Greene's book does a good job of providing a woodworker (or others interested in period pieces) with solid information on many selected pieces from the era of the title. He does a good job of selecting pieces of good taste, and gives a lot of information on various details with just the right amount of how-to. There is also a lot of historical background info for those who like to know about the history of a piece or style before they build it. The pictures and exploded drawings (showing joinery) are excellent. Though not a comprehensive encyclopedia (it's not intended to be one) it is a good read from start to finish or a good reference book. Well worth the money.

This book has an excellent selection of photographs of fine furniture of the 18th Century. The most notable thing about the book is that the author has exhibited fairly good taste in his selection of specimens to include, and has largely ignored the more shabby pieces of the era. This is in contrast with Nutting's "Furniture Treasury", which has truly extensive selections of photographs of all furniture of the era (good, bad, or indifferent). Greene's book also contains good historical information on the furniture trade of that era, and has an excellent bibliography of furniture books written in the 18th Century (some of which remain available).

The author is a former mechanical engineer, who now hand crafts replica 18th Century furniture for a living.

This is a simply fabulous book. Its split into two sections; a furniture history section and a "how-to" section, describing basic techniques. These two sections make the book a great, informative read. BUT what makes this a "must buy" are the appendices. Greene shows exploded views of virtually all the basic furniture types. While these pictures aren't project plans, they provide invaluable information about the guts of antique furniture. The other appendix I like is the one showing 18th century recipes for finishes. I tried a few and they work great.

In a review as concise as Greene's eerie book, this is a chilling psychological thriller from the master of the genre. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

I enjoy Graham Greene's earlier work immensely. The manner in which a tense readable, complicated (morally, emotionally, but rarely plotwise), literary story can be written using the conventions of genre. Many of Greene's later stories leave me cold. There is the occasional masterpiece (The Human Factor), but some of the work feels slight, painting Greene by numbers. And one recalls the true story of the magazine competition in the UK where competitors were asked to provide a parody of an opening paragraph by Greene. No prizes for guessing the winner...

Dr Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party is late Greene. It is very short, unremittingly bleak in its outlook on humanity (or rather one sector of society), and is a savage sarcastic satire on capitalism.

Fischer is a multi-millionaire, his fortune founded on human hygiene. At regular parties he surrounds himself with acolytes, all rich, all prepared to go through humiliation for one of Fischer's gifts. Fischer is cold, cruel, manipulative. The narrator's encounters with Fischer and his parties spawn disgust on many levels - Fischer's view of others; the visceral disgust of his "porridge" party; and the disgust of the corruption of money, and the greed that goes with it.

Aside from the (allegorical?) examination of capitalism all aspects of human life are here. We see poverty, extreme wealth, love, and death. And in illustrating these aspects the relationships in the book are conveyed powerfully (be the underlying emotion affection or anger). The relationship between Fischer and his daughter, a gentle creature abhorring her father's attitude and more particularly the attitude of those acolytes of Fischer (whom she christens "toads"); and that of Fischer's late wife and her friend/lover are especially noteworthy.

The book is short, but the imagery of Fischer's parties, his humiliations, and the bleakness of his view of humanity will live long with this reviewer.

It is a minor book, but highly recommended. Still in print in the UK it is perhaps time for a US publisher to reprint this later work of one of the twentieth century's greatest novelists.

An alternative version of the Great Gatsby with the essence of a Saint Exupery so cleverly captured in creating the characters of the "Toads". Be prepared to rethink a whole journey of themes closest to the human heart like love,death and God in a whole new dimension!

This novel tells a gruesome mass murder in the Greene Mansion where five grown-up Greene children-- one of which was adopted-- lived with their invalid mother and were frequently visited by their family doctor. An insider job became apparent when the 2nd victim were shot dead. After many bluffs and boasts, Vance finally picked out the culprit when only 2 of the Greene family were still alive. Great thriller, but highly insufficient as a detective fiction!

Although I never equal originality to greatness, van Dine apparently read a lot of crime literatures when he was confined to bed, as all the murders found their origins in Greene's criminology library. I just hope he wasn't the prototype of the whining Ms. Greene, whose complaints made the Greene Mansion a living hell.

This book was supposed to be last the trilogy with the Benson Murder and Canary Murder being the first two. The first book was to be about a single man, the second book on a couple, and this book on a family.

The plot involves the murders of family members of the Greene family. It grows to be rather convoluted because at the end there are only two suspects left, and Philo Vance stays up an entire night figuring out which one of them actually was the murderer.

Still it was a fun read of the old school of detectives, and I recommend it highly.

There is a lot to dislike about S S Van Dine and Philo Vance, the main influence on the creation of many other Golden Age detectives, but in this book we see all the things to like. Fiendishly clever, good atmosphere, and Vance is not too far over the top. Also very good is the Bishop Murder Case.

