A Wild Sheep Chase : A Novel
by HARUKI MURAKAMI
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Reviews (78)

Japanese David Lynch
I kept thinking of the odd characters that appear in David Lynch movies as I read this book--those ones that play peripheral parts we don't know too much history of, but filled with eccentricities and some type of magick.This book is a romp through such a landscape--odd people with odd behaviours, all tinged with some tragedy or sadness.We have a girl who looks plain until she shows off her ears and then she becomes stunning.A man who dresses as a sheep and talks in unbroken slurs.A best friend who disappears 5 years ago and communicates strange favors by mail without disclosing where he is.It is all strange and mysterious, and in fact, the story reads like a Western detective story told first-hand.If you are looking for a good storyline, Murakami is probably not your author as much of the enjoyment of the book is in the absurd.However, if you are interested in modern Japanese literature, this has a very Western feel to it and cultural differences will not affect the enjoyment or understanding of it.

Remarkable quest for a sheep with a star on its back
The main character is in his twenties, he is divorced, but recently he got a girlfriend "with unbelievably beautiful ears". For his job he has made an advertisement containing a picture of sheep that he received from an old friend -the Rat-, but this has caused him the wrath of the assistant of The Leader. The Leader is a vague but very powerful person who is trying to set up an extremely right-wing empire. He gets his ideas during hallucinations caused be a large aneurysm in his brain and in which a sheep with a star on its back plays a leading role. This sheep is also on the picture used for the advertisement and the assistant orders the main character to find the sheep. After many detours the main person not only finds out what happened to the sheep, but also to his old friend The Rat.

The Japanese writer Haruki Marukami is already for a long time a candidate for the Nobel Prize. This is one of his first books and it already shows his talent to create a special, foreign world (for example: none of the characters in the book has a name), in which he is capable of describing unbelievable events in such a way that they become believable. Maybe this book is still a little bit unbalanced every now and then, but I look forward to reading his next books.

Becoming Murakami
After reading Murakami's stellar Wind Up Bird, Norwegian Wood and Hardboiled Wonderland this book seemed like a logical next step. I had a lot of fun following the writer on this road to nowhere, but feel that this book can best be seen as an important stepping stone to subsequent greatness.

With so many previous reviewers' comments on the book's themes of the outsider in a traditionally close knit society, the progression of alienation, and an Odyssey through Japan's history and country side, there is little reason for repetition. I considered this book a fun read for those whose literary Universe revolves around starts like Pynchon and Foster Wallace. To me, the likeliness between this book's search for the mythical sheep and Gravity's Rainbow's quest for the origin of Imipolex G were neither superficial nor coincidental. Had I not read the latter masterpiece and Murakami's later works, I may actually have opted for a full five stars. Yet, Murakami's path down the road of nowhere falls so much short of Pynchon's landmark on any level. Moreover, Haruki himself developed the Odyssey theme way further in the "Bird" that this chase left me with a slightly empty feeling. As such, I think that this book is most interesting in giving the reader a gauge on Murakami's evolution as a writer.

Still, as a funny story on Nihilism it provides a literary counterpart to the Coen's Brothers Big Lebowsky, which -to me- is no bad company at all.
... Read more

Isbn: 037571894X
Sales Rank: 5159
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Japanese (Language) Contemporary Fiction    5. Literary    6. Fiction / General   

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle : A Novel
by HARUKI MURAKAMI
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Paperback (01 September, 1998)
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Bad things come in threes for Toru Okada.He loses his job, his cat disappears, and then his wife fails to return from work. His search for his wife(and his cat) introduces him to a bizarre collection of characters, including two psychic sisters, a possibly unbalanced teenager, an old soldier who witnessed the massacres on the Chinese mainland at the beginning of the Second World War, and a very shady politician.

Haruki Murakami is a master of subtly disturbing prose. Mundane events throb with menace, while the bizarre is accepted without comment. Meaning always seems to be just out of reach, for the reader as well as for the characters, yet one is drawn inexorably into a mystery that may have no solution. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is an extended meditation on themes that appear throughout Murakami's earlier work. The tropes of popular culture, movies, music, detective stories, combine to create a work that explores both the surface and the hidden depths of Japanese society at the end of the 20th century.

If it were possible to isolate one theme in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, that theme would be responsibility. The atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China keep rising to the surface like a repressed memory, and Toru Okada himself is compelled by events to take responsibility for his actions and struggle with his essentially passive nature. If Toru is supposed to be a Japanese Everyman, steeped as he is in Western popular culture and ignorant of the secret history of his own nation, this novel paints a bleak picture. Like the winding up of the titular bird, Murakami slowly twists the gossamer threads of his story into something of considerable weight. --Simon Leake ... Read more

Reviews (204)

Thought provoking yet very readable
This was my first Murakami but it will not be my last.A tale of extraordinary events in the life of an unemployed Japanese law clerk.Packed with imagery, the book is thought provoking and engaging.

