Mary Shelley's novel, 'The Last Man' is a work which is slowly gaining the critical attention it richly deserves. Fans of 'Frankenstein' will be astounded at how much deeper Mary Shelley's indictment of 'masculine' visionary Romanticism, technology, and the faults of humanity go in 'The Last Man'. At the same time, the novel is fraught with problems and contradictions which give an already paranoid work a whirling sense of internal dementia.

The action of 'The Last Man' takes place between 2073 and 2100 AD. England is ripe for change as the last King of England abdicates his throne in response to public outcry for a more democratic form of government. Lionel Verney, a shepherd, is drawn out of a life of wildness and crime by Adrian, the former crown prince of England. The charismatic Lord Raymond enters the story as the lover of Lionel's sister, Perdita, and the newly-elected Lord Protector of England. Torn between his love of power and his affections for his wife and a persistent attachment to Evadne, a Greek woman, Raymond renounces his political position and flees to Greece. There, he leads a military campaign to establish Greek independence and bring about the end of the Turkish empire.

Then, the Plague takes over. The nondescript malady has wiped out the population of Constantinople just as Raymond conquers it, making his victory meaningless. Word of the plague's virulence comes in from Asia and America, and from the southern, eastern, and western corners of the world, the plague begins to encroach inward towards Europe and England. The remainder of the novel tracks Lionel and Adrian's attempts to save the human race from utter annihilation.

In 'The Last Man', Mary Shelley gives us a horrifying, desolate prophecy of the future, when religion, technology, and human effort are all exposed as meaningless. Although many might say that she also abandons the redemptive possibilities of art, I think that art provides the novel's only hope. Mary Shelley's dependence on art of every format is clear in the novel's influences - She has Lionel refer to literature, including the works of Daniel Defoe, Charles Brockden Brown, Ann Radcliffe, Homer, Shakespeare, and Jonathan Swift among others.

The novel is fraught with problems of gender and power relations. At any moment of emotional weakness, Lionel calls himself 'girlish' or 'womanly,' and the novel seems to privilege women who are selfless and submissive. On the other hand, as Morton Paley's introduction points out, the plague itself is consistently described as female, at one place referred to as 'The Queen of the World'. With regard to power relations, Lionel continually mentions that in the dying world of humanity, social distinctions have all been abandoned - and yet there are still references to his 'servant' or those of other people. The most problematic scene in the novel revolves around racial distinctions when Lionel encounters a dying black man in London.

There are a million things to talk about in 'The Last Man,' and a novel so rich for discussion deserves to be read by as many people as possible. This is a book I warmly recommend, so pick it up and discover that there is more to Mary Shelley than 'Frankenstein'.

The Last Man starts with a man telling the story of his life; how he was orphaned at an early age and had to go to work at the age of five(!) and grew up to become a juvenile delinquent with a probable career as a criminal. His life is utterly changed by an admirable young man who is simply kind to him. What you may be asking does this have to do with the title? Mary Shelley is being sneaky here. She pulls you completely into the narrator's life. You and he barely notice when someone mentions a plague in China. Here the comparison to the AIDS epidemic is all to apt. A plague is advancing. The end of the world is at hand and no one pays attention because it doesn't directly, personally affect their lives. Suddenly, the plague is everywhere and then, too late, the human race scrambles to find a way to survive. It's a very profound, very sad book, well-worth the effort.

Written in 1826, this is, as far as I know, the first novel to take up the subject of a deadly plague that threatens the survival of the human race. Potential readers need to be warned that the writing style takes an effort to get used to. There is nothing wrong with it. It's simply different from a different age, the age of the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen. It is well worth the effort.

True imagination and a wonderfully written tale of a tortured man. I thought Frankenstein was a powerfully depressing book of a man's loss of self, but Shelley tops herself with this gothic masterpiece (POOR VERNEY). Don't let Shelley's critics fool you. Give this book a try.