A sad cynicism lies at the root of Greene's dark humor in this very early (1932) novel, Greene's fourth novel and the first entertainment to be written and published for a wide audience. A Jewish businessman, a lesbian journalist, her rebellious young companion, a dancer in need of a job, a Socialist physician wanted in Serbia for treason, and an Austrian thief meet and interact aboard the Orient Express on a trip from London to Istanbul (Stamboul). Each person in this motley group hopes that some remarkable change will occur to him or her as a result of the trip, but though all eventually get their wish, fate has something devious up its sleeve for each one. These twists and turns, sometimes humorous and sometimes immensely sad, constitute the heart of the novel.

Unlike Greene's later novels, with their fully developed characters and religious themes, this novel's characters are often stereotypes, and the action is often designed simply to bring the characters down, showing that no matter what dreams or goals they may have, that ultimately they have no control over their destinies. Greene's later, much more intensely realized themes--sin and atonement, innocence and guilt, love of life and fear of death, piety and corruption, sex and religion--are missing here, and as the action unfolds and the characters are manipulated, the reader easily recognizes the "bones" of the themes which will later come into full flower in Greene's mature philosophical novels. As a series of tours de force, and as a glimpse into the creative process of a writer who, at this point, was just beginning to come into his own, this is an intriguing novel, loaded with insights, a fascinating and enjoyable read.

As an "Entertainment," "Stamboul Train" is quite entertaining. Graham Greene writes with a strong sense of humor as he describes an interesting assortment of individuals riding the Orient Express across Europe to Istanbul. Though there isn't much of a plot, the odd and unpredictable occurs on this journey. Greene develops his characters to the point that the reader can't help but eagerly wonder how each individual will react to the many bizarre encounters on and off the train. Not one of Greene's better known works, but a pleasure to read nonetheless.

Boarding the Orient Express to Istanbul are the Jewish merchant Myatt; a busybody Lesbian yellow-journalist named Mabel Warren; a mysterious doctor who calls himself Richard John, but who is actually the Serbian socialist agitator Czinner; Mrs Warren's soon to be ex-protege Janet Pardoe; and a penniless chorus girl named Coral Musker.

It all sounds like an Agatha Christie novel -- but Greene had different fish to fry. Just when the story seems to take on a Dame Christie neatness, it all comes unravelled at the little border town of Subotica. Musker, who had found in Myatt a potential sugar daddy, tries to invite the Doctor to a celebration, but is whisked away as an accomplice to Czinner. Myatt at first searches for Coral, but is drawn to Janet Pardoe's greater classiness. And Mabel Warren, who had left the train at Vienna, suddenly shows up in Subotica to claim Coral Musker for her own.

There are a few other characters, such as Josef Grunlich the Austrian thief; but my favorite is the purser at Ostend who cries out to Coral Musker, "Remember me!" even as he begins to forget her features.

We are not dealing with a deep work like Greene's later, more serious efforts. Instead of a Shakespearean tragedy, we have on our hands instead a tragicomedy like ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL or MEASURE FOR MEASURE. Dr Czinner is executed, and everybody else seems to change partners as if it were a game of Musical Chairs.

Graham Greene says it all when he quotes George Santayana in STAMBOUL TRAIN's epigraph: "Everything in nature is lyrical in its ideal essence; tragic in its fate and comic in its existence."

i had to read this book for a class and I found it to be one of the most superficial books I have ever read. By talking to the young singer and the horn player, they tell him everything, and he just restates everything they just said in a more positive light. He turns Brian, the horn player, into a paranoid schizophrenic, making him give names (ethel and fred and bob) to his pre-audition problems. I gleaned nothing from this book and I would not reccomend it to anyone. The book is simply a transcript of a whole bunch of conversations. . . Greene could have at least put a LITTLE effort into it. I'll sum the book up in a sentance or two . . . if your nervous, put it all in perspective, you'll move on if you don't get the part. You have ups and downs, sometimes are better than others. So when your nervous just take a deep breath and look at reality, not this junk about rating your talent and nervousness on a profile of 1 to 100. You can't measure that kind of thing on a scale. All in all, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK, you are wasting your time.

The book is conversations of the author with two muscians. I really enjoyed that format and found the twist and turns insightful because it wasn't presented as do these six steps and you will be successful. I found the key ideas of a structured approach to training such as training under stress conditions, in mixed order, and multiple environments, and tapering applicable to anyone who must use skills to produce results--either singing on a stage or a presentation in a group. The one reviewer was right about the conversation, and maybe each chapter could have used a short summary of the techniques in that chapter. But if you read and label the technique when it is applied and then incorporate it into your skill training, I think you will find the book very helpful.

