this novel was, in my opinion, not very good. it smacks of aristocratic pretension. i did not like nor could i find my self sympathetic with any of his hollow, flat characters. which really bothers me very, because i'm a huge huxley fan.

The fact that this book is a superb read has already been established. Most notably the author and critic, Cyril CONNOLLY, rated this book as one of the 100 key books of the MODERN MOVEMENT.

Crome Yellow is perfectly suited to the e-book format. Great for reading on short trips, lunch breaks; in fact anytime you can grab a few minutes while on the go. The chapters are short and each stands alone as a complete and well-constructed scene.

Within the first few screens, you'll be captured by the story and wanting more - especially the bizarre instalments on the "History of Crome." Enough said - you'll have to find out for yourself.

This is an essential e-book for any well-stocked PDA e-library.

Crome Yellow was Aldous Huxley's first book. His best books are his early books that he wrote before Brave New World. The young Aldous Huxley was evanescent, fluid, and limitless in his potential. However, as he grew older, especially in his last decades when he lived in California, he became more calcified, his vision narrowed and he became mired by his own mystic obscurisms. And when Huxley 'got' Buddhism, he stopped writing novels and wrote Buddhis tracts, so to speak. Written when he was 27, Crome Yellow centers around a house called Crome hence the title, (like Wuthering Heights centered around a house - Abbey Grange). The house was a gathering place of artists who were vacuous, though in a brilliantly significant way. The main character is Denis Stone, a naive neophyte, much like Huxley must have been at the time. Consequently as Huxley himself grew more sophisticated, so did his characters. Huxley attacks the ennui and malaise existential of life with a kind of righteous indignation that is refreshing. And he uproariously endorses the sentiments of misanthropy that all refined and culture cynics must feel. Huxley spent most of his life playing the expatriate game. In his own words from Crome, Huxley was "one of those distinguished people, who for some reason or other, find it impossible to live in England." Huxley spent most of the 1920's in Italy. It is difficult to believe that Aldous Huxley was just 27 when he wrote this book, for it is written like a 50 yr. old. Crome Yellow is a great introduction to Huxley, as well as a great way to know him better. There could scarcely be a more potent, intense vanguard for the psychedelic revolution, for which Huxley must have been a precursor of.

If you are a Clapton fan and need 300 pages of reassurance that he is a a gifted musician, then put this book at the top of your shopping list. If, however, you are looking for an objective assessment of his life, career and impact as a musician you'll need to look elsewhere.

Clapton and Coleman were close friends and this book is essentially a 300-page french kiss, as most third-party "authorized biographies" are. It's hard to imagine a book with more postive editorializing adjectives per page (briliant, superb, amazing, stunning.)

Clapton's failed marriages are glossed over in a paragraph or so and his heroin addiction is treated like a valiant and ultimately positive "adventure." The author throws out all prentense of neutrality by the end of the first chapter.

Coleman is capable of superb work, as his definitive biography of John Lennon shows. One can only hope that someday someone will do a similar treatment of Clapton's life. This isn't it by a long stretch.

If you are in the market for a first-rate biography of a great guitarist, consider Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy.

Ray Coleman was granted amazing access to Eric, his family and friends. This is the best book on the market about Eric as a person. Roberty's books are more comprehensive about his music, but the late, great Melody Maker editor Ray Coleman knew and loved Eric for many years, and has rare insight.

This book has it all from pictures to journal writings. This book tells about EC's struggles as a young boy in art school to his marriage and even about his drug habits. This book is number one in my book and always will. It is a must read.

I have been a fan of Phil's since 1980 and have gone to many concerts. His talent is beyond belief, leaving me in awe after every show. I nearly fainted when he almost touched my hand at a Great Woods concert. From this book, I wanted to learn more about Phil Collins the incredibly talented and driven individual. The book spent too much time on the struggle and strife in his life and not enough on the triumphs of a man who saw his star in the sky and never stopped, even after surpassing it. I seek to find out more about my musical hero because this book did not satisfy me. Phil, can we hear "Both Sides" of the story?

