I am a lawyer. I have visited clients in prison. I read this book many years ago and, like the other reviewers, have not forgotten it. A powerful look at entry to prison life from the point of view of a protagonist who was, until covicted, an average law abiding citizen.

I, too, read this book a number of years ago and have never forgotten it. I have heard it described as one of the best, if not THE best, book on prison culture (at least in fiction) ever written. It is fascinating from start to finish and you cannot help but wonder "how in the world did the author discover this stuff"??? A real insider's look at prison life.

I read this several years ago and it's always stuck with me. A brutal book about life inside the "joint" where double-crosses rule the day, predators thrive and the innocent die violent deaths. You will find it impossible to wash the ending of this book out of your mind. Better than the HBO series "Oz" and that's meant as a huge compliment.

Norah Hunter was my floral design instructor, so of course, we used her book. Coming from a strong design background, I think that the arrangements are at best mediocre and lacking creativity. Some of the design theories seem over simplified to me as well. However, although the design instruction falls short in my opinion, the practical knowledge she teaches about flower names, running a floral business, care and handling, etc. are invaluable to anyone working in the floral industry. The book also contains an excellent appendix of flower and foliage names with illustrations.

We used this textbook in our 'intro to floral design' course at Texas A&M University. I thought it did an excellent job of teaching all of the basic design principles, and it also had very good pictures and diagrams to aide in the learning. Unfortunately, I sold this book at the end of the semester, and I wish that I had kept it. I have been looking for a more economically priced floral design book, as complete as this one, and have not been able to find it. I you are a beginning designer, or need the ultimate floral design reference, this is the book for you!

This is a great book. It is a textbook style book, so it is a little on the technical side. If you are interested in retail floristry then you will find it to be a great book. But if you are a hobbyist or are looking for a book to give you ideas for arrangements to place around the house/office this book maybe more technical than you want.

Rilke's "Duino Elegies" form one of the most perfect collections of lyric poetry you can ever hope to get your hands on. Unfortunately for the David Young translation, however, there is much less Rilke than there ought to be; a series of strange decisions on Young's part casts a shadow over even the brighter moments of his rendering of this masterpiece.

For example, Rilke was a genius at enjambment; that is, he was a master at placing his most important words at the very end or very beginning of a line, in order to highlight them. Think of the first line, which ends with "Engel," splitting it from the first word of the next line, "Ordnungen." (Young merely gives these words together, as "angelic orders," at the end of the third line.) By divorcing the angels from their orders in the poem's very first line, Rilke sets the tone that not all is right in the heavens.

And Rilke's line breaks are even more important than those of other poets, because they are few and far between, since his lines are nice and fat, often more than 13 syllables. Young's lines, on the other hand, are broken up into tiny 2- to 8-syllable, bite-sized chunks. This changes not only the rhythm of Rilke's verse--which obviously would have changed anyway, in translation--but its compositional emphases, as the structure of the most important lines is simply whisked away. And that is a tragedy.

Young's excuse for this unfortunate decision? He happened, while he was working on the translation, "to re-read some of William Carlos Williams' late poetry," and he liked Williams' stubbier, tri-partite lines. Rilke, however, is not William Carlos Williams, and Young's rendering of Rilke as Williams suffers because of this incongruity. (Oddly enough, though, Williams is another poet for whom every line break bears an awful lot of weight; too bad Young didn't carry that respect for enjambment into his work on the "Duino Elegies.")

Those interested in Rilke should do themselves a favor and pick up Mitchell's translation. I simply can't recommend this edition. It gets three stars because, despite the muddle, there are SOME beautifully rendered lines, and some of the power of Rilke manages to squeeze through. And that's always a wonderful thing.

For me, at least, Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies are the very epitome of poetry. I know others who, even though they admire Rilke above all other poets, prefer other "Rilke" poems, such as "Evening." For me, however, it has always been, and always will be, the Elegies. Certainly they are the most extravagant and elusive of Rilke's poems, even for those who count others among their favorites.

