Product Description
Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Amazon.com
Think you've got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn't afraid to help you let it out. She'll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph. Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading.
Customer Reviews:
smooth, easy to read, and... not so good.......2007-10-13
POSITIVE SIDES;
1. I finished the book at the back of the car, when I was stuck in traffic. That said, with the writer's fluent writing and sincere style, it is really easy to follow the book's ideas.
2. For ex., you'll have a better understanding of not only the process of publishing and its difficulties, but also that of plotting, taking notes, eliminating stress. However, the chapter she talks about getting rid of jelousy isn't helpful at all. In fact, she sometimes makes all those points, quoting films or her experiences with his son, Sam, which don't lead to anywhere.
NEGATIVE SIDES;
1. With all respect to the writer and her career, I must say that I got pretty angry at her when I read that she described bad writing as a Turkish assasin's writing. I think here she has tried to refer to Ottoman Empire which was captured as the ' assasins, murderers' by the other countries in the very old days. Still, it is offensive and not necessary.
2. She keeps mentioning how she has felt like she was going to get cancer or some other diseases throughout those difficult times. This style of her disgusted me. I don't think she is wise enough to give advice on life.
3. When I really began disliking the writer however was when she mentioned animal sacrifice and how she put the newspaper article about the legalisation of small animal sacrifise on the wall, where her cat's bowl stands in the front. Why would a person do that and why would a person write about that and why would a person call that advice?
ON WRITING
... there are much better books. For ex. Story by Robert McKee (It is mainly on screenwriting but it gives great advice on writing in general as well.)
Best of the Bunch.......2007-09-22
Unassuming and astonishing. Of all the books on writing I have read, and I have read a truckload, this one delivers more good advice than any other.
Here's the odd thing, though: when I first tried to read this a few years ago, I didn't get very far. I thought the writer was far too full of herself for her or my good. Then I picked the book up again recently and it blew me away. Maybe a lot of books are like that--you just have to be ready for them.
just what I was looking for.......2007-08-16
This book puts in a nutshell all the answers I as a budding writer was looking for. Take notes as you read and laugh!
A Writer's World.......2007-08-06
What type of book is "Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life" by Anne Lamott? It's one of those rare books that makes you want to start reading it all over again just as soon as you finish. In a word, wonderful. Better than that, "Bird by Bird" has something to teach, or at least some helpful advice about writing, writers, and getting published. It's all there: the anxiety, the yearning, the misplaced thought, the jealously, the longing, the joy. The words here don't really do it justice. However favorable an impression you may have at this moment in time, at this point in the review, know this: The book is so much better than what I can describe, and when you actually sit down and read this book (and you should), you will say to yourself, "I didn't know it would be this good!"
Lamott is the published author of eight books, including her most famous novel "Traveling Mercies." If you've never read any Anne Lamott, join the club, but don't let it stop you from getting this book. "Bird by Bird" is a series of discussions about writing and the writing life that reflect some of what Lamott teaches in her UC-Davis writing classes. And yet, there is so much more. She has infused her lessons with charm and grace, with stories of her family and her teaching, and above all, with her own day-to-day writing life. If you've ever wondered how a real author, a published author, goes about creating the magic, Lamott is ready to let you peak in. She talks about real writing tricks that work. She starts with the basics. She confronts her own inner demons and all those internal voices that tell every author his or her work just isn't good enough, and tells you how to get past them and write anyway.
A little bit about the title, which I know must be making you wonder at this point. "Bird by Bird" refers to a story she tells about her brother and her father (another writer). Her brother was then a 10-year old who hadn't done his report on birds the night before it was due at school (although he'd had 3 months to complete it...sound familiar?). He had worked himself up into a panic, wondering how he could possibly accomplish his monumental task. Finally, Lamott's father sits down beside her brother, puts an arm around his shoulder, and says, "Bird by bird, buddy, just take it bird by bird."
This gem of a book is filled with so many wonderful stories, so much humor and pathos, so many identifiable writer crises that you will be astonished at how effortlessly Lamott has accomplished her goal--helping us become better writers. I've never read a book about writing that was so practical, so humane, so lovingly created. This is the most practical guide to writing I've ever read, yet it's never (no, not once) boring. She never gets bogged down in detail. Her writing never wavers. It's an amazing book on those counts alone. That it has so much to teach as well truly makes it a treaure, a golden egg.
