Sweet provides good refutation for some of the unfortunate images of the Victorian world (Sweet demonstrates that some Victorians allowed naked piano legs!). :-) He offers delightful, detailed accounts of Victorian tightrope walkers (Blondin), opium sellers, "freaks," and homosexuals, among others. However, 232 pages of anecdotes and examples just does not provide enough range to demonstrate that "Everything we think we know about the Victorians is wrong." It is a huge topic, rather larger than this quite enjoyable book.

I consider myself something of a minor student of the Victorian era, and when I hear pundits and commentators disparaging the Victorians, they often seemed to me to be talking in terms of stereotypes, rather than reality. Apparently, this same observation has aroused Matthew Sweet to write this monograph, to set the record straight. Herein, Mr. Sweet looks at what the Victorians were really like, and how they lived lives surprisingly similar to modern Britons. The book contains chapters on such things as Victorian freak shows, pornography, morals, and so much more.

I found this book to be a quite fascinating history, one that covers subjects rarely found in other history books. The author left very few stones unturned, covering subjects with a surprising frankness. My one complaint against this book is that I did find the chapters a little too long, with the author dragging out the subject to near exhaustion. However, I must say that that is a matter of taste, and another reader might quite enjoy the depth of detail.

So, if you are interested in the Victorians, and what the Victorian world was *really* like, then I highly recommend that you get this book!

Perec's literary output was as varied as anyone's, comprising everything from encyclopedic novels to comic couplets, but he was consistent in one way--the quality of his writing was always excellent. Each of his works revelled in the myriad delights of language, whatever its subject. In this novel, published posthumously in an unfinished form, he uses the generic elements of the mystery novel, confounding and fulfilling them at the same time. A writer disappears from a fictional French African colony, and an unwilling acquaintance is drafted to study the vanished man's final manuscript for clues. The usual dangerous woman makes an appearance, and there are plenty of veiled warnings that the search should be dropped, but at each turn the narrator, well-versed in fictive custom, recognizes the conventions and turns them on their heads. The chapters abound with references to other works, classics and potboilers alike, and the plot in fact begins to hinge on them. Perec scholars or fans will additionally note a host of allusions to his own oeuvre and coded biographical details. Mystery aficionados will be disappointed that "53 Days" was never completed, but its editors have included the outlines and notes that wrap the story up; anyone with an interest in the writing process should find that these appendices more than make up for what's missing.

This workbook teaches everyday skills and techniques on how to manage anger build-up, reactions toward anger (positive reactions versus negative reactions), how not to turn anger inward ("stuffing it"), etc.I found that this book, in conjunction with cognitive techniques for thinking really dissipated my anger level to one of tolerance instead of blowing up over almost everything that goes wrong.I would suggest this book to anyone who feels that anger gets in the way of living a happy, rewarding life. Especially for folks that normally react with anger to either avoid other feelings or get angry over things that are not in their control.

I am a graduate student at Gallaudet University. After owning library late fees, I decided to purchase my own copy of this book. This will be a great general reference to anything related to communication disorders and mental retardation in future papers and future job practice as a researcher.

After the introduction to "The World of Bulbs," and the garden habitats of bulbs, the author organizes the bulbs by blooming season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Mid-winter. The author then covers bulbs from South Africa, Tropical Bulbs and some practical information. This is a very practical way to organize bulbs, and most books on bulbs are not set up this way. There are excellent pictures throughout the book. Some of the bulbs have had changes in the latin names, and the author makes note of that. This book is botanically correct.

Another thing that I loved is the way Mathew included with each bulb "Associations." That is British for "Combinations," or what plants combine well with the bulbs. Some of the pictures showing these combinations were great. This is the type of thing that is very helpful to gardeners. You do have to keep in mind that he is writing for England, and a few of the plants mentioned (like heaths and heathers) do not do well in many American gardens. Keeping that in mind, the combinations were excellent.

At the end of each species description, the author lists the place of origin. This is also very helpful because then the gardener can use some common sense about where the plant likes to grow.

There are more species listed than anyone would find readily available in the trade, so the book is very complete, and perhaps too technical for some people. It's not a coffee-table book, after all.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the most positive side, it is the only, and therefore the best, treatment of the issues of citizenship that I could identify, and that is why I bought it. The range of authoritative essays that have been brought together is very worthy, and anyone contemplating this topic must take this work into account.

On the other hand, as I went through chapter after chapter, what I tended to see was an awful lot of academic whining about how the world is getting too complex and too multi-cultural to be able to pin someone down to just one citizenship, let them have many. Reality check needed here. Governments exist to preserve and protect very specific moral, ideological, and cultural values, and governments are the means by which a Republic finances what are called external diseconomies--those things that are needed for the common good but not profitable for the private sector to do.