Rilke, who longed for a place of solitude in the country, arrived at the fortress-like Castle Duino, high above the Adriatic, near Trieste, in December 1911. His hostess was Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe, who had invited Rilke to translate Dante's Vita Nuova with her. Princess Marie, however, soon left for more sociable climes and Rilke was left alone on the stormy, wind-swept cliffs of Duino. Rilke, at this time of his life, was known to commit himself to a strict regimen of work. Nevertheless, his poems, he has written, always seemed to burst upon him suddenly, like a thunderstorm on a hot summer's afternoon. And, one afternoon at Duino, the opening line of the first elegy burst upon Rilke like a flash of lightening.

There is no problem with the Duino Elegies...if one reads and comprehends German. If one doesn't, however, the problems of translation can be enormous. Translation, always a fragile task, becomes even more so when it involves poetry, and reaches its zenith with a work as sublime as Rilke's Duino Elegies. So many versions of these gorgeous poems exist (at least twenty), that the Elegies are certainly suffering from a case of "translation overkill."

In the original German, the Duino Elegies are the most sublime expressions of awe, of terror, of love, of splendor, of Life, that have ever been set down by the hand of man. In hands other than Rilke's, however, they can seem clumsy and more than a bit melodramatic. Rilke wrote delicately-calibrated poetry, without excess words and, the dread of all translators, the hyphenated word. But, all that aside, reading the Elegies in translation, any translation, is better than not reading them at all.

No matter how "angelic" these poems may seem, never doubt that they are expression of life in the here and now. As Rilke, himself, tells us, "the world exists nowhere but within us." These gorgeous poems are about the difficulties of living in this world, of not being heard by the angels, and of the tragedy that can so easily befall us. They are about Rilke's desire for solitude and his desire to escape it, i.e., the need and the utter impossibility of understanding and being understood completely in this life.

Although many of the translations are flawed, as translation by its very nature must be, the Duino Elegies remain the epitome of poetry. They are a cry of terror, of awe, of joy, of splendor at the lonely and solitary condition of man.

"For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror we can just barely endure, and we admire it so because it calmly disdains to destroy us. Every angel is terrible." - Rainer Maria Rilke, First Elegy

The Duino Elegies are quite possibly the greatest work of Rainer Maria Rilke, himself one of the greatest poets, German language or otherwise, of all time. The elegies, writen in the cold vast chambers of Duino Castle, deal with all the greatest issues of human existence: love, death, tragedy, God, and life's very meaning. Their language reflects their origin: like the Castle's empty stone hallways, the words are perfectly formed; they are fragile and beautiful; weightless and profound. Rilke's first elegy begins with a reflection on the awesome, terrifying power of beauty. He longs to experience it, but knows that it would destroy him. As he writes on, the reader grows to understand and feel not only Rilke's longing, but his fear. The terrible beauty, looming behind all the elegies, is present in the text. The poems inspire wonder, raise profound quetions with ineffable answers, and fills us with awe as it calmly disdains to destroy us.

The German text is perfect, but MacIntyre's translation is splendid and best conveys the work's haunting and desolate undertones. While it seems to me that everyone should own and cherish the Duino Elegies, it is an absolute requirement for anyone seeking to construct a serious collection of great poetry.

Golden Guides are often described as books for children just discovering the natural world. While the series is eminently usable by young naturalists, Golden Guides are solid introductory field guides.

The strong point of "Butterflies and Moths" is its extensive coverage of butterfly larvae and pupae. A common complaint about many if not all more advanced field guides for laypeople is that they fail to include illustrations for te identification of caterpillars. The Golden Guide remedies this shortcoming and includes solid coverage of moths as well, whose less-glamorous condition excludes them from other butterflies-only guides (the Peterson Guide is a notable exception). In terms of weaknesses, the illustrations of adult butterflies have, in my experience, not been detailed or accurate enough to positively identify some species.

