In this curious autobiiography, Anthony Trollope sketches in the outlines of his life. He relates the misery of his childhood, the heroism of his mother, the tragedy and ultimate failure of his father. If not banal, at least typical material for an autobiography, and makes for good reading. The second two-thirds of the book summarizes his writings, and relate his ideas on everything from literary criticism to suggestions for young writers. Perhaps most interesting are his assessments of his own work, praising or condemning them with little emotion. Of course there is the famous analysis of his working methods, where he counts words and disciplines himself to an astonishingly regular routine of writing. He produced 47 novels, edited and wrote for magazines, all the while working full time for the post office. One distressing feature of this work is the almost complete lack of intormation about his wife and family....It is clear that he lived with and loved his fictional characters more than his corporeal family. Also, the grammar and punctuation are often awkward but this is still a highly readable and fascinating book.

If one has read a number of Trollope's novels, one would expect that Trollope would have written precisely this sort of autobiography. In fact, it is almost impossible to imagine it having taken any other form.

Trollope writes not so much of his life (though he does touch upon the major events), as of his occupation. Although employed most of his adult life by the postal service, Trollope decided to engage in a second and parallel career as a writer. He is forthright about his motives: the satisfaction of writing, but also fame, financial reward, and social standing. Looking back on his career, Trollope is proud of a job well done. The oddity is that he seems quite as happy telling us about how much he sold each work for, and the financial dealings with his publishers, as he does about his books and characters. In fact, near the end of the book he gives a complete list of his novels and how much he managed to sell each one for (with very few exceptions, he preferred to sell the rights to a novel, rather than getting a percentage of sales). What emerges is a portrait of the novelist not as an artist so much as a dedicated, disciplined craftsman. He explicitly denigrates the value of genius and creativity in a novelist in favor of hard work and keeping to a schedule of writing.

The early sections of the book dealing with his childhood are fascinating. By all measures, Trollope had a bad childhood. His discussions of his father are full of pathos and sadness. What is especially shocking is the lack of credit he gives to his mother, who, in early middle age, realizing that her husband was a perpetual financial failure, decided to salvage the family's fortunes by becoming a novelist. He notes that while nursing several children dying from consumption, she wrote a huge succession of books, enabling the family to live a greatly improved mode of existence. Her achievement must strike an outside observer as an incredibly heroic undertaking. Trollope seems scarcely impressed.

Some of the more interesting parts of the book are his evaluation of the work of many of his contemporaries. History has not agreed completely with all of his assessments. For instance, he rates Thackery as the greatest novelist of his generation, and HENRY ESMOND as the greatest novel in the language. HENRY ESMOND is still somewhat read, but it hardly receives the kind of regard that Trollope heaped on it, and it is certainly not as highly regarded as VANITY FAIR. Trollope's remarks on George Eliot are, however, far closer to general opinion. His remarks concerning Dickens, are, however, bizarre. It is obvious that Trollope really dislikes him, even while grudgingly offering some compliments. Quite perceptively, Trollope remarks that Dickens's famous characters are not lifelike or human (anticipating E. M. Forster's assessment that Dickens's characters are "flat" rather than "round" like those of Tolstoy or Austen) and that Dickens's famous pathos is artificial and inhuman (anticipating Oscar Wilde's wonderful witticism that "It would take a man with a heart of stone to cry at the death of Little Nell"). Even the most avid fan of Dickens would admit that his characters, while enormously vivid and well drawn, are nonetheless a bit cartoonish, and that much of the pathos is a tad over the top. But Trollope goes on to attack Dickens's prose: "Of Dickens's style it is impossible to speak in praise. It is jerky, ungrammatical, and created by himself in defiance of rules . . . . To readers who have taught themselves to regard language, it must therefore be unpleasant." If one had not read Dickens, after reading Trollope on Dickens, one would wonder why anyone bothered to read him at all. One wonders if some of Trollope's problems with Dickens was professional jealousy. For whatever reason, he clearly believes that Dickens receives far more than his due.