This was such a great book and I know that any Phil Collins fan would enjoy reading it as much as I did. It shows Phil as a real person, even though we all look up to him in awe because of his great artistic talents. I know that after reading this book, I still feel the same way I did about Phil. That is, if someone asked me, Dalia, if you could meet anyone, I mean anyone and just spend the evening chatting, who would it be? My answer would still be Phil Collins,of course! I write poetry and would love to make them into songs and would love Phils' advice and maybe he could give me some pointers. The one thing that suprised me though, was what his mom said about his current wife, Orianne. "I hope she doesn't change, and if she does, I hope I'm not around to pick up the pieces." Phil is a big boy and his choices in his life, were his choices, some good, some bad and maybe he just grew apart from his first wife and his second wife lived too much for him and never developed any interest outside their marriage. But Orianne and Phil, I wish you the best and hope for you two, a long life together.

After being a fan of Phil Collins for many years I was pleased to discover the biography of this highly talented man. The book delved into his personal and public life in a very thorough manner and unveiled many personal and professional qualities of Phil, from his upbringing, through his times with Genesis, the birth of his controversional solo career through to the current day. I was enthralled by the very precise way in which all aspects of his life were covered especially that of his marriages, his relationships with his wives, children,& co-workers and his dedication to his art. This book gave me great insight into what has made Phil the astute performer and person that he is today. Not all of the aspects of the biography were in Phil's favour (for example,incidences where he revealed his fiery temperament) but I credit the author for this as it allows for the reader to gain his own insight and opinion on who the real Phil Collins is as a person. This biography enlightened me on the life and times of a wonderful person who is a credit to the music industry, a dedicated man who revealed his most personal life to his fans through his art. I believe that this is a must read for any Phil Collins fan. It is not one sided, nor does it intend to influence your opinion. Read it for yourself, allow yourself the oppurtunity to learn more on this remarkable man.

In the early 1920s, Theodore Gumbril Jr, disenchanted with his teaching job in a boys' school, leaves for London determined to pursue his idea for "pneumatic trousers". After his arrival, Theodore enters the strange world of London's well-to-do dilettantes.

This satirical novel reminded me of Evelyn Waugh's early novels and of some of Anthony Powell's work (perhaps Huxley influenced those authors). "Antic Hay" is not a novel with strong plot development, rather Huxley concentrates on the attitudes of his characters. Theodore Gumbril soon ceases to be the main character of the novel, his importance being no more and no less than several others. This was a bit surprising given his prominence at the start.

Huxley satirises the opinions, actions and mores of the well-heeled young artistic "society" animals of the time. His style is at times very sharp and witty, and I felt that he was trying to scratch beneath the facade of their lifestyle, where lies a bitter meaningless to their existence, and a despair with the society they live in. "Antic Hay" is not, therefore, a novel for people who enjoy fiction based on a strong pplot, but it is an interesting period piece, reflecting the uncertainties and disaffection of one particular part of British society shortly after World War One.

G Rodgers

Huxley I can usually take or leave, but not Antic Hay: there are just too many farces to decipher for me to put it down. Huxley's women are beautiful and easy; his men are amoral and excrutiatingly clever.

But underlying their antics is a novel of incredible complexity. Huxley makes his attentive readers squirm as we recognize our own pretensions and idiocies in his archetypal characters. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

The other gift in this novel is that it has helped me appreciate and understand the work of other writers such as Waugh and Mitford: i.e., in order to enjoy them, you have to suspend your own understanding of life and realize that there actually was a thriving class of people in England who didn't have jobs, relied on servants, and had no lives to speak of. And were bored to tears by their sumptuous privilege, believe it or no.

For modern readers, I'd say this is a pretty tough read. I know a respectable amount of both French and Latin, and I had to look up at least part of most of those passages. But if you're prepping for the vocabulary section of the GRE or the SAT...this book will provide you with myriad words to look up and learn, including the wonderful "callipygous".

Maybe I should give the rest of Huxley's work another reading...