Interesting and Informative.......2007-07-21
I expected this book to be informative and was not disappointed. The fact it was also entertaining was a bonus. The author's empathy for other writers was refreshing, as well. I appreciated the many tips sprinkled throughout and would recommend this book to anyone who likes to write.
Book Description
Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined teacher and her remarkable students.
As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust—only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the civil rights activists “The Freedom Riders.”
With funds raised by a “Read-a-thon for Tolerance,” they arranged for Miep Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell’s students were “the real heroes.” Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition—appearances on “Prime Time Live” and “All Things Considered,” coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley—and educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college.
With powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students.
The authors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to The Tolerance Education Foundation, an organization set up to pay for the Freedom Writers’ college tuition. Erin Gruwell is now a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach, where some of her students are Freedom Writers.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Freedom Writers Diary.......2007-10-10
The book is a great read. I would definitely recommend to teachers, especially those that teach or will teach a widely diversified class. Not just teachers should read it. You really get an idea how crazy being racist and prejudiced is and how many people can be hurt by it. Nothing was edited so you get the full feelings of what those teenagers lived through.
I wonder what it was actually like..........2007-09-12
There were lots of positives and negatives that stuck out to me when I read this book which really bothered me.
Let's start with the teacher. We get occasional reflections from Erin Gruwell throughout the book, and in the beginning, they provide a way for us to get to know the teacher and to experience some of the adversity and the troubles that she was experiencing with running her classroom in the unorthodox style she managed. As the book progresses, the majority of these insights begin to fade into a simple account of what she did, the awards they won, and the plans that she had. For instance, she briefly mentions that she had to struggle to teach these kids for their senior year, and then she breezes over how she got that done and launches into an explanation of the binding of their book and the two awards ceremonies that she's attending. This robs the teachers out there of a great potential resource for them to use and understand, and glosses over the reality of politics in education.
The other issue I had was with the journal entries of the students. While I'd love to believe what I'm seeing, I have a difficult time believing that these entries the children wrote were not blown a little out of proportion during the editing or completely contrived from the get-go. Before you jump all over me for having a lack of faith in these kids, look at what we're presented with: the first few journal entries, which these kids supposedly wrote on the first few days of class are every bit as long and as detailed as their later entries in their senior year...and this is supposedly when they were well below the rest of their grade and their expected reading level, and when they had no faith in their teacher whatsoever. What we are left with, then, is a look only at where they were during their junior and senior years, with no gauge of progress or results to compare.
Because of the way the book was put together (entries are numbered rather than being entered chronologically, and no students are named), there is a lack of continuity between chapters, and no characters. Thus, all we are left with are two styles of entries: 1) the entries about struggles and hardships, and 2) the hopeful entries. You are completely unable to identify the students and connect who wrote which entries unless the stories are about a single club or experience. I would much rather have seen the students be given fake names to keep their anonymity protected, because then we not only benefit from a more personal connection to the students, but we also get to see how they've grown from their struggles, and we could break up some of the monotony between struggle stories and hope stories.
Then you get the obligatory "Anne Frank [or insert speaker here] is my hero" entries that read almost exactly like essays that I used to write for the sole purpose of appeasing a teacher who clearly has a tremendous interest in the speaker or book. While the experiences these students had were much more impressive than a simple book or movie, the similarity is astonishing, and I can't help but believe that these kids felt a lot of pressure and wrote what they felt the teacher wanted to hear rather than what they actually felt.
The entries that we are presented with in this book are also extremely toned down versions of the original, which in some sense steals from the power that they can convey. As a couple of students pointed out, the editing process was a big part of putting this book together, and I'm not sure whether it was the authors themselves or the publisher, but the snippets that we are given in the diaries are about the editing process are much more honest and graphic accounts of what happened to the students than the full diaries that we are given in the pages of the book. Some were certainly removed to protect anonymity, and probably also because of their graphic nature, but I believe that readers could have benefited from a slightly more realistic tone. The PG13 edit that the majority of these accounts are given strips the events of their power.