Favorite moment: Trollope recounts being in a club working on the novel that turned into THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET, when he overheard two clergymen discussing his novels, unaware that he was sitting near them. One of them complained of the continual reappearance of several characters in the Barsetshire series, in particular Mrs. Proudie. Trollope then introduces himself, apologizes for the reappearing Mrs. Proudie, and promises, "I will go home and kill her before the week is over." Which, he says, he proceeded to do.

you should consider reading this too! Trollope writes candidly about his education (and about being a poor, mostly overlooked student), his lack of professional ambition (and how he finally got around to witing his first novel),and the ups and downs of his literary career (and his early rejections). He does all of this in the same conversational tone employed in his novels, making this autobiography feel more like a chat with an older, experienced friend than a learned, classic autobiography

This concise volume is a valuable and timely addition to a growing list of monographs detailing a history of global Christianity. Norris' meticulous attentiveness to the historical development of Christianity in Asia, the Far East, and Africa effectively exposes the shortsightedness of the long held assumption that Christianity is a Western religion. Compactness comes at a price, however, and more demanding readers will note a lack of depth some areas. But the author makes up for this with insightful analysis and highly readable prose. Strongly recommended.

For those who want to know the facts, the ins and outs, and who do not have a background in Church history this book is for you. Dr. Norris presents a very detailed review of Christianity in all of its triumphs and losses. He also links the religion often called "Western" to its real roots in Asia. The richness of the Christians of the East has been so often neglected by those concentrating on simply European Church history. We must not forget the stories of those Christians who fought and struggled to gain a foothold in Asia. Excellent work.

As a seminary student I found this book to be an excellent overview of the growth of Christianity in the western world as well as Asia, and Africa, and South America. It is a wealth of information, written in an easy to read manner that engages the reader directly with the culture.

Dr. Norris does an excellent job incorporating quotes and anecdotes about various missionaries throughout history, information that is not normally found in your standard history textbook. I highly recommend this book to any student of world missions.

OK. This is not the book I was looking for... which is too bad since I really wanted the "other" Consider Her Ways, but this was an interesting read nonetheless.

He wrote the forward. It's one page long. The rest of the book is by F. P. Grove. Imagine my disappointment in finding out that the "co-author" who I purchased the book for really had nothing to do with the writing of the novel.

Despite all of the mentions of his name on the page, he did not write this book.

This tale of an expedition of Venezuelan ants north into America (they end up in NY) is breathtaking. Physiological and social ant-info abound but these details merely back up the gripping story. With ferocious battles, double-crosses and these bizarre humans everywhere (still seen as inferiour to our protagonist) I couldn't put this down.
Several scenes in the film 'Antz' must have been lifted straight from this classic.

I ran across a reference to Postmodern Pooh about a week ago, and I decided to read Crews' first Pooh satire before reading the latest. What a gas! Crews takes the prevalent methods of literary criticism leading up to the 1960s and apes them with a deft touch. One of my favorite moments was when "C. J. L. Culpepper, D.Litt., Oxon.," after determining the Christic nature of Eeyore, declares that Christopher Robin is a stand-in for God the Father. He proves this simply: "Christopher Robin" is an anagram for "I HOPE CHRIST BORN. R." ("I take this to be a decree in the hortatory imperative, dispatched to the Heavenly Host, urging the speedy fulfillment of the Incarnation and signed 'R' for REX.")

Admittedly, the book does drag at times, but only rarely, and probably due to Crews' too perfect mimicry of the rather dry literary personae being roasted over the flames. Not many books make me laugh out loud on every page -- this is one of them.

This is a brilliant send-up of the pretentious critiques that has masqueraded as literary criticism since pseudo-intellectualism was first invented by which mental-nonentities could parade as our moral superiors. Just read it. Absolutely convincing, and a breath of fresh air. You will love it - unless you are one of the poseurs, of course. But it will still be devastatingly funny.

A remarkably funny, yet substantial introduction to literary criticism through the works of A A Milne

Just finished reading Shards of Glass and recommend it without reservation as a book worthy of many prizes. I label this review as Biography of Autobiography. It is hard to tell where the biography stops and the autobiography begins. This is a history of the U.S. Army and its officer corps from before the Second Wold War to the post cold war period. But is really the story of one man who fought for his country. What are the responsibilities of an officer to the military and to the civilians with whom he comes in contact? Mr. Wolf leaves it up to the reader. He does not attempt to treat his reader as a school boy in a class. Mr. Wolf continues to use he skills as an excellent writer to bring to life a general of the U. S. Army who faces a moral dilemma which we all face when we are in the military services.