Crome Yellow was Aldous Huxley's first book written when he was 27. The early Huxley was the best: when Huxley was young, he was fluid, enthusiastic, and his potential was limitless. As he grew older, he became more calcified, limited, and he spent the last years of his life in California, mired by his own mystic obscurisms. Crome Yellow centers around a house called Crome (like Wuthering Heights centered around a house -Abbey Grange) Crome was a gathering place of artists. The hero of the story is Denis Stone, a naive neophyte like Huxley was at the time. When Huxley grew more sophisticated, so did his characters. This book attacks the ennui, and existential malaise of life with a righteous indignation that is refreshing. He also uproariously endorses the common feeling of misanthropy that all refined cynics must feel. Huxley played the expatriate game, most of his life, to draw on his own words from Crome, he was "one of those distinguished people who for some reason or other, find it impossible to live in England." He spent most of the 1920's in Italy. Crome Yellow is a great introduction to Huxley, as well as a great way to know him better. It is difficult to believe that Huxley was so young when he wrote this. He writes like a 50 yr. old in this book.

This book was pretty good. It gave us an insight into what really goes on in a man's head/thoughts. It showed that men and women both play games when it comes to matters of the heart. I was disappointed when Brendan destroyed his relationship with his best friend and surprised as to who he actually ended up with. Nate tried to have his cake and eat it to, and in the end it caught up with him. By the way, what did Nate do for a living??? I realize the book was told from the standpoint of Cory. However, I wanted to read more dialogue between the characters and not so much narration. There was some drama, but it was more towards the end of the book than in the beginning. However, for a first time author, he did a pretty good job.

This book was a fascinating read from beginning to end. I agree with one reviewer when she stated that although you had to go back a few pages sometimes to see who was talking...other than that the book was filled with drama and yes you'd want to choke every man character listed!!!! For the author's first book, it proves to be a good one. Hope he has something else coming.

Excellent story from a Black Man's view! Mr Coleman writes in a through, adult style that leaves the reader very satisfied! This story was not the product of rush-to-please-the-publisher! I enjoyed the bond these 3 friends shared and it was also a pleasant change to see the men of this story having to make carreer decisions. This book is definitely one of the year's best reads for me!

What does Arthur Danto mean by his title "After the End of Art"? He starts off his stimulating, if rather repetitive book, by discussing the German art historian Hans Belting's book The Image Before the End of Art. That book discusses the history of devotional images and icons before 1400 AD, and how they were produced primarily as icons, and not as art per se. It was only with the beginning of the renaissance that images became part of what could be described as an aesthetic ideology. In the opinion of Vasari and others art, in particular painting, can be seen as a progressive narrative which progresses towards mimesis, or imitation. After the invention of the photograph, accurate imitation became less of a value, and the progressive virtue of this narrative became one of "shape, surface, pigment, and the like as defining painting in its purity." The climax of this ideology came in the great, flawed, critic Clement Greenberg's championing of the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock. But as abstract expressionism exhausted itself in the early sixties, one could no longer define art as a progressive narrative. To use Danto's example, one could no longer produce a theory of art which would disqualify Andy Warhol's Brillo Box as a work of art. Therefore, everything could be a work of art. "Art" or the old "artistic ideology" was dead. There is such a thing as art, says Danto, and there is an inherent essence in it, but it is vastly wider than the progressive development ideology that had previously existed.

At the same time, says Danto, one must take a historicist approach. Very simply, "Manyof the artworks (cave paintings, fetishes, altar pieces) were made in times and places when people had no concept of art to speak of, since they interpreted art in terms of their other beliefs." Danto goes on to discuss how much art of the present day would not have been considered art in the past. He provides some interesting aspects of this historical anomaly. For example there is the 19th century artist Anselm Feuerbach who painted a grand, academically precise picture, the sort that would soon by overtaken by impressionism, of a scene from Plato's Symposium. But he made a mistake in his meticulously accurate historical reconstruction. He includes a painting in the background which portrays Xenophon's variation on the same events. The problem is that the painting is not in the style of a fifth century BC Greek painting. Danto goes on to discuss the inevitable failure of the Vermeer forger Hans Van Meegeren, how Russell Connor combined Picasso's Les demoiselles d'Avignon and Ruben's Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, and finally ends up with "America's Most Wanted" the painting the Russian artists Komar and Melamid painted after conducting an elaborate opinion poll.

