behind many of the genus names. Unfortunately, they don't do it for all of them. This wouldn't be so troublesome if it didn't happen so randomly. For instance, in the beginning of the agamid descriptions, a definition for each genus name is given. Yet at, roughly, the last third of the section, the definitions just stop. It remains this way until well into Iguanidae (a quick blurb at Leiocephalinae) before disappearing again. Gekkotans get a brief, but acute, set of definitions (done as an example of how many are named after their toes), with some other definitions sprinkled in throughout the rest of the chapter. It continues like this throughout the rest of this section. As such, it leaves readers such as myself (who enjoy the meanings behind the names) left wanting more.

Finally, the last real gripe I have about the book is in respect to the trend, in recent years, to apply cladistic methods to classification. Throughout the book, mentions are made on the monophyly of one group vs. the paraphyly of another. That in itself, is not bad, but when it interferes with classification, it becomes an annoyance. One area in particular, is the way in which snakes are handled. The group, itself, is descended from a lizard ancestor. Yet, snakes are still classified as a separate collection of squamates; which is fine (the same happens with mammals and therapsids, among other examples). My problem with the book, is that the authors feel this need to mention how "snakes are lizards too." It's pounded into one's head at the beginning, and towards the end of the book. Yet, the snakes themselves, are hardly ever mentioned. There is no section of the various families of snakes out there. Nor any real mention of their various life histories. So, I'm left wondering: Why bother mentioning the "snakes are lizards too" bit? If one is going to insist of abiding by the cladistic paradigm in classification, then one should follow through with it.

With that said, please keep in mind that I do consider all of these to be minor gripes. The book is still a must read for anyone with more than just a passing interest in this amazing group of animals, and the author's chilling take on the status of our planet (last section of the final chapter) is another must read for any young biologist, preparing to enter the field.

Highly recommended.

Pianka and Vitt's "Lizards" a remarkable contribution.......2004-02-26

This book is truly amazing! As a scientist, I have read hundreds of works, but never have I encountered a better combination of scientific rigor coupled with what one might call, popular appeal. The authors have basically provided the contribution of record on lizard biology, while simulataneously producing one of the most interesting coffee table "thumb-throughs" that one could imagine. First the biological rigor. Pianka and Vitt break the book into three sections, very appropriately I believe, beginning with lizard behavior--evolution, life history, context. These seven chapters lead naturally to a second section, six chapters devoted to lizard diversity. Not anatomical or taxonomical hell at all, but brilliantly protrayed, ecologically situated depiction of form and function, from iguanas to dragons. The third section ties together the ethology, the diversity of genera, as a well articulated synthesis. In so doing in this concluding synthesis, the authors have managed to write a tutorial that is extremely valuable as a stand alone study plan for teaching evolution and biology to students of just about any level of sophistication. Yes, the book provides comprehensive documentation, references, and taxonomic details--it is a remarkable scientific work. But it is one that can't be put down--the authors even share their personal histories of interest, and they embed numberous "so what? boxes". I found the professional quality photo's to merit review themselves as a contribution to photography. In fact, after walking through the habitat-borne illustrations, I felt that I had spent an eye-opening day with these creatures. "Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity" is a must for biologists, and a gotta have for anyone interested in creatures. Harry Greene's foreward claim that the book is "a survey of unprecedented depth and breadth" is classic understatement.

The Guide to Owning Water Dragons, Sailfin Lizards & Basilisks

Average customer rating:

Water Dragon
There are better water dragon care guidelines

The Guide to Owning Water Dragons, Sailfin Lizards & Basilisks
John Coborn
Manufacturer: TFH Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Reptiles & Amphibians | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Animal Husbandry | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Anoles, Basilisks, and Water Dragons (Complete Pet Owner's Manuals)
Green Water Dragons: Plus Sailfin Lizards & Basilisks (Advanced Vivarium Systems)
Water Dragons: A Complete Guide to Physignathus and More (Complete Herp Care)
Terrarium and Cage Construction and Care
Lizard Care from A to Z

ASIN: 0793802814

Customer Reviews:

Water Dragon.......2000-05-22

I thought this book was very helpful. It contained very important and reliable information. While the information was somewhat limited you should easily be able to find other information on the internet. The pictures were spectacular. They give you a feel of how a healthy Water Dragon should look and how a sickly Water Dragon should appear. If you are planning to purchase this book you might also have to look just a little for other more specific information. However if you want the basics on how to care for a Water Dragon I beleive that this book will be very helpful for you.