As an athletic trainer, I purchased the book for another source in dealing with my athletes and their injuries. I am always looking for summaries of injuries that I might present to them that will put them at ease and help them understand the treatment protocols. I found that too much information was outdated in the book, which kinda goes along with the people who it is meant for. The book did mention plenty of common injuries, however, I would not tell my friends or family some of the treatments given in the book. Most being behind the times, and speaking of behind the times, some of the Locker Room Lingo used is ways outdated, get with the times.

I heard Morton Dean interviewed on the radio about Return to Glory Days and was intrigued that he suffered more slings and arrows running, playing softball and tennis than he did covering the world's hot spots. Skimming through Return to Glory Days while in line to purchase it, I, for the first time, did holiday shopping before Christmas eve and bought 8 copies of Return to Glory Days for active friends and family members. The book reads like Mr. Dean's newscasts--straight-forward, easy to understand and just the facts.

I picked up Mr.Dean's book after seeing him on a local talk show. What a fabulous idea--providing a treatment/reference book for common sports injuries for those of us that still think are bodies can do what they did when we were 18. It's very well organized and user-friendly. Thank you, Mr. Dean. I can guarantee these pages will be worn and tattered from use. And now I have the best "get well" gift for my friends that over-do that weekend workout and want a quick recovery.

This is a very good book for those who have little knowledge of musical theory, and those who have none. It contains three books which can also be bought seperatly. This book was used as a textbook for me for my voice lessons. It proved to help me a great deal since I am going to be studying music in college this fall. It's best to buy the CDs so you can do the ear trianing as well. You have no way of checking your answers unless you also purchase the teacher's answer key. I gave it a three just because you have to buy the CDs and teacher's answer key to get the most out of the book.

This is a terrific book for any age. I teach theory to students who are all under the age of 12, the youngest is 6, and it makes sense to all of them, but I would also reccomend it to adults who know nothing about Theory, or a small amount, because it covers everything clearly and the excercises are great for anyone.

My husband is 35 and beginning to learn the guitar. But in addition to learning the instrument, he is a total beginner reading music and counting beats, etc. This student book along with the related Teacher Activity Book has been very helpful taking things step by step in a fun way. I recommend it!

This is a nice little book, easily read in one or two sittings, about mostly technological inventions. There are great pictures and/or prints, and clear explanations, even for those who are technologically-challenged. Each invention takes up only one page. Quite suitable for kids ten and up, and adults who want a quick introduction or reference book. I enjoyed it, and passed it on to my unix supervisor son. Some really interesting stuff here.

This book contains inventions from all around the world from microchips to fire. This is a really good book if you are going to do research on inventions.

I have been a cath labo nurse for 3 months.This is a nice book for cath labo staff like me, but there isn't so many figure enough to understand coronary anatomy in angiography and electorophysic study.

The cardiac catheterization handbook is the essential reference for the cardiac cath lab. The book covers a wide range of topics including the cath lab organization, hemodynamics, electrophysiology, angiography and interventions. There are some great diagrams that compare catheter shape and radiographic views which are very helpful for those new to cath lab.

This book is almost impossible for me to rate.

If the book had stopped with raising the question about how to invest so that you had financial security, and exposed all the risks as it does, it would have been a five-star book.

If the book had only looked at the importance of assuming that the future is unpredictable, and discussed alternatives about how to reduce the risk of that unpredictability, it would have been a five-star book.

Where the book gets into trouble, is that it offers unqualified recommendations that will get you into financial trouble. I graded the book down two stars for this problem.

The book argues that you focus on your day job (your career) as task one. Very few people will ever get to the point where investments replace earned or operating business income. Most financial books skip over this very important point.

Further, the book makes the important distinction between money that you should not take risks with and money that you can afford to lose. And it reiterates that distinction often and effectively. The money you plan to retire on is money with which you should not take much risk, and the money you have saved above that you can try other things with.

I particularly admired the many ways Mr. Browne documents the likelihood that any way you learn about to "beat the market" will soon do very poorly. Although this will not be enough to discourage the inexperienced from avoiding "taking a flyer," certain lessons can only be learned the hard way by most people.