This novel about the life of an American military intelligence officer was written by a military intelligence expert. Frederick Wolf takes a hard look at the realities of war, intelligence gathering, and a mission he believes has been badly mismanaged through the years. No celebration of war by any means, the book examines how family upbringing shapes the protagonist, Brigadier General James B. Roark, Jr. Noting that some 190 million people died in 20th Century wars, the author draws a bead on the need for both accurate intelligence and a very clearly defined mission for the intelligence agencies in the increasingly dangerous 21st century.

Shards of Glass by Frederick Wolf offered a rare glimpse into depths of character rarely explored in fiction. Each of us is mired in our perspective of the world, a perspective that changes dramatically between raw youth and seasoned age. This story was told from the twin perspectives of a young man edging into a military career, and that same man looking back on a long life. Mr. Wolf masterfully catches the nuances of both, drawing the reader into a unique understanding that could not have otherwise been achieved. I was very touched by many of the scenes in this book. But more importantly, for the first time I felt as if I'd begun to understand the true horror of war as it plays out within the individual. As in Conrad's Hearts of Darkness, the individual in this book finds himself in a moral vacuum in which there really was no right or wrong.

This is a powerful story, powerfully told. I will read it again and again.

This book was well written, but the language was extremely sophisticated. The author wrote the novel in how ,now days,we thought the residents of the Medival Times talked. The overall story wasn't too bad, but not as good as I thought it would be. Although the novel was difficult to read, from what you could make out was truly brought to life. You could tell that Howard Pyle truly has a love for writting; reflected from the content in the novel. This novel would be for anyone with an adventerous soul. This novel truly helped my understanding of the Medival history.

Even though this book is very well written. It is NOT and I mean NOT a 9-12 book. The grammar and words are for the reading level of a high-schooler, or adult. Unless I have read a different version... They had the same covers and everything, but it was a hardcover. I don't recommend this to an average kid, unless you're some ultra genius.

I found the book very interesting. It is a great story of legend. The stories have been passed down for many generations; Howard Pyle has done a great job of keeping the stories alive and well written. The characters in the book are all very well developed, by not giving you all of the characteristics at one time. From the beginning to the end, never telling more than what need's to be told. In the beginning of the novel starting with the young King Arthur, before he was the king, telling of how he meet each one of the knights of the round table, and how they came to be at his services. To me that most interesting part of the book was in the beginning when Sir Kay and the other knights where engaged in the battle, the description of the fight, and especially of how Arthur came by the great sword excalibur. The descriptions of not just the first, but of all of the great battles involved in the unfolding of the final story are just great. The book is a great piece of literature and I would recommend it for anyone who needs a little adventure in his or her lives

This is a thrilling account of one British officer's determination to survive and, even more, do everything possible to help win the war. The things this man experienced are almost incomprehensible, yet he endured it all with spirit and never let his fellow men down. It's one of the better-written post-war memoirs I've read, and one of the most enthralling.

When World War II began, Frederick Yeo-Thomas was running the Paris fashion house of Molyneux. At his age, he could have easily sat out the war, parachuting into occupied France as an agent of Britain's Special Operations Executive. He was one of Britain's most heroic secret agents, and played a major role in the growth of the French Resistance. He survived the war, but just barely.

Readers of Leo Marks' "Between Silk and Cyanide" will recognize Yeo-Thomas...he was a man for whom Marks had intense admiration.

The writing style of "White Rabbit" is craftsmanlike but not exceptional.

This book reads stranger than any fiction I can recall. The events that take place for this covert operator in WWII france will make a man doubt his own ability to confront adversity of a similar kind and to indure torture and a certain expectation of a gruesome death. An Iron will, indomitable spirit and some good fortune add up to the survival of a man who was a member of the greatest covert organization to ever exist in the free world. I personally know the son of one of the characters in the book and after talking to him about his fathers comments on The White Rabbit I can reassure you that as amazing as this story is, it is true.

Absolutely gripping first two -thirds of the book. Wonderfully draws you into its world, and takes you into the twists and turns of the spy world. However, the final third is a major let-down. Probably because we are jaded now, but the reversion to straight story in the last furlong was a marked dissapointment after the stirring middle section.