There are glimmers here and there of how one might better integrate new immigrants and otherwise promote good citizenship, but overall what this book is missing is a major commitment to thinking about how one draws the line between nationalized citizens truly loyal to their newly chosen nation-state, and those who choose to retain another primary citizenship and simply enjoy the bounty of the land they have chosen to VISIT....

Of all the contributions, the one that stood out for me was by Adrian Favell, on "Integration Policy and Integration Research in Europe: A Review and Critique." Despite the title, the heart of this chapter concerns the information "sources and methods" that underlie conclusions about citizenship and the policies on citizenship. There is a great deal of meat in this chapter, and it could useful guide the next book in what I hope will become a series.

I like this book. It forced me to think and it certainly opened my eyes to how we are letting a whole bunch of people debate the nature of citizenship without ever really being committed to the idea that an oath of loyalty is fundamental--as universal service should be fundamental, not to flesh out the military, but rather to provide a common foundation for knowing one another intimately, for respecting one another from that common ground. How one defines citizenship is fundamental to the future of every nation--this book both enlightens and frightens.

To understand Anthony Burgess, you have to take in consideration the whole totalitarianism of his conceptual views upon the art of writing and its relation to reality. Matthews once again allows us to further understand what Burgess is trying to portray. The literay movement of what Burgess was trying to portray is best defined by Matthews begining on page one and neverending.

This is one of the best and most comprehensive bookshelf volumes on the topic of nuclear, biological, chemical and conventional weapons production, proliferation, and stockpiling. Organized by weapons system type and geographic location, Cirincione and his research team provide a straightforward and rather frightening catalog of current programs and stockpiles, as well as regional and country-specific forecasts.

Though it is not the most comprehensive coverage of the topics, it is the best source of information that one can lift single-handedly. The only other single-source volumes you'll find on these topics are issued by the U.S. government and contain thousands of pages.

If you need to know something about weapons of mass destruction or ballistic missile programs, this is the book to reference.

If you've ever spent time on Nantucket you must read this book as well as the other N I Mysteries in this series. It's almost like a remote tour of the island. The author is very adept at blending the local sites into her story.

As a chronic pain sufferer for the last 15 years, learning about what might be causing my pain, how to reduce the pain, how to minimize its affect on my life and perspective, and how to eliminate the causes of pain have been a top priority. In my search, I have found relatively little help from the medical profession. They are sympathetic, but primarily good at eliminating potential causes of pain through diagnostic testing. The pain goes on. My road has led me through many alternative ways of diagnosing causes of pain and treating it. The lesson for me is that pain has many contributing causes and a wide range of things you can do to help.

Having learned that much in 15 years, I was pleased to see these same lessons spelled out in Erasing Pain. Not only that, but the authors have taken 77 categories of diseases and described their causes, typical pain associated with them, and outlined some potential forms of relief.

The authors work at the Rusk Institute in New York City where a holistic approach is taken to the patient's pain. This includes looking at emotions, psychology, social needs related to ailments and disabilities, as well as how the patient's life environment may be contributing. One man in pain was jogging with a large dog on a leash. When he stopped taking the dog along at the doctors' suggestion, his pain eventually went away.

The book is designed to help patients in pain communicate with their physicians. "We believe that the medical profession treats patient pain very inadequately, sometimes badly." "Most doctors are poorly trained to deal with the phenomenon . . . ."

To make the material more accessible, it is in a question-and-answer format. The questions are the ones that patients in pain answer the most often.

The book also gives the patient new ways to communicate about pain, including how intense the pain is on a scale of one to ten and its exact analogy in other experiences with pain that are widely occurring (burning, stinging, raw, sensitive, throbbing, or sharp as some examples).

Best of all, the book is very open to exploring alternative therapies, and explains why they may work.

In my case, one cause of pain was in a place where I felt no pain. People in pain typically only notice the source of pain that is most intense at the moment. I have very flat feet, and needed orthotics. With them, my back stopped putting pressure on my sciatic nerve and most of my leg pain went away after some chiropractic treatments. After eliminating many sources of pain in this sort of indirect way, I finally got to the point where I could feel the pain in my feet. With self massage, I can get a lot of relief from that pain. Exercise, reading, music, and meditation all help (as the book suggests they usually do).

My only complaint about this book is that it definitely over does describing what can be treated at the Rusk Institute. Much of the beginning of the book reads like a marketing brochure for the institute. Although it is good to know about the credentials of those who are writing a book, I prefer books that do so much more unobtrusively than this one. I graded the book down one star for this. On pain-related content only, this is definitely a five-star book.

If you have pain and cannot go to the Rusk Institute, definitely read this book and apply its lessons. It could make all the difference in how much pain you experience!

May you live in pain-free peace!