So what's the real problem with investing? Prices fluctuate . . . a lot. These fluctuations cause investors to do the wrong things. They buy high and sell low. Ouch!

Mr. Browne's solution is to put together a portfolio that will protect you against the downside circumstances of high inflation, deflation, prosperity, and deflation. Although he doesn't say it, he wants your investments to be steadier in value so you won't be tempted to buy high and sell low.

Here is where the thinking gets a little dicey. How much downside risk you need to protect against depends solely on two things: the likelihood that you will sell at the wrong time and how long you will hold the asset. So the solution will tend to differ for each person. And I'm not quite sure how anyone assesses anyone's emotional tendency to buy and sell at the wrong time.

So let's shift focus. How can you avoid taking a ride downward? In nominal terms, that's not too hard. Stay in cash. You will always get some return, and if you are holding government short-term securities (like Treasury bills) or are in a government-insured savings account, there is little risk of losing your principal. For example, in tax deferred accounts, the returns on cash now are well above inflation. So in some environments, you won't even lose buying power.

So if you are close to retirement (or needing the money), it makes sense to be almost totally or totally in cash.

If you are 20 years old, the question turns around. Over a period of 40-50 years, cash will probably earn you a lower return than any other investment you can make. But can you handle the volatility? You should probably assume that you cannot handle the volatility. So you should have a fair amount of cash too in your "investment" rather than your "speculative" funds.

But you can handle that risk, too, in another way. You can save more money than you need to retire on (or for your children's education or whatever). Then the volatility will only take you down towards the minimum sums you need to have, not take you below your targets. If this approach feels comfortable to you, it is a better solution. You will earn more money and have less lifetime risk.

There are quite a few areas where I have problems with his advice. They are too numerous to outline here, but I will mention a few:

He ideally wants you to own 25 percent of your portfolio in gold in Austria or Switzerland. First, if you are over 60, I think that's very risky. If the value of that gold goes down, you've just lost. You won't probably hold it long enough to make the loss back. Second, you will increase the chances of being audited by the IRS if you honestly declare that you have a foreign bank account. Third, you will have violated the law if you do not. Fourth, what if you and your spouse die in a car accident? Are your heirs going to find that gold? Do you really need these problems?

He also encourages you to have your money in stock mutual funds and to select three for diversification. But he doesn't give you the information you need to do that well. See John Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds for help with that issue.

Finally, he recommends people you can implement that strategy with. Be skeptical of any author who presents "trustworthy" people for you to work with. There are many, many ways this advice can represent conflicts of interest, overt or sub rosa.

If a salesman told you you could have "fail-safe" results and only need to spend 30 minutes a year to do so, would you believe her or him? Where else should you be skeptical about the specifics of advice you receive.

Think through how to "emotion-reduce" and "risk-reduce" your investing!

