'Tis true my form is something odd
but blaming me is blaming God,
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole
or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul -
the mind's the standard of the man.

I bought this book many years ago, unfortunately I made the mistake of lending it to someone and I never got it back. This is a remarkable book. I was touched by Joseph Merrick years ago. For the past nine years, I have been running the Joseph Carey Merrick Tribute Website. It is a site dedicated to Joseph, the person - not Joseph, the disability. I'm presently heading a London and Leicester (UK) campaign to have a commemorative plaque erected in his honour. He deserves to have a permanent tribute. He has done a great deal to advance medical science, through his skeleton, and thanks to him, there will one day be a cure for Proteus Syndrome. It's time the world said 'thank you'. Please give your moral support by visiting the site. I'm not sure if web addresses can be mentioned here, so simply type the following in your web browser: Joseph Carey Merrick Tribute Website

I inherited this book from a deceased family member. I had heard about David Lynch's movie about The Elephant Man, but I never saw it. Reading this book made me cry and empathize with Joseph Carey Merrick for his condition and the ostractize he received from the world based on his looks and not his soul.

Joseph Carey Merrick was the real Elephant Man not a fictional character. Joseph had a loving mother that died when he was a child and his father moved and remarried. His step-mother didn't like him and scorned him for his looks and his inability to find work due to his lameness, telling him that what she fed him was more than he earned. Eventually he refused to return home for meals because he didn't want to listen to step-mother barate him anymore. His father stopped looking for him, but did get him a hawker's license to hawk wares on the street. But people were afraid of him and would not buy his wares, and he acquired a gathering of curious people around him. His uncle gave him shelter for a while, but Joseph left there too. He worked in the workhouse a place of refuge and work for the poor and destitute for 3 years, but hated it and left. He ended up being exhibited as a sideshow freak under the name of "The Elephant Man" because his congenital deformity made it so that he resemble that of an elephant (or so the posters showed him to resemble). When he was at Whitechapel Road, across the street from the London Hospital Dr. Treves saw him for the first time and brought him to the hospital to examine him. Over the next few years Joseph was exhibited, his managers robbed him of his life savings and left. Joseph went back to Whitechapel Road and to the care of the only friend he knew . . . Dr. Treves. He spent his remaining years under the friendship and care of the staff at the London Hospital.

I loved this story. Michael Howell and Peter Ford told a true and compassionate account of Joseph Merrick's life. A man who was like any other human being with hopes and dreams with one setback.. His congenital deformity that prohibited his ability to be like, and experience and sleep lying down on his back like other people. Through all of years and hardships, Joseph was scared, but kind and kept a calm serenity inside himself about his condition. He had so much gratitude for the staff and his new friends who helped him, he made cardboard models and sent these things to those people who saw to his care in his appreciation for their help. The book also includes pictures how Merrick looked when he was admitted to the London Hospital, and a display of his skeleton after death.

I first read the original article on the elephant man Joseph Merrick by Dr Treves in a magazine in the mid 1970s. I then saw the movie in 1980. The movie peaked my interest for further info so I bought the book. The book not only goes into extensive detail of the disease but goes also extensively into Joseph Merrick's life as well as life in the Victorian era as it effected the common man. The imagery of the period was brought out by the writers: the London Hospital, the surrounding area, the showmen and their lives, etc. The research was very detailed, although later after the book's publication we learned of the possibility that Merrick suffered from Proteus and not pneumofibromatosis. This book should be read by anybody interested in these diseases as well as anybody interested in this time period.