One should be aware of the many criticisms that have been made of this thesis. For example, there is the ironyof having a narrative which amounts to the end of narrative. And as Terry Eagleton sourly puts it "if art these days is a realm without rules, it is so, among other reasons, because there is not really that much at stake. If art mattered socially and politically, rather than just economically, it is unlikely that we would be quite so nonchalant about what qualified for the title." One should also read Perry Anderson's The Origins of Postmodernity for another perspective on the postmodernist moment. Still, this is an important book, and one should pay particular attention to Danto's chapter on the nature of monochrome art. There is also a nuanced chapter on museums and the conflict between them as purveyors of the beautiful and the artistic and the possibilities of anti-museum based community art. There are also discussions of Kant, Heidegger and particularly Hegel; amusingly enough, the last thing in the book is a caricature of Danto showing a Brillo Box to a disconcerted Hegel.

Danto is one of the most influential but at the same time misconceived philosophers of art today. People have widely misunderstood two of his major thesis. Danto's notion of the "Artworld" has been mixed up with George Dickie's institutional theory of art and the end of art has been taken to mean the death of art. Both of these misconceptions are quite severe. In this book Danto tries to clarify his thoughts and express what he doesn't mean by these notions. For him the end of art means that a certain historical development has come to an end and that pluralism reigns in the artworld. There are no a priori conditions for being an artwork and basically any item in the world can also be an artwork. Danto doesn't see the end of art as a bad thing but he even seems to think that a new golden age of art can begin. But there are also threats if artists aren't ingenious enough. The end of art has also many consequences. Art criticism becomes much harder because all basic guidelines of appreciation and evaluation have disappeared. Every artwork has to be taken as an individual. The philosophical consequence is that the philosophy of art has to change. If anything can be an artwork then no definition of art can be founded on perceptual properties. Danto sees the history of aesthetics as relevantly barren, because philosophers like Kant have considered beauty to be an essential feature of art.

Danto also discusses his notion of the "artworld". In this book he says that he means by this concept that when an object is transfigured into the artworld, this object is set in to a relation with every other artwork in the world and therefore it can posses meanings that mere real things lack. He also takes up an old and neglected idea of the style matrix, which he introduced already in his classic article "The Artworld" that appeared in 1964. I truly find Danto's ideas of the artworld extremely interesting and it is shame that people have misunderstood him so badly. The last article in the book "Modalities of History" is one of the best Danto has ever written and it shows how important the history of art is for him. In the article he tries to show with the help of some examples what he means by the phrase that he inherited from Wöllflin "not everything is possible at every time."

Like always Danto's writing style is very fluent and eloquent. His knowledge on the history of art is just astounding. Many of Danto's books that have appeared after The Transfiguration of the Commonplace haven't been that important for his general theory but this book is absolutely vital if you want to understand his philosophy of art.

In this valuable book, Danto is not speaking of the death of art as one might speak of the death of God. When he speaks of 'the end of art', he is speaking about the end of art history as we know it and have thought of it; the way of viewing art history that we were taught in 'The History of Western Art 101'.

"To say that history is over is to say that there is no longer a pale of history for works of art to fall outside of. Everything is possible. Anything can be art. And, because the present situation is essentially unstructured, one can no longer fit a master narrative to it....It inaugurates the greatest era of freedom art has ever known. (p.112)"

The history of art up to this point has been a history of exclusion, legitimizing and highlighting only certain works which fall within the pale of this narrative. Danto's point is that there is no longer a pale of history.

But it is possible, I believe, to see something even larger in Danto's analysis, something that would be interesting to pursue by someone with a good grasp of history and culture. One might see further into his thesis and find that the history of art has been one of an evolution of individuation. Starting from the Egyptians, where art was an umbrella covering the entire culture, a culture in which the individual was of little value, to our present age in which art has moved to the opposite extreme, no longer controled by anything or anybody (except perhaps the art industry itself), heralding a new stage ( about 1964 by Danto's reakoning) in the idividuation of the planet.