After reading several of Alan Furst's wonderful WWII espionage novels, I noticed that he cited Eric Ambler as a major influence. "Cause for Alarm" is the second Ambler I read, after "Coffin for Dimitrios." Although the plot of Alarm is not as twisty as that of Dimitrios, you really get a feel for what it might have been like to be an innocent bystander caught up in the intrigues of Fascist Italy. Interesting supporting characters round things out to make for a good, quick read.

To read or not to read the great spy novels of Eric Ambler? That is the question most people ignore because they are not familiar with Mr. Ambler and his particularly talent.

Mr. Ambler has always had this problem. As Alfred Hitchcock noted in his introduction to Intrigue (an omnibus volume containing Journey into Fear, A Coffin for Dimitrios, Cause for Alarm and Background to Danger), "Perhaps this was the volume that brought Mr. Ambler to the attention of the public that make best-sellers. They had been singularly inattentive until its appearance -- I suppose only God knows why." He goes on to say, "They had not even heeded the critics, who had said, from the very first, that Mr. Ambler had given new life and fresh viewpoint to the art of the spy novel -- an art supposedly threadbare and certainly cliché-infested."

So what's new and different about Eric Ambler writing? His heroes are ordinary people with whom almost any reader can identify, which puts you in the middle of a turmoil of emotions. His bad guys are characteristic of those who did the type of dirty deeds described in the book. His angels on the sidelines are equally realistic to the historical context. The backgrounds, histories and plot lines are finely nuanced into the actual evolution of the areas and events described during that time. In a way, these books are like historical fiction, except they describe deceit and betrayal rather than love and affection. From a distance of over 60 years, we read these books today as a way to step back into the darkest days of the past and relive them vividly. You can almost see and feel a dark hand raised to strike you in the back as you read one of his book's later pages. In a way, these stories are like a more realistic version of what Dashiell Hammett wrote as applied to European espionage.

Since Mr. Ambler wrote, the thrillers have gotten much bigger in scope . . . and moved beyond reality. Usually, the future of the human race is at stake. The heroes make Superman look like a wimp in terms of their prowess and knowledge. There's usually a love interest who exceeds your vision of the ideal woman. Fast-paced violence and killing dominate most pages. There are lots of toys to describe and use in imaginative ways. The villains combine the worst faults of the 45 most undesirable people in world history and have gained enormous wealth and power while being totally crazy. The plot twists and turns like cruise missile every few seconds in unexpected directions. If you want a book like that, please do not read Mr. Ambler's work. You won't like it.

If you want to taste, touch, smell, see and hear evil from close range and move through fear to defeat it, Mr. Ambler's your man.

On to Cause for Alarm. The book begins powerfully with a prologue, Death in Milan. A man is waiting to follow an Englishman in the cold. The Englishman appears and crosses the street. A large limousine accelerates violently into him, running him over. The man next to the driver sees that the Englishman is still alive, and directs the driver to "Go back and make certain." They run over the Englishman again. This time, he dies.

English production engineer, Nicky Marlow has just gotten engaged, and almost as quickly loses his job when the Barton Heath works have to be closed when a key customer is lost. Jobs are scarce during the Depression, yet he turns down a chance to take a four year contract in Bolivia for small pay. Finally, he applies for and obtains a one-year assignment in Milan which will mean being away from his fiancee, who has encouraged him to be sensible. They can get married later.

The job means supplying equipment needed to make munitions, and Germany and Italy are now allies. So Marlow is put in the touchy position of helping make arms that may be used later against his countrymen. He closes his eyes to that problem and begins doing his new job, replacing a predecessor who was unexpectedly killed in an automobile accident. Soon, strange characters begin courting his favors and offering him tempting deals. One of them even encourages him to play along with another of the characters. It seems that Marlow has unexpectedly put himself right in the middle of Britain's enemies as they spy on one another. Everyone needs him to do their bidding, and few care whether he survives or not. The Fascists even grab his passport to make him more vulnerable. Totally unprepared, he begins to pursue a dangerous double-timing game.

One of the reasons why I am so fond of this book (which I have read several times) is that it points out that when we ignore the morality of our business activities there will be a price to be paid. Another interesting moral question is what the right thing to do is when we are faced with the possibility of reducing risk to others by increasing the risk to ourselves. When are we obligated to do so?

The colorful figures of Zaleshoff and General Vagas make the story ever so much spicier. Neither are people with whom Marlow would have associated in England, yet the two are key to his making progress in Milan.