On the whole, though, that doesn't take away from the fact that Gruwell is clearly a very gifted teacher, and that she did take these children much farther than anyone ever expected of her. The lessons in the book are timeless, in that classroom management is all about building relationships, not only amongst students, but also between the teacher and the students. It's inspirational, and impressive, but clearly a bit contrived and heavily, heavily edited. This book is a pretty good read, but I think you have to take it with a grain of salt.
An inspiring story........2007-08-27
I loved reading the stories from the voices of the various students and hearing how they discovered love and hope despite their difficult home lives.
Got my daughter to read.......2007-08-23
This is an excellent book for a non reader, especially if they have seen the movie. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the book and she is not really a reader. it has now encouraged her to move on to a Diary of Anne Frank. Thank you
A Great Read.......2007-08-14
An extra-ordinary book. I bought 3 copies to give away to friends. A very easy read and very enjoyable. Not just for educators.
Customer Reviews:
prosperity consciousness from another source.......2007-08-05
Florence Scovel Shinn was writing about prosperity consciousness in the late 1800's and early 1900's, well ahead of the current trend. Her books are easy to read and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to all of my friends and they are purchasing it and doing the same. That says it all in my mind.
Changed my entire approach to living. . ........2007-07-06
The Game of Life and How to Play It has been the most influential self-help reading to date that I have found. The book is easy to read and understand. I have read my copy probably 15 times; pages are beginning to fall out. The fact that it is divided into sections for life's encounters, e.g., prosperity, love, etc., I can go back when I need help getting through the rough times to that particular section and gain strength and guidence. Once read, the writings just all come together to make more sense about approaching life's daily challenges than anything I have ever read; and, trust me I've read plenty of self-help books. I love this book so much that I have bought 6 copies to give to beloved family members and close friends because I do not want to keep the insights this book reveals to myself. I want everyone I care deeply about to experience what this book has to offer. Great read, great lessons!
Brilliant!.......2007-06-13
I've had this book for years and have worn out the cover. I refer to it constantly. I purchased copies for friends and have been doing so since I first read it. Florence was before her time!
My Favorite Book of All Time!.......2007-06-09
Absolutely without question the most charming and inspiring book I've ever read. My copy is lovingly dog-eared, my loaner copy is in the same condition and I've bought several as gifts.
Of all the "positive thinkers", including the much more well-known such as Louise Hay and Norman Vincent Peale, Florence is the most enjoyable to read and the easiest to apply to your life, in my opinion.
Reading her is sheer delight and an instant mood-lifter and problem-solver, every time.
before the secret.......2007-05-17
This is an amazing collection of writings that gives real and practial ways to move forward in life. A Lady well before her time, the princibles that she teaches are not secrets just forgotten over time.
Have a little faith, change your Life.
C.M. Dwyer
Customer Reviews:
Analysis of Pop Culture with Mostly Accessible Essays.......2006-02-19
Signs of Life focuses on the way we are shaped by the media and advertising with nine chapters that cover "Consuming Passions," "The Signs of Advertising," "Video Dreams," "The Culture of American Film," "Culture and Contradiction in the U.S.A.," "Gender Codes," "Constructing Race," "Popular Spaces," and "American Icons." Many of the essayists, like David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, Thomas Frank, Eric Schlosser, Franine Prose, Gregg Easterbrook, Malcolm Gladwell, and Michael Eric Dyson are best-selling authors whose essays or book excerpts are published in popular magazines. Signs of Life is well served by these writers who, unlike some of the lesser known writers, don't indulge in heavy didactic, academic prose. Some might not like the book for giving too much space to overly didactic writers. For example, there is Fred Davis' essay about the cultural signs and contradictions of blue jeans, which is so steeped in academic speak and is so absorbed by its tiny topic that it seems a pardoy of scholarly writing. Read for example: "Paralleling the de-democratization of the jean, by the 1970s strong currents toward is eroticization were also evident." Or "Of all of the modifications wrought upon it, the phenomenon of designer jeans speaks most directly to the garment's encoding of status ambivalences. The very act of affixing a well-known designer's label . . . to the back side of a pair of jeans has to be interpreted . . . along Veblenian lines, as an instance of conspicuous consumption; in effect, a muting of the underlying rough-hewn proletarian connotation of the garment throug the introduction of a prominent status marker." This is tough going, especially freshmen college students who are not familiar with this type of heavy-handed writing. This essay selection should be further criticized because I don't think students should be encouraged to believe that Fred Davis' heavy-handed writing style represents a worthy model.