An Amazing Book!
I was directed to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by two friends. After hearing so much about them I picked up the novel expecting to be instantly blown away.

Instead I was lured into a captivating and engaging story. Murakami has an amazing talent of writing descriptively, and not overwhelmingly. He paints clear pictures, and introduces entertaining and interesting characters. This novel is full of unique characters and profound insights that are played off as little moments.

The novel follows a man named Toru Okada who's life becomes increasingly complicated after his wife and his cat leave him. The reason I kept reading the novel was because of these strange occurrences, but they were written in a most ordinary way. The character knew they were odd, the reader did also, but the writing gave no indication of oddities.

This is what I enjoyed, the mystical that was present in these ordinary situations, and because of or perhaps due to the ordinary surroundings the mystical seemed ordinary.

My favorite character was May Kashara, a young girl who was the neighbor of Toru who after a short introduction when Toru spoke about a bird who sounded as though he had a wind-up spring, called him "Mr. Wind-Up Bird".

My favorite scenes were the war scenes (although they are very brutal and violent, my imagination went crazy and I was appreciative of the medium of writing where I was in control, instead of a film) and the water well scenes, which were cleverly executed and described. There was a part where Toru promised himself he wouldn't look at his watch and then all he could think about was the watch and the time, and it was described to a T and I was amazed at how well Murakami described the human animal.

Murukami's characters are likeable, and each of them are different and well-developed. As the novel continues past strange phone calls to baseball bats and water wells, it became harder for me to concentrate on my life. I simply wanted to read the book until its finish.

When I reached the last hundred pages of the book, I took my time. I didn't want to say goodbye to May Kashara or Toru Okada, the characters were so vivid and sweet that I didn't want to finish the novel.

I did, however, and the end did not leave me short-changed, but instead was just as an end should be. Not too much and not too little.

I would have to say that all in all, Murakami has an incredible skill for balance. He never gives too much or too less, and the novel progresses wonderfully. I would recommend this novel to everyone. But try it for yourself! Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.

Cinematic visuals, unusual characters, baffling plot.
With over 200 Amazon reviews, and much critical material available on the web (see www.complete-review.com/authors/murakamh.html for example) it is difficult to say something about Murakami that hasn't been better said elsewhere.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, like all Murakami's books,is very absorbing, flows like a long, complicated dream, a good mystery or science fiction novel.The fact that the world inhabited by Murakami's characters is, like the characters themselves, somewhat peculiar adds to the interest.

The World War Two scenes are very vivid, almost cinematic.Murakami himself says they are fictitious and imaginative, but based on research.

The plot, while intriguing, doesn't make much sense and isn't resolved very well.The fact that the English translation leaves out large chunks of the Japanese original may account for part of the problem, but plot, so far as I can tell, is not a big issue for Japanese writers in general.And Murakami, in spite of his familiarity with and use of Western culture, is very Japanese.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in great modern literature. ... Read more

Isbn: 0679775439
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Literary    5. Fiction / Literary   

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International)
by HARUKI MURAKAMI
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (02 March, 1993)
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Reviews (93)

Good book, unfortune antisemitic sentence
The book is quite good, but unfortunately Murakami makes a completely unacceptable anti-Israel comment completely uncalled for and not related to the novel at all.
It looks as an almost subliminal message to the casual reader because it is hidden in a 400-page book, but it casts seriuos doubts about Muralami's real intentions.

"Lost in Translation" on acid
"Hard-boiled Wonderland" is a wonderful read, an effortless mix of the fantastic and the real, a trip though both soulless contemporary Tokyo and the fractured but fascinating consciousness of one of its residents.

Its nameless narrator/protagonist has an interesting problem. He's a Calcutec, a walking human encryption machine in the employ of the System, a massive corporate conglomerate. Murakami's vision of Tokyo is set in either the near-future or a parallel version of the present; in this Tokyo, the System controls practically everything that's legal, almost as if the old-time zaibatsu financial cliques consolidated together and then merged with the government. For every yin, there's a yang, though, and the System's yang is the Factory, a shadowy yakuza-like organization that employs Semiotics, decryption agents who seek to undo the Calcutecs' work and steal the reams of data they have encrypted.

This infowar is but one of our protagonist's problems, though. His mind's been re-wired to enable him to do this work, so he is both an employee of the System and a product of its machinations. The rewiring's not quite right, though; instead of being a sleekToyota or a zippy Honda, his mind's like a defective Pinto, and even though he's fueling it with a high-octane blend of Bob Dylan, women and whiskey, it just might explode in the near future.

Throughout the book, Murakami deals in duality, flipping back and forth between the "Hard-boiled Wonderland" of contemporary Tokyo and "The End of The World," a fuzzy sort of eternal present-tense place within the protagonist's head, a place lacking in memories and specifics. Night and day, System and Factory, underground and surface, reality and subconscious all spin around the tao of the narrative like a dizzying and ever-accelerating merry-go-round. The protagonist can't get off--and the reader won't want to.