I carried an earlier edition of "Butterflies and Moths" around with my as I traipsed about fields near my home, butterfly hunting. I'd find a butterfly (or moth, as the case may be) and approximate which one it was through this guide.

The pictures are accurate. Not only will you see the butterfly, but a close up of various parts. There are maps showing where it can be found, a very useful tool when the picture doesn't seem to match. It can help you determine if you have a certain variation, or a very lost butterfly.

Though a picture is worth a thousand words, the text found here is equally helpful. There are Latin names, pupae descriptions, eating habits and more. They've been careful not to overwhelm the reader, but there's plenty to whet the reading appetite of any young butterfly hunter.

It isn't just for children. Anyone with a garden would be happy to have this as a reference or as curious reading to learn just who has been munching the lettuce.

I fully recommend "Butterflies and Moths" by Robert T. Mitchell.

Anthony Trendl

I recently purchased my second copy of this classic field guide. I still have my originial after thirty-six years (it sold for $1.00 back then). It is loaded with just enough useful information to help you identify many of the most common North American species. What I like most about this guide is the convenient small size.

Our son is just beginning the process of toilet training. This book brings forward familiar characters. The pictures are colorful,the word choice is good and the story is good for youngsters. It gets a bit long, but my son stays with it.

I always prefer books that are board pages and not paper so we can let him have the book for his own parousal without supervision. I see this as the only drawback on what is becoming a favorite for my son.

If, like me, you have an older toddler, who understands the concept of using the potty, but isn't fully trained yet, this is a GREAT book! My 3 yr old daughter just loves the idea of becoming a Toileteer. We read this book every day. So far, no other book has motivated her the way this one has. However, if you are just starting potty learning, you might want to get another book to go with this one, a book that would explain more about how to use the potty. I don't think this would be an effective book for a child who had no clue what the potty was. But for a child who has the basic idea down, and just needs a little reassurance, this is an awesome book. My favorite part is the end, where Luna reassures kids that they can still be kids, and Mommy and Daddy will still take care of them, even when they use the potty.

If your child enjoys books a little on the longer side, than this one might be for him/her. The story is nearly identical to the "Potty Time" video, if you have seen it. The only difference I noticed is that it also includes a brief discussion by Bear to Treelo about where it all goes (through the plumbing).
The story also includes the idea that accidents do happen sometimes (as they do with Ojo in the story), as well as what to say when you're not at home and you have to use the bathroom, and remembering to flush (along with the other processes of using the potty). Included is a special "toileteer" sticker with Pip and Pop on it.
My (just-turned) 2 year old has just begun the potty training process, and she asks me repeatedly to read this book to her while she is sitting on the potty.

... this book needed a better editor, however, the stories included certainly make up for it. It was very obvious how talented Mitchell was. I only regret that parts of the stories were missing. I think this book is more for fans of Margaret Mitchell rather than fans of Gone With the Wind as the stories aren't nearly as sophisticated and deal with completely different subject matter.

Being a collector of GWTW memorabilia, I'm always anxious to find anything about its author and to see how her incredibly creative mind worked. To find the material in the manner in which Jane Eskridge and her beau did only adds to the fascination of the book. The history and pictures included are informative, and although some of Margaret's stories are incomplete, the talent exhibited for such a very young age only makes the reader shake his/her head in amazement. She considered herself a "made writer" instead of a "born writer" but was badly mistaken. All of us who have struggled through the years with writing wish we had been so blessed. Jane Eskridge did a remarkable job in editing this latest work of Margaret Mitchell.

I have been a fan of Gone With the Wind and Margarett Mitchell since I was a junior in high school, the same year the book celebrated its 50th anniversary. Since then I have re-read GWTW (many times) and anything else I have been able to get my hands on pertaining to GWTW and Margaret Mitchell and I have to say this book was a great find!