In spite of some of the book's excesses, teachers and students alike should appreciate Signs of Life for three reasons: 1) Integrating the aforementioned popular authors into the chapters about popular culture, 2) Providing excellent essay assignments at the end of each essay under the heading "Reading the Signs." With a half dozen strong essay options per essay, the students have over 50 assignment options for chapter. 3) The introduction has three excellent model essays that show the students how to write A-level expositions. The models are based on "The Personal Experience Essay," "Critical Reading of a Film," and "The Open-Ended Analytic Assignment." Each model shows how to integrate outside quotes, paraphrases, and summary into the writer's own voice and how to document outside sources in the text and at the end of the manuscript with an MLA style "Works Cited" page.
It appears that Signs of Life Fifth Edition is moving away from the academic lucubrations of scholarly authors and embracing more accessible writers, like those previously mentioned. This is a positive evolution for the fifth edition and hopefully points to less overly-done academic writing in future editions.
What the media is up to...........2005-09-22
There is a statement that is familiar amongst our society, especially those of us that are more liberal, and that is "to not always trust what the media offers as valid or true." This textbook is an attempt to characterize the ways that media manipulate or tangle the truth, and even goes as far as offering an explanation as to why they do it. Now this is where objectivity within a learning text can be lost because to offer opinion about why the media does such things is treacherously difficult to do without biasing a left or right view. Yet the book does offer many illuminating details about the workings of this incredibly powerful economic and political tool, and more importantly, it offers the reader tools for combating or deciphering the clouded messages it gives.
I believe that this is a book that must be read by every human being (not to mention our pets who more and more become economic targets) so as to arm himself or herself against the incessant onslaught of "buy me! Buy me!" and "I can make you better because God knows you weren't made right!" However, the book loses power in being a textbook because some fluidity is lost, and it can be at times rather bland.
Nonetheless, it is a great tool to have and a tool that has now more recently become important to the human in his newest, superficial society.
Book Description
To live in a pristine land . . . roam the wilderness . . . build a home. . . . Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. Here is a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.
Customer Reviews:
True to the man.......2007-09-29
Ten years ago I spent a summer volunteering for the National Park Service at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, in Alaska. My remote rangers cabin was located at Twin Lakes. Being on the lower lake, I was about 9 miles from my nearest neighbor- Dick. We spoke daily on our walkie-talkies, checking in about the weather, any visitors, or interesting wildlife viewings. I trekked up his way several times over the summer, and enjoyed a few meals with him. I can't remember if it's in his book, but his favorite sandwich was the "Twin Lakes Special": sourdough flapjaks, raw onion, and honey; don't knock it 'til ya try it! Just like his book, he was a gracious, thoughtful man, a true naturalist. Also the most spry 82-year-old I think I'd ever seen! I was saddened to hear of his death several years ago, and was grateful the NPS kept his cabin as a historical site; it is a cozy place, dark inside, smelling faintly of woodsmoke and 1948 sourdough starter, with wonderful decorative touches throughout. Dick was truly a special person, and this book captures his voice, his no-nonsense manner of talking, as well as his appreciation of the beauty of the natural world, perfectly.
A modern day "Thoreau".......2007-09-16
You cannot visit Alaska without reading this book FIRST! Just the photography alone will make you want to go. I dentify in many ways with Dick as I lived in a cabin in the White Mountains of NH for many years. He didn't intrude on nature...he simply lived in harmony with it. He appeals to all of your senses in his simple but beautifully written words, never mind the pictures. He is definitely portrayed as a "loner" but that is a good thing..for a loner has much higher self esteem and sense of character than those who can't survive in the world without people around them all the time. Dick is a true steward of the land because of his deep, abiding love and connection for this piece of God's Creation. His beautifully chronicled life in Alaska will remind you of Robert Frost's words.."We love the things we love for what they are." Enjoy!
Just as Good the Second Time.......2007-09-12
I was telling my husband about this book as I started reading it. He said, "Don't you remember, we read that many years ago when Alaska Magazine published it"? I knew that Babe, the pilot, seemed familiar. It didn't matter. I was happy to read it a second time which is unusual for me. Oh, how I would have loved to have been able to do what Mr. Proenneke did and to live where he lived. There is nothing dull about this book and I suspect the people who find it dull haven't any interest in living in the wilderness without Blackberries, i-pods, automobiles and restaurants.