Subtlely intended and masterfully woven.
"unaffectedly affecting"..... definitely. Intellectualism mixed with groundless introspective hypothesis. The perfect blend of two cultures that edge towards each other while blending vastly different histories. And the only truly common strain remains. Of a life lived in futility and love/hatred lived for it's own sake. Minds that were made for strife and dying. Without which they would die, to the perfection and utter emptiness of the body left behind.

It is a vague thing, the way by which Murakami's focusing on the details illuminates the forest. And what a peaceful ending must surely be like, autumn, rain, bob dylan, and sleep. Fascinating this talent of his with metaphors. Only he could liken chubby girls in pink to big strawberry shortcakes waltzing on a dance floor. Or Bob Dylan is like "a kid standing at the window watching the rain." Or observations like "Death leaves cans of shaving cream half-used." "Because she never let me sit by the window on trips." And the humorously insightful, "The effort of forcing energy into a vacuum."

The style is subtlely intrinsic. What starts out as two absolutely distinct stories meld. Where they meld? I cannot tell. It is masterfully seamless. You come away and they were two stories, parallel and yet blended. Fantastic stories, involving myths and unbelievables, yet so natural. So natural that it took me until pg 382 to realize that no character in the entire book had been given a proper first name. Subtlely intended and masterfully woven. ... Read more

Isbn: 0679743464
Sales Rank: 5495
Subjects:  1. Fantastic fiction    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Literary    5. Fiction / Literary   

The River Why, Twentieth-Anniversary Edition
by David James Duncan
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (05 August, 2002)
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David James Duncan's first novel has gained an increasingly wide audience over the years--some might even call it a following. This coming-of-age tale of Gus Orviston's search for the Pacific Northwest's elusive steelhead, a metaphor for Gus's internal quest for self-knowledge, appeals to all who cherish a good yarn and memorable characters. Uncle Zeke's colorful rendition of Gus's conception on the banks of the Deschutes River is itself worth the price of purchase. ... Read more

Reviews (81)

Why not?
When DJD writes about a game of catch the ball burns my hand thru the mitt. When his story is about wading up a trout stream, my neck gets hot from the sun on it, I can hear the mosquitos whine, and my feet go numb from the cold water.His characters are complex; warm, funny, honest, whacked, i.e quite real. He writes books that I could live in and I don't even play baseball. Or fish.

Thought-provoking!!
I read this book after having read another of David James Duncan's books, The Brothers K, at the advice of a friend. The books are very similar, with the protagonist being of a moderate spiritual mindset, observing his own spirituality as well as the styles with which those around him view the world. While The Brothers K did this with baseball being the avocation of choice, The River Why does it with fishing being the avocation of choice.

I am not particularly drawn to either activity, but was happy to read about others' excitement at it, understanding that it was being used as a framework for what drives the protagonist. I loved both books, and the next David James Duncan book that I read is likely to be My Story as Told by Water.

Uneven, but great at its best moments
It is rare to laugh out loud while reading novels. It can happen. But I have yet to find another book that had me laughing out loud, rereading the passage, and laughing out loud again. This book does that.

It's not 5 stars only because I hit a couple periods where the story felt slow to me. But, then again, I'm not much of one for fishing, having long decided that I prefer rocks to rivers.

For those of you like me, there are plenty of rocks in this book.

The amazing thing about the book, though, is how well it ties together spirituality and fly fishing, almost as though it were Life of Pi set on rivers instead of the ocean.

The River Why also has shares some similarities with A River Runs Through It. Most notably both are books about people and place. As an inland westerner, I must say I chuckled at more than a few of Duncan's disparaging remarks about California.

Duncan is best, though, when he writes about people. Bill Bob is one of the most entertaining characters I've ever encountered. Gus's initial encounter with Eddy contains some of the strongest humor writing I've ever read. And Duncan manages to more aptly capture the rivalries that occur between fly and bait fishers than any other writing I've seen. The sense of smug superiority that the two often feel is typically matched only by strong football rivalries or, perhaps, the most marked of skiing/snowboard arguments.

For non-fishers out there, please heed my advice, and work with the early chapters. You'll be glad you did. ... Read more

Isbn: 1578050847
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Fly fishing    4. General    5. Literary Criticism   

My Story as Told by Water: Confessions, Druidic Rants, Reflections, Bird-Watchings, Fish-Stalkings, Visions, Songs and Prayers Refracting Light, from Living Rivers, in the Age of the Industrial Dark
by David James Duncan
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (05 August, 2002)
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Editorial Review

When David James Duncan was growing up in suburban Portland, Oregon, he had no river to call his own, so he would routinely create one by flooding his mother's garden with a hose. He would then revel in his creation until he received the inevitable scolding. The poor kid couldn't help himself: "Running water ... felt as necessary to me as food, sleep, parents, and air," he explains. In time, he exchanged his nozzle for a fly rod and went in search of grander gardens, eventually developing an "interior coho compass" which he has traveled by ever since.

