A quiet understatement about the author of these letters from prison, from Vaclav Havel, president of the Czech Republic. And then how about this very telling quote from Simecka, Havel's advisor for Czech-Slovak relations: "It would seem that people have a greater immunity to unification than to viral infections."
Wise words from one of the foremost experts and prolific authors of Soviet marxism: Milan Simecka. Initially enthusiastic about socialism as a governing body, feeling it could move society towards a more utopian state, Simecka (who studied philosophy and literature at university) began his teaching career lecturing on marxism in 1954 at Comenius University in Bratislava. Over time, he and other Czechoslovak intellectuals became disillusioned with the Party and were eventually expelled. In 1968, he was fired from his university post and forced to work at various unskilled labor jobs.
Simecka denounced Soviet-brand marxism--(which he refers to in the book as "existing socialism')--in fact--all ideologies, defining them as "the real scourges of humanity..." He began to participate in dissident activities against the State, including writing and publishing treatise against totalitarianism, saying "I now advocate tolerance for all peoples."
His writings were smuggled out of Czechoslovakia into the West and Simecka gradually earned an international reputaiton as a renown interpreter of totalitarian regimes. Soviet authorities imprisoned him in the infamous Ruzyne prison in Prague in 1981, where he remained for 13 months. Letters from prison is a collection of 30 surviving letters from that era. Since prisoners were forbidden to write about politics, Simecka's letters to his wife, Eva, centered around either family concerns or long philosophical musings (his son, author Martin Simecka, figures prominently in the first section).
Although his letters were routinely censored, Simecka still managed to throw in a few oblique insults at his captors. Included throughout the book are several b&w photos featuring Simecka with family members or political figures.
As he was fluent in both the Czech and Slovak languages, Vaclav Havel appointed him to be his advisor on Czech-Slovak relations in 1990. Immediately after the Velvet Revolution, voices advocating for the "divorce' of Czecho-Slovakia demanded to be heard; Simecka was said to have been devastated by this separatist fervor.
Just six months into his new post, Simecka died suddenly of a heart tattack. Gordon Skilling, an expert on Czecho-Slovak affairs (recently deceased, himself), believed that "Milan Simecka contributed much to the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia."
This collection of letters greatly adds to the growing body of Slovak literature under totalitarian order. There is a biographical section on Simecka at the end of the book (would have been better to place it in the beginning) and a note from the translator, Gerald Turner. Turner, whom some readers will more quickly recognize by his nom de plume, "AG Brain," did an excellent, professional job in translating these detailed, sometimes abstract, rambling epistles from prison.

A wealth of information! A fantastic book for anyone who loves Hardy's poems, short stories or novels and wants to know more about the man behind the pen. Much of the book's merit is in its lay-out. Each in the series of thirty-two chapters relates to a single work providing a wealth of penetrating insights into both biographical and literary facts (Hardy's passion for Greek tragedy, Latin poetry, Shakespeare, his interest in architecture and work as an architect, his marriage) - and how closely these were intertwined. Throughout the book there is a compelling sense of how compulsively Hardy the man worked to develop the extraordinarily creativity of Hardy the writer. A wide ranging and scholarly book that is wonderfully informative and never, ever dull.

While this is catalogued as a children's book, I have found music lovers of all ages to be enthusiastic about its content and approach! In fact, no one enjoyed my son's Christmas present (this book) more than my father-in-law! The illustrations of piano history, parts of the instrument, and composers are interesting and add depth to the clear and concise text. There is an accompanying CD, a compilation of EMI recordings, which features a sample of compositions that is both instructional (with the text) and enjoyable (without the text). From cover to cover - endpapers are copies of Beethoven scores-- this book is thoughtful, well-researched and worth finding.

This is the most absorbing of ENT texts, ideal for students as it focuses on concepts and does cover all the important facts. The layout is very organized and information has been presented in an orderly and logical manner. It is by all means a worthwhile investment.

Logic provides the philosophical and foundational background for all of computer science. Translate the T and F of classical logic to 1 and 0 and you have the fundamental laws of computer circuitry. However, there are other forms of logic with applications in computer science and this book is a primer for many of them.
The non-classical logics covered are the modal logic of different worlds, three-valued logics and how to interpret them computationally; the theory of types, non-monotonic inference, temporal logic and fuzzy logic. My background was almost exclusively in the classical logic and I found the introductions to the other forms of logic to be well-done, informative and easy to follow. It helped me greatly as I prepare to develop a course in artificial intelligence. The only negative comment is that there are an inordinate number of basic spelling errors.
If you need to learn forms of logic beyond the classical, then this book is an excellent place to begin.

This book was not quite a 5 star book but it was good. In this book a girl, Angie, is getting bored of doing the same things all of the time, and her boyfriend isn't helping. Her boyfriend, Roy, is stuck in his past years of high school. He allways says those where their best years. Roy criticises almost everything Angie does, and she gets annoyed by it. She dumps him later on after one of their usual "dates". Soon she applies to a mail carrier job in Pennsylvania. After a while she gets the job and moves to her new home. After not that long on the job, she's driving on her route when she reaches a house where some one is moving in. She meets the single male, Joe, and with every day that passes they become better aquanted. As the story goes on an impotant factor from the pass comes to visit her. Now she is confronted with the biggest decision of her life. Does she leave her new lfe to return to the past, or does she stay in her wonderful new life, and leave the past behind? What will she decide? Read to find out!

Probably after Capek and Kundera there has not been such a matured author as Klima in the Czeck language. As for Capek , he was often afraid to protest and Kundera lived in France but Klima has stayed in the country and protested. He is brilliant but in this book you get to see the maturity. Its a mix of Klima and Cortazar. This is love mixed with wit in the time of revolution which brings out the pain of human relations. Its a story of a class being detached from the lessons of human relation while a small group tries to get it back. All the stories are great. all the stories are great.

Spinster librarian Maddy Lawrence preferred her adventures in the Ace MacKenzie books she read. She never expected to be kidnapped from her part-time job at a newstand, rescued by another man who claims his name is Ace, and [dragged to some foreign land where more strange events await her].

Prim, plain and virginal Maddy is out of her environment with Ace, but she rises to the occasion. An exciting adventure from start to finish.

This book has good ideas for everyone. Some plans are whimsical others are more practical. Projects are sturdy and useful, Abby does a good job of making her project directions easy to follow. I was not frustrated when starting projects.

This book provides good instruction for basic techniques used in economics including Lagrange multipliers and Kuhn-Tucker maximization. It is also a good book for linear algebra as it pertains to economics.