Even though most of us who enjoyed the book probably don't begin to have the skills that Richard Proenneke had which made what he did possible (and a pilot friend who delivered for free) I think we all wish we could do what he did. I know I do. I didn't realize that a sequel exists. It costs big bucks, but if it's anything close to as interesting as this book, it's worth it. Maybe I'll find out if the Mission Girls ever showed-up.
Homesteading in Alaska.......2007-08-16
The year was 1968. The setting, the Alaskan bush. The mission, to live simply, deliberately, and self-sufficiently off the land, free of the trappings of contemporary society. The protagonist, clearly not what you might expect given the era. He was not some young, free spirited hippie, luddite, or draft dodger. Rather, he was a skilled hard working machinist/woodsman, who at age 51 decided to permanently leave the rat race behind.
Why this man, Dick Prenacke, suddenly left behind his conventional existence to live in a remote and unforgiving section of Alaska is never fully explored in the book. While snippets do reveal his distain for modernity, it never fully embellishes on what ultimately drove the author to do what few would ever conceive of doing. Perhaps Dick realized that at 51, the physical and physiological fortitude required to make such a transition would soon be out of his reach. More likely however, he foresaw the end of an era. No more than a few years after his departure into the wild, Alaska would enact laws prohibiting trappers and homesteaders from freely trudging off into the woods to live the quintessential "Alaskan experience." Soon Alaska would become like the rest of the lower 48, where people like Dick would be considered trespassers and evicted from any land that they did not rightfully own. Fortunately for the author, the laws were grand fathered in.
While the book is essentially a personal account of Alaskan homesteading, the author episodically weaves social commentary into his writings. He laments a society that is wasteful and superficial. The hunters that come into his Alaska, products of such a society, leave garbage and animal meat behind, unaware that the author cleans up after as well as makes use of their squander.
The author also reveals his anxiety for a society that is increasingly consumed by materialism. He feels that man is entrapped by things that he doesn't need and he seeks to avoid the superfluous at all costs. To the outsider, surviving in the wilds of Alaska would seem to require an extravagant amount of equipment and gear. One can only imagine the bill the average suburbanite would amass at the local REI in preparation for such an endeavor. Yet the author demonstrates just how little is required to not only to survive but also to prosper in such an inhospitable region.
The book closes with some thoughts on technology, and the rapidity of change that comes with it. The author's words are both haunting and prescient as he elaborates on his first year in Alaska and how his experience conflicts greatly with society at large.
inspiring.......2007-07-14
Inspiring book. Diarist was over 50 when he began this journey. Helps me look to the future for myself.
Book Description
In the spirit of Rick PitinoÂ's New York Times phenomenal bestseller Success Is a Choice, living legend Cal Ripken, Jr., presents an inspiring guide to overcoming any challenge and building a life you love.
BaseballÂ's all-time Iron Man, Cal Ripken, Jr., retired from baseball in 2001 after breaking countless records, including Lou GehrigÂ's record for consecutive games played (Ripken played 2,632). Ripken is admired by thousands of fans not only for his relentless perseverance, but also for his unparalleled integrity. Now, in a stirring book that draws on his exhilarating career as well as the wisdom of his legendary father, Ripken shares rousing advice centered around his proven 8 Elements of Perseverance:
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The Right Values: hard work, excellence, honesty, and integrity
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A Strong Will to Succeed: advice for those who inadvertently “bench” themselves in life
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Love What You Do: tips for discovering where your true passion lies •
Preparation: ways to continually envision your next position and prepare for it as if it were already yours
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Anticipation: strategies for creating your own opportunities
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Trusting Relationships: how to build them in even the most turbulent environments
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Life Management: making time to enjoy the journey
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The Courage of Your Convictions: insight into how Ripken not only broke but far exceeded numerous records Cal Ripken is a sought-after advisor to fans from all walks of life.
From his numerous public-speaking engagements each year to his weekly “Ask Cal” column for the Baltimore Sun, he always brings a winning combination of compassion and motivation to each topic. A book for moms and dads, recent graduates, entrepreneurs, and anyone who is simply facing an important turning point, Get in the Game gives all of us access to legendary advice from a legendary achiever.