If, as Teilhard de Chardin says, the impulse of evolution is toward greater consciousness and greater complexity, then what we are seeing at the present time is not something unstructured (as Danto posits), but rather, something of far greater structure, something much more complex than we have witnessed before. A stucture and complexity perhaps presently beyond our comprehension. (Of course, the conservative view of this will be that we are witnessing an encroaching chaos that will destroy civilization as we know it.)

From this new perspective, the present radical pluralism would be, rather than an unstructuring, a further step toward something of a far deeper order, an order we have not seen before, one which reflects an important moment in the individuation of humanity on this planet. Taking Danto's basic thesis, one might write a new history of art from the point of view of the evolution of individuation in art. But then this would be another master narrative and would undermine Danto's thesis. Or would it? For this is not a master narrative of art but of evolution itself as evidenced in art.

And who better to herald this advance than the artists!

This book is a joke. One can get far more accurate and practical information for free from several mailing lists and web sites dedicated to finding, courting, and (hopefully) marrying a woman from the FSU. Turns out that this is more of a sketchy and disjointed (this guy is obviously not a writer) travelogue of resturants, casinos and nightclubs, conquests (ick), and the occasional rant about how great Russian women are compared to American women. This book doesn't even make it as a document of one man's personal quest; by the end of the book, the reader doesn't even know whether the author decided to persue marriage with anyone at all. Stick with the free newsgroups and save your money.

To Russia With Love is an interesting account of one man's experiences of traveling to Russia on a group tour to find the perfect Russian wife. Obviously the author's efforts did not land him on any short list for the Pulitzer Prize. While in Moscow he dated women with whom he had corresponded prior to making his trip as well as those who were met for the first time at the socials. I would have liked to have been given more details about his pre-trip correspondence to know what it was about those women in particular that led him to want to actually meet them on his trip. Similarly, the author failed to provide many details about what it was about the particular women that he met at the socials that singled them out from the two to three hundred women who were in attendance. The reader is simply told that he would be meeting Irina, Sveta, or whomever at 7:30 p.m. and it is difficult to keep the various women straight. The author writes at great lengths about his dissatisfaction with American women, though he is presumably preaching to the choir since most men contemplating such a trip to Russia most likely already share his views. My final criticism deals with the contant lawyer- and Clinton-bashing, which seemed totally unneccessary, but then again, I am a lawyer and a former Clinton supporter! Despite these faults, the book still did make for a quick and amusing evening's read, though it probably could have been shortened into a better article for a men's magazine.

I had to come back to Amazon and write this review. I purchased Frank Coleman's book over 3 month's ago while I was preparing for a trip to Ukraine. The book saved my tail. I was hanging out in the different forums for a while and all I was getting was advice from people that were more lost than I. I just came from the best trip of my life, met 3 of the most beautiful girls and now I am planning a return trip. If I had not read this book while preparing for the trip, I honestly think the trip would have been a disaster. I think that every single man should go to Ukraine or Russia. If they read this book, they will find out what the best kept secret really is and it is not here in the USA. The trip was the most eye opening experience I have had in my life. You hear often how beautiful, elegant and educated the FSU women are but words really cannot describe it. Just go there and you will be glad you did.

I went back through each of my reviews to ascertain whether I ever gave a book or film one star. I haven't, until now. I like to read books on radical politics, conspiracy theories and other unusual stuff. However, nothing could prepare me for this car wreck of a book. This book ..., and it ... to high heaven. I will say that if John Coleman actually holds a Ph.D. (he goes by 'Dr.' John Coleman), I should be a shoo-in at Harvard or Yale when I begin applying for admission to graduate school.

Where should I start in criticizing this debacle? How about Coleman's grammar? This book is so loaded with every kind of grammatical error that it is hard to even understand what points the author is trying to convey. Misplaced commas, misspelled words, confusing sentences, and a total lack of organization are staples here. In one chapter, for instance, Coleman inserts a fairly lengthy section about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. While this might not be a problem if done correctly, why isn't this put in his later chapter about assassinations? One sentence that sticks out in my mind, and which is indicative of the whole book, is one in which the word 'livers' is substituted for 'lives'. Horrible, absolutely horrible. If someone actually edited this book, they should be executed.