Known by his contemporaries as the only social theorist to apply Darwin critically, in 1899 Thorstein Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class: A Economic Study of Institutions, which was to become the basis from which all further American leisure history and theory stemmed. In his study, Veblen is primarily concerned with the "new rich," whom he regards as social parasites that retard the growth of modern life. Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class from a perspective that was largely isolated from his own culture, which either aided in his understanding of the Leisure Class or perhaps negatively influenced his opinions due to his exclusion from it. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen essentially confines man and woman's existence on the planet as a struggle to change and adapt with the growth of their communities. Through this belief, Veblen develops a theme that amounts to the idea of a certain "dominant" type of individual. This individual develops a social structure through dominance in which social advance is sought by others. She/he will feel the discrepancy between the modern life and traditional life during the process. Though Veblen's rhetoric is sometimes anxious, sometimes negative, he actively pursues a specific account of the origins of the Leisure Class through individuals. The struggle for individual advancement eventually expands to include society, and the more individual struggle for advancement in society leads to the accumulation of surplus goods.
Surplus of conspicuous consumption by the Leisure Class gives the class license to indulge shamefully in pure conspicuous consumption, where their occupations eventually become leisure itself. These "professions" of the Leisure Class by nature render it closed, and impenetrable by outsiders.
Thorstein Veblen wrote the Leisure Class represented the new phenomena of conspicuous consumption compared to pre-Industrialized wealthy communities as well as contemporary working-class ones. But as intellectual inquiry into the topic of leisure has progressed over the past one hundred years, leisure has come to hold a number of definitions and meanings.

Mr. Veblen is a refined person in the use of the words he uses to address and explain the economic habits of the refined people of the upper-class of the beginning of the last century. He spares no expenses in detailing in a very polite manner the idiossincracies of the noble and very rich when deciding what to buy, what to use and how to behave, going also to all lenghts explainning how these habits mold and form the habits of the not so rich and noble strata of the society. His theory of the leisure class reachs significance when compared to the rationality which some economists, classics and neo-classics, ascribe to the human being as an economic agent. I was quite surprised by the elegant style of Mr.Veblen and the fine irony (which he does not admit) with which he treats the rich and noble of his time. Sure, this is a book which could be also serve well times ahead and before Veblen's time.

This opus by Veblen exposes the real meaning of the pecuniary advancement of the working and merchant classes, and the formation of elites based mostly upon money and asset valuation. The transfiguration of the traditional social and individual ethical values that this phenomenon produced, is portraited with clarity and sarcastic intelligence by the author in the book, first published in 1899.
Now a classic of economic theory, as well as a text book of social science, it describes the tendencies of consumerism, leisure and the "materialization" of the ideals of the aspiring new princes (or noveau rich) of society. Veblen's vibrant satire of the tendency of the modern individual to believe that real accomplishment is all about aquiring a condition of ostentatious wealth and status, and his analisis of the inception of modern class structure in America, still stand, a century after, as recommended reading for historians and economists.
If you are a fervent follower of advertisement, fashion, "glamour" and other modern expressions of consumerism , then you will find a surprisingly fresh portrait of yourself in this book. It worries me that the leisure class and its shallow views and values as described by Veblen, may still today represent elites in America and their religion, as analyzed by professor Lash in his last book "The Revolt of the Elites". I highly recommend Veblen's best book, to scholars and sociologists at large.

My heart was touched by the wonderful characters in all three of these luscious stories. After reading Castle Magic, I yearn to visit Scotland. The rich Scottish culture permeates the pages of this book. Buy it! Read it! You won't be disappointed.

Three stories about one special castle, Castle Cnocanduin. The castle had been built around a well considered to hold magical powers. As long as the well holds water, the mistress or mistress-to-be of the castle shall be protected. All she need do is wish, take a drink, and believe.

The first story is set in 1385, by Hannah Howell. The second is set in 1550, by Judith E. French. The third is set in 1725, by Colleen Faulkner. Each story is remarkable. I closed each with a smile on my face.

I highly recommend this book. I consider it Romance Extraordinaire!