There are better water dragon care guidelines.......2000-03-30

The overall basic information in this book is correct, but given that there are 2 species of water dragon, 3 Basilisk, and one Sailfin Lizard species discussed on only 15 text pages, and the remaining 35 pages consisting of caging, diet and health topics for all 6 lizard types, with commercial products suggested for use scattered throughout this section, I find this book to be too minimal to really help anyone but the newest of lizard keepers - and these new lizard keepers just might be better off with a book that goes into more detail.

Philippe de Vosjoli's "The general care and maintenance of Green water dragons, Sailfin lizards, and Basilisks" or Bartlett & Bartlett's "Anoles, Basilisks, and Water Dragons" would be better books for a new lizard keeper to start out with.

Book Description

As a mysterious fire rages through an affluent community in Southern California, Lew Archer tracks a missing--and possibly kidnapped--child and uncovers and entire secret history of wayward parents, wounded offspring, and murder. Along with its merciless suspense, The Underground Man possesses a moral vision as complex as that of a classic Greek tragedy.

Customer Reviews:

"Under the stratum of smoke which lay over the city, the air was harshly clear.".......2007-09-15

Macdonald tends to get short shrift next to some of the bigger names in hardboiled detective fiction. This is really too bad. He's a brilliant writer. His detective stories are well-plotted, and find their home in the shattered lives of the characters who inhabit them. Although I love reading his work, there is a palpable air of depression that hangs over the most restorative of his happy endings. Eudora Welty once said that his books were about "the absence of love". I couldn't begin to summarize in a better way. If love is gone or no longer possible, what kinds of connections can people still find?

The Underground Man is generally considered one of the best of the Macdonald novels. Often criticized for an unrealistic plot (perhaps fairly), it is subtle and complex in the way that it introduces and uses characters. The land itself becomes a character, with its wildfires and poisoned ocean casting a shadow over any hope that the people may have for resolution. In this book (the original act is the kidnapping of a young neighbor), he explores the subject of misplaced romance-- women directing and misdirecting their hopes and desires on the men around them. Really wonderful.

If you don't know Macdonald, and you like writers like Chandler or Hammett, you should really pick up one of his novels.

Relevant and incisive.......2006-05-17

The book's narrator, private detective Lew Archer, is hired to find young Ronald Broadhurst, who has been kidnapped by his father and a younger woman. Of course the plot soon thickens, and Archer finds himself investigating murder, theft and conspiracies galore. A devastating forest fire rages throughout the book, just outside the margin of the action, but near enough to the story to create a consistent backdrop of urgency and fear.

A hurried reader of Ross Macdonald's novel might mistake it for a relatively straightforward detective story, albeit a well-written one. However, this book is strikingly different from many others of the genre. Rather than highlighting action or intrigue, the book chooses to focus on human relationships and the ravages caused by divorce and greed.

Though the plot moves slowly in parts, Macdonald's surprisingly trenchant commentary on devastated relationships and societal decay is as vibrant and relevant today as it was 30 years ago.

PRETTY MUCH THE BEST.......2006-03-22

Though he's generally listed third in the triumvirate--Dashiell Hammett (The Father); Raymond Chandler (The Son); and Ross MacDonald (The Holy Ghost)--Mr. MacDonald is more properly recognized as the greatest of the private eye authors. Hammett's one great novel, The Maltese Falcon, and the equally great film version, along with his precedence in time (1939), are undeniable, and Chandler was likewise fortunate enough to have Humphrey Bogart put his imprint on Phillip Marlowe, but neither sustained a series of novels at the steady high quality of the Lew Archer books. In fact, Hammett and Chandler tailed off rather badly at the end of their careers, whereas the final few Archer mysteries scaled heights that not only transcended the genre but make them necessary reading for anyone hoping to understand the "malaise" that afflicted America in the 1970s. The Underground Man, published in 1971, may well be the best of MacDonald's oeuvre, which would make it pretty much the best p.i. book ever written. Hard to argue it isn't at least one of the pinnacles.