As any reader of The River Why knows, Duncan is a master of the art of writing about fishing--which is also to say life, since the two for him are indelibly linked. But these essays deal with far more than leaky waders and rising trout. Part memoir, part activist treatise, My Story As Told by Water is Duncan's love song to wild places and the creatures which inhabit them. The book's highlight is his powerfully convincing essay "A Prayer for the Salmon's Second Coming," in which he argues that saving salmon is crucial to both man and fish alike: "A 'modern Northwest' that cannot support salmon is unlikely to support 'modern Northwesterners' for long," he writes. In this elegant demand for the removal of four Snake River dams (out of 221 on the Snake/Columbia system), Duncan declares the wild salmon "a holiness, a divine gift," a role model rather than a resource: "Salmon are a light darting not just through water, but through the human mind and heart. Salmon help shield us from fear of death by showing us how to follow our course without fear, and how to give ourselves for the sake of things greater than ourselves."

He also ruminates on the true meanings of "place" and "home"; offers a fable on the 1872 Mining Act, "the most anachronistic and devastating piece of 'corporate welfare' in the world"; and details how Montanans rallied to prevent a giant mining company from extracting gold near the Blackfoot River, the setting of the Norman Maclean classic A River Runs Through It. All in all, My Story As Told by Water is a moving collection by an exquisite writer endowed with wit, compassion, and the rare ability to appeal to both emotion and reason in equal measures. --Shawn Carkonen ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Stereotypical, obvious, pompus
Duncan's textbook rants are so predictable I found myself mouthing the next sentence before I read it.As someone who's work and life is submerged in environmental, water use, and preservation issues I find this type of stereotypical ranting more detrimental to the issues that concern me than most G.W. policies.Duncan preaches to the choir, but his preaching is so over the top it is a turn-off.While I agree with virtually every theme and policy he promotes, his pompus diatribes push me in the other direction.If this book were written 40 years ago it might strike a radical tone and inspire action.In these times it is merely a rehash of the new-age mumbo-jumbo that is so easy for the opposition to tear down.

This book will apeal to two audiences: new-age sheep, and right-wingers looking to bash environmentalists.The rest will find it harder to wade through than Columbia.

Henry Bugbee
For those who are interested in the life and teaching of Henry Bugbee, Duncan's account of Henry's last days makes this book worth reading.

My Story As Told By Water
My Story As Told By Water by David James Duncan was a confusing and overly political way to express the author's love for water. HIs diliverey is good, but he should keep in mind that his readers are reading for entertainment, not to hear about our government's poor decisions. ... Read more

Isbn: 1578050839
Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Development - Sustainable Development    5. General   

River Teeth
by DAVID JAMES DUNCAN
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 June, 1996)
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Reviews (10)

...I don't even fish
When DJD writes about a game of catch the ball burns my hand thru the mitt.When his story is about wading up a trout stream, my neck gets hot from the sun on it, I can hear the mosquitos whine, and my feet go numb from the cold water. He writes books that I could live in and I don't even play baseball.Or fish.

I laughed out loud in the library . . .
as I read this book. Although I don't like fishing (Duncan's favorite subject), I do like good stories. And Duncan knows how to write them. This book is easy to read because it is a compilation of short stories, albeit some better than others. But all the stories are worth reading at least once. And believe me, after the first time, you will be returning to read a few of the stories over and over. I know I did.

Yes, there are worse books...
This book is sentimental, overwritten, trendy and sickeningly mediocre.Duncan may very well be the master of kitch readers crave from years of Hollywood molding their aesthetic preferences.Perhaps it would not be so bad if Duncan actually had some biting or original insight into human lives or the human condition.He appropriates "eastern philosophy" to not only trivialize the philosophy itself, but to make his lack of originality transparent.With Duncan, eastern religion can indeed be bought in a Santa Barbara bead boutique or between the lines of a hippie's banter.

YES!It truly is a horrifying experience to get lost in the store when one is a toddler.But Duncan's style and knack for cheese reduce such moments to the most trite melodrama.He is the classic example of the writer who has used more words than he knows what to do with.If you admire the aesthetics of Hallmark cards, buy this book and swoon away.