The book's structure is written like three novellas. The first details the situation in which Marlowe finds himself. The second involves his engagement in the espionage. The third relates his attempt to escape. You will feel like a person being sucked by the undertow out to sea as you progress from one novella to the next . . . as increasing fear and heaviness grip you.

After you finish, think about some place in your life where your work causes or could cause harm to others. How can you overcome that current or potential harm?

This is a VERY helpful book that has so much information at your finger tips (as opposed to always having to lug around those heavy guidebooks and have to search for the useful info). The translations for destinations (Vienna=Wien etc.) and sign translations are very helpful. The four-color maps are nice to trace in your route for future reference. There is so much here that is useful, I cannot tell all that I liked. And, of course, the blank pages for your travel journal rounds out this very unique, personal souvenir of your trip.

Thanks, Amazon, for carrying this book. This is why Amazon succeeds--carrying books that are hard to find. I found it only here. Bookstores told me they had to order it.

DESTINATION EUROPE rank: 4 stars

DESTINATION EUROPE is a concise,helpful travel journal for the traveler to Europe. All the information and categories are specific for the European Continent complete with maps to trace your trip. All European currencies, language phrases, photo record and the like are specificaaly designed for the trip to Europe in mind. No more need to get a travel journal that was designed for a generic trip i.e Asia, Mexico etc. If you are planning an European trip and would like to have a very personal record of your experiences down to what beers and wine you imbibed, this journal is irreplaceable.

DESTINATION EUROPE is a great travel companion to the inevitable guidebook. Usually on a trip, your experiences and memories come so fast, that your memories are forgotten soon afterwards. Not so if you use this book to prompt you to jot down things such as tracing your route on the four color maps, what wine you tasted, music you enjoyed and the like. The concise information offered, such as phonetic language phrases, sign translations, shopping guide, flags and weights and measures are much more concise and readily available than any guidebook. The convenient spiral binding with the inside cover pockets for the inevitable tickets, brochures and other "travel trash" that you end up wanting to save, makes DESTINATION EUROPE a very personal souvenir of your trip. Reading about my trip of three years ago is always entertaining and reminds me of how much I would have forgotten. The diary section is well designed and encourages you to drink in your memories ! for recording later. It is a great motivation. O.K.--I think writing in this travel journal is a great idea. 5 stars___

I actually came across Professor Kremkau's textbook accidentally, when I was looking for some not too dated text on the physics of medical ultrasound. Although it was obviously aimed at a practicing ultrasonographer preparing for some ARDMS or ARRT exam rather than a physicist trying to brush up his knowledge of medical ultrasound, it proved to be a valuable source of relatively recent information on the current state of the area.

The textbook starts with an overview of the basic physics of waves and ultrasound, proceeds to the transducers and beam shape, and continues to the computer technology used for imaging. Next comes a chapter on the Doppler effect, being followed by a discussion on spectral analysis. A synthesis of these two techniques is the color Doppler imaging, and an entire chapter is devoted on the recent techniques like Color Doppler and Color Power Doppler. The textbook is concluded by a chapter discussing the artifacts, and finally a chapter on performance and safety.

The style is highly readable, although the text is somewhat repetitive. One striking observation - for a physicist at least - is that professor Kremkau denies the efforts spent in inventing a readable representation of mathematical relations over the past 500 years or so, and has invented his own system. So instead of the usual "wavelength equals propagation speed divided by frequency" written in mathematical symbols, we see frames like "frequency UP, wavelength DOWN" throughout the book. Strange, and probably not particularly efficient.

Each chapter is accompanied by a list of over 100 questions, and the answers are provided at the end of the book after the summary chapter. Each chapter also contains a small handy glossary. The book is lavishly illustrated and has a useful index, while the list of references is not particularly impressive.

I think,that this book is for those, who wants understand, what is ultrasound, what are the basic principals of working with it, and how to use ultrasound in practice. So, good begining for education in the field of ultrasound. Good luck for everybody, and of course, fortune!

I found this book very understandable and easy in the sense that it describes most of the physical principles in detail and with equation which some other authors lack. Though it's not so easy to read at once or showing not only definations but also descriptions of topics which makes it more to understand instead of just memorizing the things and that is the most important thing I found in it