Castle Magic has wonderful lovely stories, very uplifting and fun, I enjoyed all of them. I bought the book because of Judith French, I have read her books for years. She is a wonderful writer as well as Hannah Howell and Colleen Faulkner. If you want a book to make your day get this one! Ohio

I purchased this book before going to Mexico for a three-month research trip. While this guide is fairly complete, it is more than a little cumbersome to take along on any birding expedition. Also, some of the illustrations seem cartoon-like, especially after seeing the real bird in the wild. However, the general information at the beginning of the book about birding in Mexico was helpful, and it helped to initiate some interesting discussions with local nature guides.

I will be brief - I find this to be the best field guide to the birds of any neotropical region currently available, and I pretty much have studied them all on depth! The only guides that come close to this level of usefulness are Hilty's Columbia field guide and the new Ridgely/Greenfield Ecuador 2 volume set. This book has excellent, seasonally specific range maps, and illustrates many plumage variations. I am astonished to read other reviews in which this book is considered cumbersome, because all too often smaller, lighter books sacrifice completness of information and thoroughness, which compromises their usefulness. True, it's a hefty volume, but it treats a complex avifauna without sacrificing necessary information. The other criticism I was surprised by was that the pictures were too "cartoonlike"; I have found these plates to be some of the most useful in the field, for they emphasize key characteristics with clarity. In the field, simplicity is far more practical than overly-detailed artwork which may be more lifelike, but blurs the differences between species. Anyway, praise for Howell! May this volume set an example for future field guides throughout Latin America!

I've found this field guide quite complete, cause all the plates are well distributed, you can find the bird in perch & flying wich are really good when you're in the field, I've used this guide in all mexico for 4 months and work great!! even with the birds of tres marias island, it's rare find a book which describes the bird of this particular zone, the part describing the mexican border with guatemala it's fantastic, relating possible sightings of great birds of prey like (guiana crested eagle)in this part, and also mexican goverment used this book as a first bibliography, in it's bird conservation programmes,(parrot, birds of prey, passerines) first released on 1999 (PREPS)Semarnat.

i really recommed this book

This work as a whole will enlarge your understanding of water maiden creatures, but don't expect to find any rivetting storytelling.

The value of this book lies in its cultural scope. How intriguing to note that water maidens play a significant role in the folk lore of such diverse cultures! And how interesting to see how these creatures vary from country to country (for they are not all mermaids as the title would suggest). Readers will discover an added bonus in Howell's artwork, which enhances the cultural flavor of each tale to great effect.

However, each tale is written in a sparse, folk tale style--flat characters and settings with little descriptive embellishments. For this reason I would recommend this book mainly to those who love mermaids and other sea creatures, rather than to those who just looking for a good story. But recommend it I do, for it is a fine collection.

i'm 15 years old and have always loved mermaids. My favorite movie is Disney's The Little Mermaid, and i am always interested in any books i come across about them. i came across this book in 6th grade. it was my teacher's book, but i stole it for the entire year! i read it over and over again, i was mesmerized by the stories and pictures. most of the stories i havnt even heard before. i was so sad when i had to give it back, but just now, 3 years later, i found it on this website! i ordered it right away and couldn't be happier. i reccomend this book to anyone that has a facsination with mermaids. this book is truly wonderful.

This book is wonderful for all ages. It includes stories from all over the world, not just Europe. The illustrations are excpetional, with the artist emulating the style of whatever area of the world the story is from, resulting in a genuine feel. The stories are told well, and the book is large enough to be able to show the pictures to a story-time group if desired. I am an adult, yet I found the stories to be interesting and though not dumbed down, accessible to almost all age groups.

As a reasonably educated 41 year old East Coast white dude, I found this book basically unreadable. I stopped after about page 30. Maybe I need to brush up on my Swedish B-film history and try again.

I was delighted by "The Late Projectionist." Mr. Howell's first novel is a witty and inventive portrait of aspiring film auteurs in a small town. His characters are original, and I was thoroughly engaged by their picaresque adventures. I recommend this book for all lovers of modern literary fiction.