The actual writings are a bit hard to follow as there are bits and pieces - and in some cases whole chapters missing, but all and all it is a very nice glimpse of her talent and love of writing even at a very early age. What I was most impressed with were the pictures and background information provided about Ms. Mitchell's life and life in Atlanta at the time. The physical quality of the book is very nice as well - the pages are a slick heavy stock paper and the deckled eges were a very nice touch. I have no complaints and can only hope that somewhere in the recesses of another old building in Atlanta there are more such treasures to be found.

Bio-engineering must be an "in" thing to base fiction on these days among hard sci-fi writers the way cyberpunk was for the mid-to-late 90's. The Changeling Plague reminded me of nothing so much as Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio (also an excellent read). Both use a base hypothesis of what would happen if genetic propogation began to do odd things. How would that change us and how would various societies and their governments respond? But while Bear's story hypothesizes it could happen from spontanous mutation due to environmental stresses such as industrial pollution and over-populated regions Ms. Mitchell's novel envisions a world where illegal gene therapy research escapes the control of the scientists conducting it.

As with most novels there are some odd situations. For example, in Ms. Mitchell's novel (as a previous reviewer noted) the world quite understandably has a mass panic (the infection rate climbs to 96% with almost certain death to follow). It is never clear how extensive the damage is beyond a few scenes sketched out showing general public panic. In a world where it is admitted this virus is highly communicable (the author never quite pins down if it's airborn or only transmitted via touch) and mass-panic ensues apparently pizza-delivery boys think they're immune so you can still order delivery knowing it will be at your doorstep a half hour later. And since the story explains earlier that bio-hazard suits sell for thousands of dollars on the black market I doubt pizza-delivery suddenly becomes a lucrative career option. This is only one example of some odd disjunctures. It had the effect of reminding me I was reading a story. Thankfully though it didn't happen often.

If I had to classify it I would say this book is more plot-driven than character-driven. You see the 3 main characters (the medical researcher Lillith, Patient 0 Geoffrey Allen and hacker extraordinaire Idaho Davis) and what they think and how they react to the events around them but unlike some I didn't get a sense of getting to know or understand each character *except* in relation to their handling of the plague and it's consequences on them, their family and friends. This is what I mean about it being more of a plot-driven novel than a character-driven one. Having said that these 3 do get a lot of air-time with everyone else getting bit roles. Using terms of a standard hollywood tv-drama the main 3 carry the novel and get the majority of lines while a few other regulars get a few lines per chapter.

The pacing is also tight. Unlike some novels there isn't a lot of time spent building a backstory that makes people often say of a novel, "it's slow through the first part.". Ms. Mitchell jumps right in and never lets up. It is a fun, entertaining read and the author succeeds overall more often than not. If you are a sci-fi fan give this book a shot.

Read the other other reviews for particulars on this story, my focus is on the author. Mitchell's first book, Murphy's Gambit, has an early Heinlein feel to it. Then Technogenesis had a later Heinlein feel ala The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I expected The Changeling Plague to build on Technogenesis, but it's different vision and a different feel, let's call it her own style. Mitchell handles the story well, and stays in control when the storyline goes off on a whole different tack.

My complaints with The Changeling Plague are mostly minor nits that would be clutter here. The story is good, the ideas are interesting and well worth SF exploration. A couple of things will be much harder to do when science can do them, but that's okay, this is still hard SF. It'll be fun to watch Mitchell's career grow.

Mitchell's third novel is first rate science fiction. The science (primarily genetics) has clearly been meticulously researched. I have to admit to some unpleasant synchronicity in reading this book about a new disease running rampant and the news reports of SARS. Luckily this is a real science fiction novel and not "merely" a medical thriller, and the story veers off into interesting territories reminiscent of Greg Bear's Blood Music. I especially liked the notion that genetic programming was indeed akin to computer programming and that hackers might excell at it.

To the reviewer who complained that the use of "changeling" was incorrect, I disagree. When the term comes up in the novel, it refers to genes being replaced with something "wild" which seems to me to be a perfectly good match to the more traditional one (babies replaced by something wild, if you will).