For better nature writers, turn to Henry David Thoreau, (early) Robert Bly, Paul Theroux or even Ernest Hemingway's Nick Adams stories.Compared to Duncan, a man like Hawthorne takes readers closer to nature by having characters walk through a forest. ... Read more

Isbn: 0553378279
Sales Rank: 70561
Subjects:  1. Fiction - General    2. General    3. Nature    4. Nature/Ecology    5. Rivers    6. Short stories    7. Nature / Rivers   

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (25 August, 2001)
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Editorial Review

Like the comic books that animate and inspire it, TheAmazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is both larger than lifeand of it too. Complete with golems and magic and miraculous escapesand evil nemeses and even hand-to-hand Antarctic battle, it pursues themost important questions of love and war, dreams and art, across pagesbrimming with longing and hope. Samuel Klayman--self-described little man,city boy, and Jew--first meets Josef Kavalier when his mother shoveshim aside in his own bed, telling him to make room for their cousin, arefugee from Nazi-occupied Prague. It's the beginning, howeverunlikely, of a beautiful friendship. In short order, Sam's talent forpulp plotting meets Joe's faultless, academy-trained line, and acomic-book superhero is born. A sort of lantern-jawed equalizer clad in darkblue long underwear, the Escapist "roams the globe, performing amazingfeats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!"Before they know it, Kavalier and Clay (as Sam Klayman has come to beknown) find themselves at the epicenter of comics' golden age.

But Joe Kavalier is driven by motives far more complex than youraverage hack. In fact, his first act as a comic-book artist is to dealHitler a very literal blow. (The cover of the first issue shows the Escapistdelivering "an immortal haymaker" onto the Führer's realisticallybloody jaw.) In subsequent years, the Escapist and his superhero alliestake on the evil Iron Chain and their leader Attila Haxoff--theirbattles drawn with an intensity that grows more disturbing as Joe'sefforts to rescue his family fail. He's fighting their war with brushand ink, Joe thinks, and the idea sustains him long enough to meet thebeautiful Rosa Saks, a surrealist artist and surprisingly retrogrademuse. But when even that fiction fails him, Joe performs an escape ofhis own, leaving Rosa and Sammy to pick up the pieces in someincreasingly wrong-headed ways.

More amazing adventures follow--but reader, why spoil the fun? Sufficeto say, Michael Chabon writes novels like the Escapist busts locks.Previous books such as The Mysteries ofPittsburgh and Wonder Boys have proseof equal shimmer and wit, and yet here he seems to have finally found acanvas big enough for his gifts. The whole enterprise seems animated bylove: for his alternately deluded, damaged, and painfully sincerecharacters; for the quirks and curious innocence of tough-talkingwartime New York; and, above all, for comics themselves, "theinspirations and lucubrations of five hundred aging boys dreaming ashard as they could." Far from negating such pleasures, the Holocaust'spresence in the novel only makes them more pressing. Art, if notcapable of actually fighting evil, can at least offer a gesture ofdefiance and hope--a way out, in other words, of a world gonecompletely mad. Comic-book critics, Joe notices, dwell on "thepernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape.As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life."Indeed. --Mary Park ... Read more

Reviews (499)

All in all, lives up to its rep
This is one heck of an epic novel. At times I did become irritated and wanted to bang Michael Chabon over the head with all 650 pages of it--why does a book about comic books have to be this long, and this aggressively literary--but if you can bear with it all the crazy, seemingly unconnected story lines he keeps throwing out along the way do eventually get tied together in a satisfying manner. Chabon never seems to get a real fix on any of his characters, and I only had a very nebulous sense of who they were (all I felt I knew about Rosa, for instance, was that she had curly hair, a big bottom and was a total bitch) but their experiences seemed real in some way. Chabon demonstrates a gift here for describing things, like comic book panels, architecture, and what it might be like to experience your first kiss at midnight on the top of a deserted Empire State Building.

Amazing indeed!!!
I bought this book because I was taken with the flashy cover, I had not read any CHabon, and had never heard of this book.Well I am so glad I submitted to a whim that afternoon because, I loved this book and found the characters compelling.I read it 4 years ago but still recommend it today.

Truly Amazing!
"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" is a work that's difficult to describe. The 600+ pages cover the years from 1937 until 1954 in the lives of Josef Kavalier and Sammy Clayman, two Jewish cousins and best friends. Kavalier flees Prague in 1937 under intriguing circumstances (that are too good to give away), and ends up with Sammy's family (Sammy's mother and both boys' grandmother) in New York City. They're poor, they're approximately the same age (17 at the beginning of the novel), and they both have dreams of bringing the rest of Josef's family to America before the anti-Semitism burbling in Central Europe does more harm to the family.

Through happenstance, careful planning, and skill, the two boys end up creating a super hero comic book. Their hero, "The Escapist," fights crimes with the talents of an escape artist (a career that Joe once aspired to) and eventually superhuman strength. He wears a mask (of course), and a blue suit with a gold key emblem emblazoned on his chest. The book uses as a template the careers of many Golden Age comic book artists, but especially that of Siegel and Schuster, the creators of the greatest of all, Superman. Joe and Sammy work together, and The Escapist is catapulted to the top of the comics heap, originally conceived as a Nazi-fighter (before fighting Nazis was cool) and an outlet for Joe's rage and impotence, and an outlet for Sammy's creativity. They build up an entire comics company, Empire Comics, and their fights with editors, radio producers, and serial producers fuel the need for conflict in the book--as there aren't many between these two friends.