Coleman tries to make plenty of connections to another book he wrote about the so-called 'Committee of 300', a secret cabal of power brokers who are trying to bring about a world-socialist system in which they rule over a world of slaves. That is one of the big problems in this book. Coleman drops information into the text that leaves the reader scratching his head in wonder. This 'Committee' is never explained or elaborated on in any way. Apparently they consist of British and American officials, with the Brits coming under especially stern criticism. MI5 and MI6 are made out to be nothing short of the spawn of Satan, and the CIA is also taken to task. Coleman also homes in on the oil industry, blaming them for the revolutions in Mexico, the Middle East crisis, and the subversion of governments worldwide.

I just realized I could write more, but I don't want to think about this book any longer. I'll use it to help light logs in my fireplace this winter. It's a shame, because some of Coleman's ideas do have merit. We all know that the oil industry has had dirty hands for years, and anyone who thinks the Gulf War had nothing to do with oil is living in fairyland. This book can actually cause blindness and a precipitous drop in IQ. Avoid!

Every chapter in Diplomacy by Deception is a new subject. I am just guessing, but, it appears to me that Dr. Coleman took a selection of monographs he wrote, and, made them into a book.

Dr. Coleman does extensive research for this book, along with his other books. When the works in question have so much documentation behind it, how can you argue with that.
Beware the reviews that trash this work, they haven't done the research Dr. Coleman has and then written about it.
If you would like to read about hidden history, this is a great place to start... or finish.

This collection of photos are important for the sake of history but must be evaluated in the proper context: Capa and the Loyalists sought to establish a Stalinist state in Spain, not a "democracy". The creation of a Stalinist state would have brought terror, murder, etc. upon the Spanish people and would have destroyed the country. I believe that the record of history (and my own personal experience as a Spaniard) has proven that the Nationalist victory was the best thing that could have happened to Spain at the time. Just look at the atrocities (tens of millions of dead, terror, etc) the Communists committed in Russia, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and on and on and on; who in their right mind would wish that on anyone? Franco punished some of the loyalists but the overwhelming majority were welcomed back into society. Now that the Soviet Union has fallen and that ridiculous "philosophy" of "communism" has been proven to be one of the worst disasters visited upon mankind those who tried to force that evil upon Spain during the Civil War should hang their heads in shame. Viva Espana!

Capa is considered one of the fathers of modern combat photography. These photographs clearly verify that fact. The modern combat photographers that have come after were all aware of Capa's work and if they didn't overtly copy his style, they certainly used it as a foundation. The potency of these photographs are not so much the action they sometimes capture, but in the faces set in the multitude of back drops of war. The viciousness and tragedy of this conflict hotly radiate out of some of these photographs. Others coolly reflect despair and fear. The book is at the same time a statement about war and a valuable historical document.

This book shows the heart of the Spainish people as they fought for their freedom. One could ask, "What Price Freedom?" Robert Capa lost his one true love when Gerda Taro was killed. To read through this book, to look at the pictures, is to look into the heart of Robert Capa.

Bob we all miss you.

The authors seem to be out-of-touch with today's high-tech banking and trends. A new generation of bankers moving at the "speed of thought" has left the contents of this book in the dust. Not a good pick for educating students who will lead the pack in the new millennium.

It is a very useful book with a clear style and it presents an in-depth analysis of commercial banks. But it lacks one thing that could have made it much better: it doesnt have a solutions manual and a guide for the cases..It presents difficulties for the self learners like me...

The essentials of banking are clearly explained in this book.Topics such as the management of bank capital, asset/liability management,international banking and bank mergers and acquisitions are explained with detail and clarity. Though this book doesn't deal with internet banking it helps you understand the underlying nature of every bank. I specially like the chapter where the authors explain the profitability of banks and how the banking business measures it.