I studied this book while preparing for a recent audition and performed better than ever at the audition. I don't know if it was just coincidence, but there were some good things to think about that I gleaned from the text. I got a lot out of the chapters with the singer as well as the chapters with the other horn player.

This book is a good start for someone that has no idea what to do to take care of their muscles and joints. As a martial artist, active in the gym (weights) and a therapeutic massage therapist, I found this book to be a waste of time. On the positive side, it is a quick read and I have reinforced, by second oppinion (the book), that I know more about taking care of myself than the average bear. In purchasing this book, I was hoping to find something that I didn't already know or something that I didn't think was common sense. If you have never played sports, never taken care of your body (stretching, contrast therapies, proper posture) then this book is for you.

This book was written by a woman who injured herself in massage school and then, instead of becoming a massage therapist, wrote this book and now makes her living teaching seminars and selling books. So she may be an expert in what caused HER injury, but does not appear to have any experience actually being a healthy therapist. If your school did not teach anything at all about body mechanics, technique adjustment, or hand safety, you may need this book - but if your school is even the least bit responsible in teaching these skills this book is just an introduction to the concepts. If you need advanced ideas, you won't find them here. Big print, low-quality photos, and self-congratulation seem to be the hallmarks of the book, and I'm glad I was able to leaf through it and not waste my money buying it.

I'm a massage therapist and found this book very preventive. I helped me prevent chronic injuries of the hands associated with massage therapists. For this, I am very grateful to the author of this book. Remember your hands are extremely valuable as massage therapists. This book is a must buy for every massage student and massage therapist. I also highly recommend the following for the national boards which is sold on amazon:
The Ultimate Study Guide for the National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Key Review Questions and Answers
Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3.
Author: Patrick Leonardi
These 3 books helped me pass the boards along with my tortora anatomy and physiology textbook.

A short, sweet tale of a man, whose financial status gives him the ability to save himself when faced with a life or death situation. Circumstances once again prove that money, a timeless denominator, continues to offer the rich unusual buying power.

While the story is short and doesn't offer a rich sense of character development, I still found myself extremely curious as to what would happen next. The moral decisions we make, whether hasty or well thought out, keep the human species an interesting animal to watch. I enjoyed the originality of the book, the desperate search for survival by the rich and the moral integrity of the poor. Definitely worth the time spent on a rainy afternoon.

This short "entertainment" lacks the intensity of a major novel, but the tightly constructed plot makes this book worth the read. Graham Greene combines his fantastic prose with a few fantastic twists. What whould happen if you could trade all of your possesions for a second chance at life? Greene takes a stab at this very intiguing question, and throws in enough curveballs to keep you guessing until the end.
True, the characters may be flat, but the story is vivid, creative, and well worth a look.

Greene presents us with a brilliant morality tale. He quickly sets up his protagonist's choice and then moves to the surprising consequences. If you had the means to buy your 'salvation' would you? Even if it meant that another man would have to die in your place...literally paying someone to die for you? And for the man who is willing to take your offer, what does his sacrifice mean for those he's left behind? Greene deftly entertwines both of these stories into one. I agree that the characters are not well-drawn enough to make us truly care for them. However, the book succeeds on how it makes you consider the consequences of one's choices.

I did not have any histories on this last phase of the Petersburg campaign, so I picked up this study. The maps are decent---the best part of the book. However, what just puts me to sleep is Greene's prose. Better take some appropriate medication prior to cracking this one if you want to stay awake! The facts about the campaign and battle are there, but, in my opinion, the read is as dry as dust. This, in turn, renders the book a bore for this reader.

OK. So you what to know about the final weeks of the Petersburg Campaign during the War Bewteen the States. This book gives an in-depth picture of what General Lee had described the previous year as "a mere matter of time." The piece is well-documented, which you would expect from the head of the park (the author) where the Federal forces broke through Confederate lines. And there are lots of good maps to follow the action. But, in my opinion, the prose is VERY pedestrian, resulting in a narrative lacking any sense of drama, and therefore is far less than an exciting read.

For a variety of reasons, the successful Union assault upon the Petersburg defenses on April 2, 1865, has been largely ignored in Civil War histories, barely getting a passing mention as an incident just before Lee's retreat to Appomattox. But the battle of April 2, as Greene ably demonstrates, was a crucial military action. It was, quite simply, the battle that broke the backbone of Lee's defenses and necessitated the immediate evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. The story is told largely from a Union point of view, not because of any innate bias on Greene's part, but due to the very pragmatic reason that there are few Confederate primary sources dealing with this stage of the fighting. He crafts an rapidly moving, but comprehensive story of the military struggle, illuminating it with vivid details of incidents and personalities. I count it as a first-rate addition to any library of Civil War titles.