The novel follows them and their comic book creation through World War II, and into the 1950's...and it's not a smooth ride for anyone. It involves marriage, children, mysterious disappearances, and cameos from the elite of the time--everyone from Orson Welles to Salvador Dali (who nearly drowns at a "surrealist party"....and he doesn't drown in water...or even liquid for that matter) shows up, along with a Jewish Golem, Eleanor Roosevelt, and eight enormous braided rubber bands. We travel to many locations, the most exotic I've seen in a terrestrial book, but I don't want to give them away, because the locales themselves are major twists of the plot.

Now, just because this is ostensibly about comic books, many of you will be turned off--don't be. That's like saying you're not interested in "Death of a Salesman" because you don't like...uh...sales. The book is about human experience--about love, death, fear, regret, longing...but the two major players (of many) happen to be a comic book writer and artist. Now, if you happen to BE a fan of comic books, you'll love the scenes where comic books are discussed--Chabon references the Greats of all time: Schuster and Siegel themselves, Bob Kane, Gil Kane, Gardner Fox, Milton Caniff, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee....and uses them sparingly (for non-fans), but some of you may recognize the creators of Li'l Orphan Annie, Superman, Batman, Flash, Hawkman, The Human Torch, Captain America, The Sub-Mariner...this truly WAS a Golden Age; and although Chabon is careful to point out that "Golden Ages always seem to be in the past," he also says this was indeed a golden time for these people. So recently out of the Depression, not yet subjected to the full horrors of World War II, the bulk of the book is suffused with a hope that transcends the material.

Now, let's just say you're not a fan of Super-Heroes, of Escape Artists, of New York City, of the 1940's, or of Jews. Why on earth are you still reading this review? And why should you pick up "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay?" This is quite honestly the BEST novel I've read in a long time, possibly years. There were moments that made my eyes well up with tears, and scenes that had me laughing out loud. Chabon is literate, and has a beautiful style. His vocabulary is enormous, and it was delightful to read a novel that had words in it that I had to actually look up--or gather meaning from context. It was such a wonderful, active, immersing experience to read this book.

I give it my absolute highest recommendation. It made me want to create something important. Something lasting. Something I can be proud of. And I already have the cutest baby ever made, but this made me want to get out there and LIVE. This is a joyous (even when heartbreaking) book that you should make a part of your library. Read it. Another quick recommendation: "The Losers Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez -- a much shorter but lively, very entertaining book I enjoyed . ... Read more

Isbn: 0312282990
Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Historical    4. Historical - General    5. Humorous    6. Fiction / Literary    7. Reading Group Guide   

Werewolves in Their Youth: Stories
by Michael Chabon
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 January, 2000)
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Editorial Review

Wonder boy Michael Chabon's second collection of stories tackles the American family in all its tragic and often frighteningly funny dysfunction. In the title story, a self-professed "King of the Retards" tries to distance himself from his next-door neighbor and only friend, who has taken their games (Plastic Man, Titanium Man, Matter-Eater Lad) just a little too far. In "House Hunting," a drunk real-estate agent shows a young couple through a house far too expensive for them, pocketing knickknacks and demonstrating a strange familiarity with its rooms. The wrenching "Son of the Wolfman" follows the aftermath of a rape; after a long struggle to conceive, Cara Glanzman becomes pregnant by her rapist and decides to keep the child, even as her husband struggles with his violent thoughts. In spite of the potential for sensationalism in such a plot, "Wolfman" is moving, unsentimental, and like the rest of these tales, wholly original.

Chabon is a master of the lively and unexpected description, his prose studded with images that split these mostly conventionally themed stories wide open. Consider his burly Quebecois carpenter, who has "a face that looked as if it had been carved with a pneumatic drill by a tiny workman dangling from the sheer granite cliff of Olivier's forehead." Or the "local drunks" of a Chubb Island bar, "a close-knit population, involved in an ongoing collective enterprise: the building, over several generations, of a basilica of failure, on whose crowded friezes they figured in vivid depictions of bankruptcy, drug rehabilitation, softball, and arrest." Or, the narrator of "Mrs. Box" and his failed marriage: "...very soon they had been forced to confront the failure of an expedition for which they had set out remarkably ill-equipped, like a couple of trans-Arctic travelers who through lack of preparation find themselves stranded and are forced to eat their dogs." Werewolves in Their Youth is worth reading for such moments alone. When Chabon uses them to illuminate our darkest impulses and fears, the result is often revelatory. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Worth a Read, if Only for "The Black Mill."
Not much to say here.If you like Lovecraftian tales, "The Black Mill" is well worth checking out.It's the one story that stands out like a sore thumb in this collection, but it's justified by a preface explaining that it's a story written by a minor but important character from "The Wonder Boys."