Customer Reviews:
Get in the Game: 8 Elements of Perserverance that Make the Difference.......2007-09-28
This book provides extremely useful guidelines in dealing with situations we all eventually run into in our lives. While alluding to baseball related examples, it does not simply dwell solely on recounting Mr. Ripken's impressive baseball accomplishments or relate amusing/interesting anecdotes. Instead it gives thought-provoking insights into two all too fast-disappearing basic axioms in our country's psyche: "practice makes perfect," and "do unto others." I highly recommend this book for everyone, especially young people still in their formative years. In fact, it presents an excellent opportunity for parents to reconnect with their child(ren) by reading it aloud and together, with discussion centering on each of the eight elements as they are completed.
Baseball analogy of the game of life.......2007-08-29
Get in the Game is not only a book about Cal Ripken Jr., his consecutive games streak and his fine career. It's a recap of some simple but overlooked values.
Using his core strength in baseball to describe his thinking, the reader will not only appreciate some particular plays in his career, but also down-to-earth ways of approaching things in life.
If at first you don't succeed................2007-08-17
Life's little lessons taken from one who knows. Good title. Inspirational! Thanks Cal.
Mr. Ripken Knocks it Out of the Park.......2007-07-11
This is an excellent book by one of our modern-day greats: Cal Ripken, Jr. A native of Aberdeen, Maryland, he spent his entire career with the Baltimore Orioles. He broke a record that many said would stand forever, and this book parallels the former holder of that feat, Lou Gehrig, with a treasure trove of quotes about the latter's life. In a sense, we learn as much about the character and perseverance of Mr. Gehrig as we do about Mr. Ripken.
One early quote set the tone for the entire book:
"I just played because I loved the game, and because I had been taught certain principles that prevented me from backing away from anything."
Mr. Ripken chronicled his youth, the special relationship with his father, Cal, Sr., and then explained in concise fashion his eight principles for perseverance. Some themes related directly to baseball, while others are about life itself.
Here are the eight elements:
Right Values
Strong Will to Succeed
Love What You Do
Preparation
Anticipation
Trusting Relationships
Life Management
The Courage of Your Convictions
This is a very entertaining and informative book. Thank you for the opportunity to review it.
An education in more ways than one........2007-06-12
I am not now nor have I ever been a baseball fan. It just never appealed to me. But Cal Ripken has been heralded as the nicest guy in baseball and the sub-title ("8 elements of perseverance that make a difference" was definitely attractive, so I read the book.
I'm glad I did.
Ripken interweaves a literal history of baseball into his core message of how persevverance plays out in a ball game and life. It's an interesting, informative approach. I can see why Ripken has succeeded in his motivational speaking career as he did is his baseball career: life literally starts anew each day for this guy. Yesterday's msitakes and regrets are left behind. One of the most fascinating parts of the book for me are Ripken's descriptions of team work in baseball and how it works. Frankly, because I've never been a fan, I didn't realize just how much cooperation and coordination is required on the field.
Overall, a very worthwhile read and uplifting.
Jerry
Amazon.com
In the world of contemporary travel writing, Bill Bryson, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods, often emerges as a major contender for King of Crankiness. Granted, he complains well and humorously, but between every line of his travel books you can almost hear the tinny echo: "I wanna go home, I miss my wife."
Happily, I'm a Stranger Here Myself unleashes a new Bryson, more contemplative and less likely to toss daggers. After two decades in England, he's relocated to Hanover, New Hampshire. In this collection (drawn from dispatches for London's Night & Day magazine), he's writing from home, in close proximity to wife and family. We find a happy marriage between humor and reflection as he assesses life both in New England and in the contemporary United States. With the telescopic perspective of one who's stepped out of the American mainstream and come back after 20 years, Bryson aptly holds the mirror up to U.S. culture, capturing its absurdities--such as hotlines for dental floss, the cult of the lawsuit, and strange American injuries such as those sustained from pillows and beds. "In the time it takes you to read this," he writes, "four of my fellow citizens will somehow manage to be wounded by their bedding."
The book also reflects the sweet side of small-town USA, with columns about post-office parties, dining at diners, and Thanksgiving--when the only goal is to "get your stomach into the approximate shape of a beach ball" and be grateful. And grateful we are that the previously peripatetic Bryson has returned to the U.S., turning his eye to this land--while living at home and near his wife. Under her benevolent influence, he entertains through thoughtful insights, not sarcastic stabs. --Melissa Rossi
Book Description
After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.
Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark,
I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.
Customer Reviews:
Not my favorite author in this genre.......2007-07-22
I read through about the first third of this offering by Bill Bryson and found I simply could not get into it. Written in the spirit of Dave Barry, Mary Roach and maybe Erma Bombeck, it is intended to draw humor from the little idiosyncrasies of daily American life as seen by an expatriot returned from years in the U.K.
Where I find Dave Barry's turns of phrase highly amusing I tend to find Bill's commentary more rankling. Each article highlights some aspect of American life that I find less than satisfying and the commentary, though trying to be amusing, simply comes off as frustrating.
Funny and thoughtful about the US and Britain........2007-07-03
This book has a charming premise. Bryson is an American writer who lived in Britain for over twenty years, marrying an Englishwoman and raising two children. He moved back to the States with his family, where he wrote a series of essays about America for a British audience.
Bryson is a keen and witty observer of life. How many of us could write an entire essay prompted by the existence of a 24-hour help line on a dental floss dispenser? The essays are uniformly amusing, sometimes side-splitting.
Thought not as consistently funny as Dave Barry, Bryson goes further by adding a healthy dose of thoughtfulness to it all. Throughout the book he ponders what it means to be American, comparing and contrasting it with what it means to British. Every so often the question of Canadianness pops in as well. As countries divided by a common language, they provide a nice playground for Bryson, and he has a good time with them.
The sheer silliness of being American.......2007-06-03
Laugh-out-loud hilarious. Bryson's observations about American society and its absurdities rings so true and the author is the perfect vehicle for showcasing these stories. He is just so lovable in his books. His absentmindedness and his sharp wit both serve him extremely well. While poking fun at others, he also pokes fun at himself. His work is just priceless.
One funny little story after another.......2007-06-01
In this book, Bill Bryson presents a compilation of weekly columns he had published upon his return from England to the States, after being away for 20 years. And boy did he had a cultural shock! He presents in a VERY funny way the things that we take for granted every day and, one by one, dissects the very elements that make up the American way of life in an insightful way.
The book is assembled in a chapter fashion with a certain structure that connects them whenever applicable. The chapters are short and self-contained enough to turn the book into an endless feed of amazing 5-minute fun reads before bedtime or while you are sitting in a waiting room.
My favourite author.......2007-05-30
Bill Bryson has to be one of the 'most readable' authors for folk who prefer a good chuckle. My wife is not so happy and moans about my giggling keeping her awake.
Keep up the good work Bill
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Similar Items:
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
Shocked by the teenage violence she witnessed during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, Erin Gruwell became a teacher at a high school rampant with hostility and racial intolerance. For many of these students–whose ranks included substance abusers, gang members, the homeless, and victims of abuse–Gruwell was the first person to treat them with dignity, to believe in their potential and help them see it themselves. Soon, their loyalty towards their teacher and burning enthusiasm to help end violence and intolerance became a force of its own. Inspired by reading The Diary of Anne Frank and meeting Zlata Filipovic (the eleven-year old girl who wrote of her life in Sarajevo during the civil war), the students began a joint diary of their inner-city upbringings. Told through anonymous entries to protect their identities and allow for complete candor, The Freedom Writers Diary is filled with astounding vignettes from 150 students who, like civil rights activist Rosa Parks and the Freedom Riders, heard society tell them where to go–and refused to listen.
Proceeds from this book benefit the Freedom Writers Foundation, an organization set up to provide scholarships for underprivieged youth and to train teachers
Customer Reviews:
READ THIS, THEN PASS IT ON TO A FRIEND !.......2007-08-07
A close friend kept bugging me to see the movie, "Freedom Writers." Finally, we watched it one afternoon, and she was right. It's a very good movie. After seeing the movie, I came home the same day, and ordered the book. The book is a collection of diary entries by high school students in the Long Beach area of L.A., right after the Rodney King riots. Some of their true stories are horrific and all are intense. These kids, who are 14, at the beginning of the book, have to deal with abusive or neglecting parents, parents strung out on drugs, pressures to be in a gang or to lie in court to protect their own. It's a very intense book. Their teacher, Erin Gruwell, set herself the goal to teach them about tolerance and stop the cycle of violence in their lives. Amazingly, she was suceesful. This book follows the kids through their high school years, and the changes that take place in their thinking in that time.This is a great book, I couldn't put it down.