The story opens with Archer feeding peanuts to some blue jays outside his apartment--the sort of balance of nature to which MacDonald seemingly wanted him to restore the world by solving crimes. But when a little boy emerges from another apartment, followed by his mother and then by her estranged husband, Archer is plunged into their domestic quarrel and then into a series of adulteries, broken marriages, petty crimes, frauds, and murders stretching back across three generations. And, as if to demonstrate that such disordered lives must have cosmic consequences, the backdrop for the tale is a raging brushfire, fed by the Santa Ana winds, that sweeps across the scenes of the crimes and threatens to consume the whole cast. And just as mortal crime triggers natural disaster, so too does a character suggest to Archer that he serves as a similar spark to human tinder:

"You smell like trouble to me," he said.

That stopped me for a minute. He had a salesman's insight into human weakness, and he'd touched on a fact which I didn't always admit to myself--that I sometimes served as a catalyst for trouble, not unwillingly.

Of course, a forest fire burns away dead wood and allows for new growth, but Mr. MacDonald provides us little reason to believe that Archer's cases have much salutary effect.

To the extent there is some hope, Mr. MacDonald would appear to be suggesting that the confused young people of the era were not so much to blame for their problems as their parents -- that Greatest Generation that he indicts in a way that will shock readers of Tom Brokaw. Typically drawing a parallel to the environmental degradation that was imagined to be a sign of the times, he refers at one point to "a generation whose elders had been poisoned ... with a kind of moral DDT that damaged the lives of their young." that image of moral DDT is quite powerful and positions his fiction quite comfortably in the American Puritan tradition of Original Sin and Fallen Man. But his vision of American life is so pitch black by this point that it places him squarely in the 1970s. History students trying to imagine how that decade could have ended in Jimmy Carter's hand-wringing could hardly do better than read Ross MacDonald to get a sense of how bleak the mood was at the time.

At any rate, Lew Archer is a first-rate guide through this darkness, lonely and vulnerable in ways that most modern private eye novelists have abandoned. This forces him to be more passive than his super-heroic successors, but also means that he's affected by the tragedies he plums in ways that they never are. And so, when the novel ends with the rains finally having come and a human touch as moving as Bill Murray taking Scarlett Johansson's foot in Lost in Translation, we may not get closure, but we do feel that some semblance of order has been restored. In 1971 that may have been as much as most folks hoped for.

It was the Front Page of The New York Times Book Review.......2005-11-02

All you need to know about this fine Ross Macdonald novel is that
John Leonard put the review of The Underground Man on the front
page of The New York Times Book Review in 1971.
That was unheard of for a mystery.

Suddenly, everyone discovered Ross Macdonald. He truly is the successor
to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. And much more psychologically
sophisticated. Besides this book, his best may be The Chill and The Zebra Striped Hearse.

The sins of the fathers........2005-08-14

The multiple ramifications of long held family secrets that fester and repeat themselves permeate The Underground Man and give it its backbone. As a ferocious wildfire engulfs the eastern outskirts of the oceanside community of Santa Teresa, California, author Ross Macdonald leads us through a complex maze of dysfunctional relationships involving members of three intertwined families.

The narration is provided by hardboiled PI Lew Archer as he seeks to return Ronald Broadhurst, a six year old kidnap victim, to the arms of his frantic mother. Of course, as with all Ross Macdonald novels, the case at hand only represents the tip of the iceberg. Archer, ever the tenacious investigator, finds that a series of unhappy events ocurring in the distant past has culminated in little Ronny's abduction.

Fast paced and compelling, the narrative of The Underground Man is artfully written. Macdonald employs countless descriptive phrases that are deliciously original and extremely....well, descriptive. The dialogue is engaging and authentic sounding. And the many characters are sketched out in a way that gives them a realistic feel. As for the plot, it's an intricate one. Ross Macdonald novels are never otherwise. Artful, challenging and satisfying, The Underground Man is an excellent example of Macdonald's best work.

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