It's a pretty neat concept, the idea of exploring a genre voice by letting one of your characters do the writing.I'm a sucker for such things, and this was no disappointment.Creepy story that builds the tension in a believable manner.The only disappointing part was the very end. There's a narrative device at play there that will either give you the chills or make you roll your eyes in a "hey, no fair!" fashion. I experienced a little of each.

As for the other stories --

What other reviewers are saying is right on target. Lots of failed marriages. "Son of the Wolfman" is good, but I've never been a very big fan of short fiction with an omniscient narrator.In this story we get inside the heads of at least two characters, and I don't think it was really necessary to be in both -- especially since the 2nd character was somewhat minor (she's the midwife of the aforementioned rape victim). Time is of the essence in a short story, and given that fact, I have a personal preference for being in only one person's head. But maybe that's just me.

On the whole, this collection is very readable.I go against the grain, though, and cast a vote in favor of more gothic horror from Mr. Chabon in the future."The Black Mill" is a real romp.

Second only to Carver
This collection of short stories will be joining my well-thumbed collection of Raymond Carver stories on my most perused bookshelf. Chabon's descriptions are melt-in-the-mouth delicious--like the best dark chocolate-- bittersweet with a memorable aftertaste. Both The Wolfman's Son and The Black Mill (although quite different in style and content)are worth multiple readings. Chabon is a fascinating and perceptive writer (okay, I'm jealous). I look forward to more of the same and more of the different.

Matter-Eater Lad Lives Again
This is a solid collection of short stories.The title story is by far the strongest, followed closely by the Son of Wolfman story.Although dealing with a number of rather serious issues, the collection is fun and light, a good day's read ... Read more

Isbn: 0312254385
Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Life change events    5. Literary    6. Psychological fiction, American    7. Short Stories (single author)    8. Social life and customs    9. United States   

Emperor of the Air
by Ethan Canin
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (September, 1999)
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Reviews (31)

LITERATURE LITE:ALL THE BIG WORDS, NONE OF THE SUBSTANCE
This book is the literary equivalent of paint-by-numbers.You know how when you see a comedian totally bombing on stage, all of his jokes eliciting only stony, derisive silence, and you yourself actually start feeling embarrassed for him?That's exactly how I felt as I read this book - I was embarrassed for the author.Canin takes no chances in any of these stultifyingly dull stories, stooping instead to crass emotional button-pushing and Hallmark card sentimentality.It's actually a staggering accomplishment that Canin could put this many words to paper without at least accidentally coming up with an interesting turn of phrase or substantial insight.Obviously written with an eye toward publication, mass-market success, and tv movie script adaptation, this is the most mediocre, Establishment-pandering book I've ever read.The thing that sets it above and beyond most bad books is that while Canin can obviously write, he's got absolutely nothing to say.I mean, most people have at least one good story in them, you know?
Despite (or because of) all that I give "Emperor of the Air" five stars.I firmly believe everyone should read this book as an example of what not to do when writing a book.

Simply Wonderful
This is one book that by some stroke of luck I plucked from the shelf at the library. I am a fan of short stories, and usually favor simple ones, Raymond Carver comes to mind. The stories in this collection were poignant, heart-warming tales of family and love. I had never heard of this author before finding this book, but I will certainly look for something else that he has written.

Simply Brilliant
This is one of the richest collections of short stories I've ever read. The author's sparse yet deep writing style kept the pages turning. I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Isbn: 0618004149
Sales Rank: 148958
Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Popular American Fiction    5. Short Stories (single author)    6. Social life and customs    7. United States    8. Fiction / Short Stories (single author)   

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
by Chris Van Allsburg
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (24 September, 1984)
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Reviews (51)

Curiouser and curiouser
Picture books have a wide range of purposes in this world.They can teach and inform.They can amuse and entertain.Sometimes, though, I think that the most impressive picture books are the ones that inspire.And not in a gosh-doesn't-that-drawing-of-a-sunset-make-you-want-to-draw-a-sunset-too type mentality.I mean true inspiration.The kind you might find, for example, in Chris Van Allsburg's incredibly entertaining and mysterious picture book, "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick".I can think of no other source in this world better able to inspire children to write their own highly interesting stories."The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" has been used for years as a uniquely original source for stirring up potential tales in the minds of kids everywhere.More importantly, though, it's just a darn good book.Darn good!

Few books for small children actively encourage you to read a long wordy Introduction to them first.This is one of the few.Before we see any of the pictures we are told a tale of one Mr. Wenders and one Mr. Burdick.Mr. Wenders was once a children's book publisher.As he was sitting in his office one day a Mr. Harris Burdick arrived with fourteen illustrations.It seems that Mr. Burdick had written fourteen stories and he had brought an illustration from each of these for the perusal of Mr. Wenders.After dropping off the pictures (each with its own title and line from the book it belonged to) he left and was never seen again.This book is a presentation of those mysterious images, all suggesting that they belong to magical stories of their own.The introductory story, I should probably point out, is utterly false.But it gives some nice context to the images that follow and hopefully kids will still dig them.