Well, it's no Dutch. Thank goodness. Back in 1955, Theodore Bonnet wrote a novel set in Llagas, a fictionalized Petaluma, California. Dutch deals with what happens to a local bar owner when a painting that has hung in his bar longer than the memory of the oldest citizen is discovered to be a Rembrandt.

Except for the descriptions of a 1950s Petaluma, the novel has not lasted nearly as well as a Rembrandt: its 416 pages are tiresome and plotless.

Forty-four years later, native Petaluman Daedalus Howell offers The Late Projectionist, or From Angst to Zilch: The Portable Buntel Eriksson Filmography, another Petaluma novel that is shorter, livelier, far funnier and more entertaining. Hopefully it will wear better and last far longer than Dutch.

The 27-year-old Howell, Argus-Courier entertainment editor, theater critic for the Sonoma County Independent and a contributor to the North Bay edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, offers what he calls small town satire, a comic portrait of the artist as a young cineaste gone wrong in this, his first novel.

His hero, who bears more than a passing resemblance to the author, is "a café bon vivant and Swedish B-film aficionado caught in a quagmire of betrayal, intrigue and comic misadventure who embarks on a lucrative antiquarian book caper, and pursues the fetching demoiselle who threatens its success."

Born and brought up in Petaluma, Howell jokingly suggests that he, and many of his pals, are dragonflies in amber: ensnared in Petaluma and Sonoma County thanks to Chief Cotate's Curse.

"A buddy of mine," Howell says, "that I hadn't seen in years ran into me in Gale's Central Club. He swung me into a seat and proceeded to tell me why he was back in town - it was Chief Cotate's Curse. "According to local legend, Chief Cotate was one of the leaders of the tribal nation in these parts. When settlers started coming, destroying the land and the people, he said to them, 'You can have what will become Sonoma County - but you cannot leave.'

"We've all left, but we've all come back and will undoubtedly complete the cycle again. That theme, the notion of attempted escape and yearning for the a vague notion of 'elsewhere' is germane to Petaluma's youth experience and a key inspiration for much of the book - that and the reckless and often sinister lives we've lived here. This place is a riot - it's the human comedy drizzled all over the canvas of small-town Americana. And you wonder why Hollywood is always lurking around?"

Howell is also the author of the play Mad Ave.: A Boardroom Farce in Two Acts. It was featured in Sonoma County Repertory Theatre's series of New Drama Works last January.

How autobiographical is the book?

"There are events that happened locally that certainly inspired scenes." But, he continues, much of what started out as fact has developed into fiction.

"I have the wonderful situation of having grown up with many of the people I'm still friends with. It makes for a bounty of mutual experiences and a sense of collective memory."

Looking back on this shared growing up, Howell says, "it seems to grow more mythic with time as the details are smoothed into de facto archetypes. Consequently it's a great font for fiction.

"What was thrilling," he continues, "was springboarding from the foibles my cronies and I have gone through. I consider this a sort of ad hoc social history - albeit, a fictionalized one - of a very peculiar, but important arts scene. Someday, after a few careers take off, I'm confident the true stories will end up fodder for a coffee table book."

a laugh. "I was a ticket taker. I didn't want to be one - I was more interested in being the guy in front."

Currently Howell lives in the building designed by famed local architect Brainerd Jones and used by him as both home and office. "I had fun playing with the notion of myself, the author, finishing the book in Jones' home, where he had, as an architect, designed Petaluma, while I redesigned it as Lumaville, my own private labyrinth."

And Chief Cotate's Curse? Will Howell escape "this dread wonderful place, this Lumaville?"

"That's up to the readers. Every page turned is a dollar earned," he quips. "Seriously, if it does really well, the next one will be easier to write. Otherwise, you can keep reading my columns in the Argus-Courier."

I just wanted to let everyone know that this CHILDREN'S book just won a Caldecott honor. As I scrolled down to read the reviews, I was shocked to hear of romance, mystery, etc. Then I realized that the reviews were intended for a different book entitled "The Ugly Duckling." I don't know why it happened, but don't let the reviews fool you! The new version of Hans Christian Anderson's The Ugly Duckling, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney is excellent and worthy of being a new Caldecott honor book!