Freedom Writers.......2007-05-13
Well written, deep and touching true accounts of the students past. A truly inspiring story
Courtesy of Teens Read Too.......2007-05-05
This is the book that the movie Freedom Writers (Widescreen Edition) is based on. These are the diaries of the students put into one book.
There are no names used in the book--each diary entry has a number, so that the students could feel free to write what they wanted without knowing exactly who wrote what. Personally, I think this is a great idea because the diary entries were very open and you could tell the students wrote exactly what they felt.
THE FREEDOM WRITERS DIARY is a truly excellent book, because everything is so real and most of The Freedom Writers had to grow up at an extremely early age. Many had their innocence taken away around the age of ten. The Rodney King riots were going on and the Columbine High School event occurred during the time of the book. These high school students had seen more murder and dead bodies then most people will ever see in their entire lives.
99% of The Freedom Writers have even been shot at. This is an extremely true and eye-opening statistic. Segregation is still an issue in the United States, even though many people don't have to deal with it. This book taught me a lot about tolerance and what happens on the streets of Long Beach, California.
Reviewed by: Taylor Rector
great for teens and tweens.......2007-03-09
I bought this book for two 12 year olds to read, they are still reading and it has sparked important discussions!
AMAZING........2007-03-09
this book was apsolutly amazing. i loved it. if you have seen the movie the book is exactly like it. it is amazing if you are a teenager like myself. my dad bought this book for me for my birthday. if you havent already bought it buy it. If you havent bought it and you havent seen the movie. READ the book first then watch the movie. AMAZING!
Customer Reviews:
Great Book!.......2007-07-07
This book was not only exciting, it was also toucning and deeply moving. It also wasn't too "Christiany". It was an honest look at one man's faith and it didn't end like you want it to, but that's how life is. This was one of the best books I've read in a while.
An Honest Story.......2007-06-11
This is a well written recounting of a great adventure, an adventure that ends in tradjedy. While the majority of the book is the story preceeding the horrific events, it is the story that portrays life, adventure, and faith that doesn't look like typical cookie-cutter Christianity. It is filled with questions and real struggles...and this is how the story concludes with the terrorist events in Cairo. A gripping story, one that will challenge and comfort all at the same time. A very worthwhile read.
Unsettled.......2007-06-06
Many "Christian" books today offer too much of a formulaic approach while addressing popular topics such as "3 keys to become a better Christian"..."creating a more effective prayer life"...or even..."7 steps to realizing God's plan for your life". I am not pointing this out to say these types of books are wrong or bad. Rather, my intention is to contrast these with "The Only Road North". I recommend this book to anyone, like me, that has an easier time relating to real life examples. Erik's story will challenge you to seek Truth, and help you grow in ways only possible by asking the hard questions associated with tragic experiences. As a reader, I am left unsettled. Unsettled and asking questions that can only lead toward a greater understanding of God's Truth.
But, if you absolutely must follow a formula to seek truth in your own life, than try this...
1)read this book
2)imagine yourself in Erik's situation
3)allow yourself to become unsettled
4)ask tough questions
Moving.......2007-05-22
This is an excellent book that causes one to respond with wonder and action.
Adventurous.......2007-05-21
Once you read the first few pages, this is a very hard book to put down! The author and his brother and their other friends have an adventurous side to them that most of us only dream (or read)about. The book was very well written, especially for a young first time author. These guys certainly have a heart for ministry and for service and for adventure. The honesty of the author's doubts and questions were very honest and forces the reader to do some thinking of their own. If you are looking for a book that is a happy, feel good book about following Christ and the wonderful things He can do in your life...read this book! It is none of those things, but it will stretch you in ways that makes you uncomfortable...and as Christians we all need to feel uncomfortable sometimes!
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- Chemistry: The Central Science, Ninth Edition
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- Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right: How One Side Lost Its Mind and the Other Lost Its Nerve
- Descartes: The Life and times of a Genius
- Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering
- Eisenhower
- Eleni
- Every Second Counts
- Faith of My Fathers
Books Index
Books Home
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On Writing