This book seems tailored to the Web novice. And it's not very insightful about unions either, relying mostly on old platitudes and even a 1947 book by C. Wright Mills to discuss the bureaucratic obstacles to computer-driven change.

I have designed a few simple Web pages and been involved in Web planning at my union. To me, this book offers little in the way of new insights.

This book has effectively established the "bar" for cyber-unionism. Some might complain that the book is not detailed enough or technical; however, Mr. Shostak is the first author to formally challenge existing paradigms and move unions to action.

As a student at the National Labor College, Vice President and CIO of my union, and webmaster for our site, I recommend this book as a must read for any unionist who is attempting to implement technology in their union. Actual implementation methodologies and philosophies should be forthcoming in his next book which I am eagerly anticipating.

This book gives you the particulars as well as the rationale for trade union activists to be active in the use of computers. It is fair to say that already the book is having an inflence on how union organizers function in this technolical age. Boeing employees almost all of whom are highly computer literate are doing card checks, arranging for workers to respond on line to fill out cards and to then keep them informed about the campaign. the Union at Boeing in Wichita already has organized 1,300 workers in this fashion. This book has the potential to profoundly change the way in which unions reach out to potential members.

This book does provide a useful overview, well adapted to settings such as classrooms, where readers are likely to be having their first exposure to the Victorian era.

For those, such as myself, who are adults who have studied or explored the Victorian age in the past, there is nothing really new here, and the organisation and tone of writing, which assumes no previous knowledge and is very much "junior high" level, make it a less than engaging read.

In doing extensive research on the basic, every day living of people in Victorian England, I found this book to be an invaluable source to my work. Of all of the books that I ordered, Mitchell's guide to Victorian England truly gives the reader a picture of people, places, and ideas that is only dealt with on surface levels in other texts. For my own work, this book was a savior!!

You know, if history classes in schools used books like the 'Daily Life' series as their text, I'm sure alot more kids would not find history so boring. In fact, many kids would probably actually enjoy it! Written in a highly readable 'you are there' style, they truly bring the past to life. Daily Life In Victorian England by Sally Mitchell is no exception. I've used it extensively to add 'flesh to the bones' of my long dead English ancestors in my genealogy research. My ancestors were far from rich and this book explains, in descriptive detail, how they lived and survived; from a description of what their small cottage may have looked like, to the food they ate, to the clothes they wore, and even what type of lighting they had (hint: they probably did not use candles early on!). Birth, baptism, marriage, death and dying, funerals, celebrations- it's all here. And, as I mentioned above, it doesn't just concentrate on the well to do, but ALL the classes of people. This is really a wonderfully written book that is highly recommended. Any interest at all in this era, then it is a MUST HAVE.

Mitchell provides a well description of today and very near future. Covering most of the ideas possible with the current state of technology. He tells us what is available today and perhaps what is available later today. However, he fails in telling what is going to be a little later, say next week. A reader expects more from a book called "e-topia". A better title for the book would be "e-today". If you are a stranger to the field, you can learn a lot from this book. Otherwise, you already have many ideas addable this book.

This is a great book, and you can't say 'great' without choosing the word carefully. Think of the book as very rich food, it is difficult to digest it at one sitting. The starter was like a think broth but it did help me settle into the author's writing style. The main course was enlightening but filling, and the desert comparatively light and attractive. This is no madman's ranting it is very well balanced and honest. I felt the author was sitting beside me reading the whole thing aloud as the style is friendly if a little bit too heavily laced with 'advanced English'. And this is it's flaw, this wonderful book is really only suitable for the native English speaker, I gave my copy to a Czech friend with excellent English and she was unable to enjoy it as I had. If you have an interest in what the physical shape of our existance might look like under the future influence of the virtual world we are creating then this is the book for you. This is not just a book for architects, it is a book for a very wide audience, it is not too heavily littered with technical jargon so native English speakers will be able to enjoy it.

The book helped me to put some commonsense about the Internet/technology and their impacts together. But it lacks of depth.