Like most parents, you want your child's home library to include standard fairy tales. Jerry Pinkney's "The Ugly Duckling" combines incredibly detailed ilustrations with a nice balance of both strong and muted colors AND a wonderful re-telling of the generations-old standard tale. In this verson, however, people are woven into the story in a way that I haven't seen before, and I like that very much. It's easy to see why this book was selected as a 1999 Caldecott Honor Book. Pinkney's a very gifted illustrator, and he really has to be given credit for his well-constructed text as well as the gorgeous pictures. Authors who write and then illustrate their own stories are somewhat rare, and as an adult, I appreciate the incredible mix of talent and hard work this represents. My children, of course, just love the pictures; they'll grow to appreciate good writing as they get older.

Our class liked it when the ugly duckling turned into a swan. Everyone learned that it doesn't matter if you don't look like everyone else. You should like who you are. We learned about the differences between swans and ducks. Our class learned that when you are young you have to learn about a lot of different things. We think that kids could learn about different things from reading this story such as animals, other stories to read, and feelings.

A usual book review outlines something of the plot, not enough to give everything away, but at least something to catch a potential reader's fancy. I cannot assure you that this book has much of plot---some men come together to run a new bi-weekly magazine in New York in the 1880s, their financial backer has hickish, conservative tendencies and he opposes a certain impoverished writer who supports socialism (then a wild-eyed fantasy. This rich man's son, who abhors any form of business, is made into the managing editor. A crisis develops, takes a sudden unexpected turn, and the men buy out the backer, who leaves for Europe. Most novels have a main character whose moods and motivations are central to the work. Not A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES. Several people figure almost equally in this respect, none of them women, but women are developed more than in most male-authored novels of the time, even including a sympathetic view of a very independent female character. Basil March might be taken for the main character, but that would be mostly because he is introduced first. He is abandoned for long stretches while we follow the lives and personalities of others.

Yet, I must say, I admired Howells' novel very much. It is not for those who require action, sex, or dramatic events. Rather, it is a slice of life of the period, of the place, of family life and social repartee that may be unequalled. Though Howells claimed to be a "realist" and he is often spoken of, it seems, as one of such a school in American literature, the novel oscillates between extremely vivid descriptions of all varieties of life in New York, humanist philosophizing, and mild melodrama, thus, I would not class it as a truly realist novel in the same sense as say, "McTeague" by Frank Norris. Howells had the American optimism, the reluctance to dwell on the darker sides of human nature. This novel may draw accusations, then, of naivete. I think that would be short-sighted. Henry James and Faulkner might be deeper psychologically and Hemingway more sculpted, but Howells sometimes puts his finger right on the very essence of American ways of thinking and on American character. Some sections, like for instance the long passage on looking for an apartment in New York-over thirty pages---simply radiate genius. The natural gas millionaire and his shrewish daughter; the gung-ho, go-getter manager of the magazine; the dreamy, but selfish artists, the Southern belle---all these may be almost stock characters in 20th century American letters, but can never have been better summarized than here. Two statements made by Basil March, a literary editor married into an old Boston family, sum up the feel of A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES, a novel that takes great cognizance of the potential for change in people (always an optimist's point of view). First, he says, "There's the making of several characters in each of us; we are each several characters and sometimes this character has the lead in us, and sometimes that." And lastly, he says "I don't know what it all means, but I believe it means good." Howells was no doubt a sterling man and this, perhaps his best novel, reflects that more than anything else.

This title should be on the syllabus of every American lit class. Read it and you'll realize that the canon is as full of holes as a chuck of swiss cheese.