...according to Harry Browne, is the fact that "almost nothing turns out as expected." And yet, unlike in most other areas of their lives, in which they rightly view soothsayers as entertainers devoid of an inside track to the future justifying any go-for-broke departure from the straight and narrow of prudential common sense, somehow in the sphere of investing, perhaps driven by the fear of being "left behind" by the latest opportunities for speculative windfalls (and, need we add, spectacular losses?), millions of otherwise practical people are enchanted by one siren song or another: the claims of self-anointed "insiders" with "perfect" track records (i.e., a few lucky haphazard predictions from yesteryear masking the several dozen by the same advisor which turned sour), or the "scientific" systems of various gurus which start to fail the minute your money is on the line. By contrast, the desires of the great majority of us for the protection and enhancement of that part of our savings we cannot afford to lose as we prepare for retirement and beyond, can be best served by an investment strategy which emphasizes safety and simplicity - and which is diversified across four major investment media - stocks, bonds, gold and cash - so that, no matter what the uncertain future brings to the economy, our portfolios contain investments geared to respond well to each major trend - prosperity, inflation, tight money, or deflation. And with this strategy in place for those assets readers are counting on for their long-term survival, they still may, if they wish, speculate with that portion of their fortunes they know they can afford to lose. Ultimately, Browne's investment advice is a sound application of what, in that intoxicating book of personal philosophy which has helped so many in their quest for freedom and self-understanding, HOW I FOUND FREEDOM IN AN UNFREE WORLD (1973), he calls "The Uncertainty Trap: the urge to act as if your information were totally certain." And in their herd-based quest to sound "professional" and ahead of the competition, too many investment pundits and "experts" present themselves as "in the know" about not just why the market rose or fell today (I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys a great horselaugh whenever he hears broadcast reports to the effect that "the market rose today on rumors [or fears, or puffs of smoke] that..."), but what it will do tomorrow - and next year (as the always good-humored Browne points out, anyone with an authentic gift for financial prophecy wouldn't be wasting his time hawking newsletters and trading systems, or playing the talking-heads game on cable - he'd be helping the likes of George Soros and Rupert Murdoch invest a few spare billion, en route to owning his own country). Everything Browne writes merits the closest attention, and in this, his self-proclaimed last book on investing, he here presents a sort of summa of the common-sense wisdom he has garnered from thirty years of watching the rise and fall of markets - and he does so with his customary directness, clarity, and humility. He remains in a class by himself, and many of us will always be in his debt for the uncommon ideas he has expressed so ably. And above all for his own example - for the standard he has set.

Book accurately describes weather encountered in FL. Photos are black/white. Well-written, easily organized. Has chapters on hurricanes, flooding, fires. Also on temperature zones (very accurate) and local climatic differences. Includes historical information on major weather patterns.

Very useful for gardeners identifying plant zones. And excellent for anyone planning on moving to FL and trying to learn about hazards from an unbiased point of view.

Really a wonderful handbook to understand weather in general & FL in particular. Highly recommend it!

book did all it was supposed to.

Presents meta-analysis through biographical accounts of noted cases of its use. The book is very readable, but I found it rather disturbing, because in making to stories more *interesting*, the author is frequently sensationalist. This has (to me, at least) the cumulative effect of undermining the credibility of the synthetic approach.

Morton Hunt has done a masterful job of explaining meta-analysis. Not only does he make a complex statistical technique accessible and understandable, he also provides an interesting history of the method and of its founders. I recommend this book both as a practicing meta-analyst and as a keen reader of popular science writing.

Generally a good way to teach very young children French, although I'm not really crazy about the storyline. In the story, each animal is unhappy with its various attributes and wants other ones, i.e. my nose is too long, I want a shorter one, etc - not exactly the kind of message I'd want my toddler to absorb.

Having said that, the illustrations are wonderful and the quality of the hardback book ............. is just great.

Although there is a glossary and pronunciation guide, I would not recommend this book to a parent who does not have a rudimentary knowledge of French.

As a Spanish teacher in an elementary school, I use this book to help teach describing words. The children love how the elephant and giraffe make silly changes to their appearance; it holds their interest in the story and helps them learn the material. At the end of the story they clearly recognize the lesson: you don't need to change who you are because friends like you just the way you are!

Clearly, this is what is meant by 'literary fiction.' The main character in this first novel, Sally Burke, is lovingly drawn and totally convcing. That's important because the author of course is a man. (Now that brings up an interesting question. How would I know if the character is totally convincing as a female since I too am a male. Oh well, let's move on.) If you love to read and want to get totally drawn into someone else's life (don't we all), you'll love this book. But if it's plot you're looking for, look elsewhere. This book mirrors real life. It goes from episode to episode with none wrapping up too neatly or too compelling. Sally is a lot like you and me, I think. Not as successful a book as "Starting Out in the Evening" but worth a read. Looking forward to this writer's third novel.

This was a fantastic treat of a novel and I couldn't put it down. Not like its a suspense novel (!), but there were so many poignant details noted through out the book, it was like the secrets of the world revealed. I kept wondering when I'd get my next revelation as I read. And it was chock full of them. Yeah Brian Morton! Hurray for the Dylanist!

this is by far one of the best books I ever read