William Dean Howells in his lifetime was ranked with his friend,Henry James as a writer of a new realistic kind of fiction,and however mild and idealistic it seems today,was considered by its admirers as refreshingly revolutionary and by others as cynical meanspiritedness seeking to sacrifice all that was "noble" in art.While actually having little in common with James, (he seems to be closer in spirit to Trollope)Howells' name was always side by side with James' and it was probably supposed that their future reputations would share a similiar fate. Unfortunately,that was not the case-while Henry James is considered a giant of American belles lettres,Howells has been relegated to minor status and except by a happy few,little read."A Hazard of New Fortunes",possibly Howell's best work,is one of the better known-but most people aren't aware that it is one of the greatest works of fiction in American literature.It is an impressive panorama of American life towards the end of the last century.People from Boston,the west,the south and Europe all converge in New York to enact a comedy of manners or tragedy,depending on their fortunes,that compares in its scope and masterly dissection of society, with"The Way We Live Now".Howell's light irony touches upon the eternal divisions between the haves and the have-nots,male and female,the socially secure and the unclassed,and with the Marches,the book's ostensible heroes,uses a typical normal middleclass family-with all of its intelligence,understanding,decency on one side and with all of its pretensions,timidity,selfishness on the other-to reflect the social unease and lack of justice in a supposedly sane and fair world.The book is subtle in its power and underneath its light tone probes the problems of its day with compassion and insight.Indeed,many of the problems it depicts are still relevant today.William Dean Howells wrote so many novels of worth that he deserves to have more than just a cult following; "A Hazard of New Fortunes" amply illustrates this.

I do wish that someone had said that this author writes in "Scottish" dialect (and I use the word Scottish lightly indeed!) You'll know what I mean if you've ever visited Scotland -no one really babbles on the way they do in this book. And am I the only reader who finds it very hard work to bother with reading dialect?

BUT over and above all that why on earth were the heroine and her cousin so small?? Tiny in fact! All that looking up into the faces of giant men and snuggling into their beards and suchlike -YUK! I always imagine these little women have sharp, ferrity features and tinny, squeaky voices to match their tiny frames!

I want to read about grown up women not veritable children - an impression that has the power to turn me right off the book - After a while I skipped the och's and ayes and read the end.

It's gone to the church sale now!

Ms Howell quickly captures your attention with her descriptions of the characters, their humorous interactions, and the pace of the book. Cameron (the hero) captures your heart with his strong but wounded persona. Avery (the heroine) and her sister Gilly leave you cheering as they determine what buttons to push within their dark knight and his companions. Watch for some entertaining and interesting dynamics between some of the secondary characters.

I loved this book. The heroine has heart. She's bold, honest and even though she is small, she has her wits. The hero admires and is even a little astonished at her abilities. I enjoy a book that doesn't make all women out to be some tissue snivelling weaklings. I read it 3 times, and laughed each time.

Although I agree that the author advocates a thoughtful and gentle approach to riding which is to be commended, as a novice to dressage I found the information hard to put to use. There is much digression into theory during explanation of the aids for various movements. I didn't find it helpful to hear how, for example, the perfect half-pass "should" be done. I was hoping to be told what EXACTLY to do with my aids, what to avoid and how best to present this movement to my horse, as clearly as possible and without a lot of "pie-in-sky" wishful thinking. I agree with the reviewer from Charlotte that this book is not for beginners. If anyone thinks I am off the mark, please let me know - otherwise I will return this book.

The author demonstrates clearly his love for horses and the art of dressage. He emphasizes the fundamentals of good riding: a good seat and hence quiet giving hands. This is not really a 'how-to' book, but then no book on riding really can be, because riding is not something mechanical. I enjoyed reading this book, even though the text is quite repetitive at times. It made me newly aware of aspects of my riding, and I have been riding dressage for more than 20 years!

This book tells you how to get the best results out of your horse. It has so much vital information if you want to become a good dressage rider or just in general riding. If you love horses and want to ride your horse with the most humane and loving way this book is for you!! I admire the author's love, dedication and respect for horses and there well being.