If you've ever read "Jumanji" or "Polar Express" then you are familiar with Van Allsburg's style of mysterious eerily realistic drawings.All pictures in this particular book are in black and white, but they each seem just a little too real to be completely fantastical.Some pictures are sublime.There's an especially amusing one that displays a nun flying above two men in what looks to be a cathedral.The title of the print is, "The Seven Chairs" and the accompanying quote reads, "The fifth one ended up in France".Other pictures in the book vary in creepiness and wonder.There's a picture of a man attempting to beat something large under his carpet with a nearby chair.Another illustration a house lifting off into space.Another shows a woman lowering a knife to a pumpkin as it glows like a brightly lit luminary.

The advantage of this book is that as kids page through it, they feel the need to tell the rest of the stories they see presented here.If a kid looks at the picture of a boy being abducted by a ship's captain they may wish to write a tale of adventure and derring-do on the high seas.Consequently, each tale told here can be interpreted a variety of different ways.I don't want to make this book sound as if it's sole purpose is as a method of teaching writing exercises.I just want to point out that it's so lovely a collection of images that I think anyone that reads it will be pleased by what they see.Pleased to the point of extravagant imaginings, in some cases.

Every Chris Van Allsburg book contains some sort of deeply mysterious tone to it.He's the kind of illustrator that causes great love and adoration in his fans."The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" is not your normal run-of-the-mill type picture book.And if you're looking for something to read your five-year-old to sleep with, look elsewhere.You will not find anything here that will interest them.What you will find instead is a book like no other.One of my favorite picture books, even at the grand old age of 26.

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
I am always on the look out for children's books that can be used in a high school classroom.All of Chris Van Allsburg's books are wonderful but this one will be great for the English classroom.Most students have great difficulty in writing.This book gives the students a starting point and at the same time begins to fuel their imagination.What better way to begin a creative writing assignment than by showing one of the pictures with the title and first line from the story.Anyone who believes this book is just for younger children has a closed mind.

Middle School English Teacher's Dream Book
I teach English 8 in a middle school setting, and my student writers tend to grumble and struggle with writing longer pieces of fiction.Whenever I display one of the illustrations in this portfolio, my students get out of their seats and rush for the display easel.They ooh and ahh.Then they start thinking and talking about the stories that pop into their heads--all of them different.They get to work with happy faces and elaborate tales with bright-eyed energy.When they are finished, they can't wait to read to the class.All upper grade English teachers should have this book/portfolio in their bag of magic tricks.Me?I'm waiting for the Mysteries of Harris Burdick Part 2. ... Read more

Isbn: 0395353939
Sales Rank: 16598
Subjects:  1. Children's 4-8 - Picturebooks    2. Children's stories, American    3. Children: Grades 1-2    4. Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories    5. Mystery and detective stories    6. Plot-your-own stories    7. Juvenile Fiction / Mysteries & Detective Stories   

The Cathedral Within : Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back
by BILL SHORE
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (13 November, 2001)
list price: $13.95 -- our price: $11.16
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Editorial Review

The Cathedral Within uses the metaphor of architecture to look at the way individuals allocate their resources to improve public life. Just as the enduring magnificence of a cathedral is not erected overnight, so, too, the transformation of a society takes many, many years to complete. And just as the construction of a cathedral is less a reflection of its builders' interest in masonry than a testament to the soaring reach of the human spirit, philanthropy is not so much a response to need as to a basic human requirement to give something meaningful back to society.

Bill Shore is the founder of Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit devoted to raising funds for antihunger and antipoverty organizations worldwide, and his book showcases the stories of some of the social entrepreneurs he has come across in the course of his work. Among his chosen visionaries are Alan Khazei, the cofounder of City Year, the community-service program upon which Bill Clinton drew for his own model of a national service, and Geoffrey Canada, the president and CEO of the Rheedlen Centers, designed to provide a safe haven for inner-city children. These leaders and many others, Shore argues, represent a kind of symbiosis between the need to improve oneself personally and the drive to transform the community. The Cathedral Within also contains an excellent resource directory of community organizations where readers can begin their own process of giving back. --Patrizia DiLucchio ... Read more

Reviews (12)

spectacularly vacuous
The actual content of the book can be summarized thusly:(1) spend more time with kids if you want to affect their development, (2) don't starve young children because otherwise they won't develop properly physically and mentally, (3) run your not-for-profit enterprise just like a for-profit corporation and with just as much of a zeal for profits, except that you can put the profits into your own pocket as salary instead of paying it out to a bunch of shareholders and to the Federales as income tax.

Padding these ideas out to 300 pages requires that the author tell you how famous his friends are, each and every one of them, and how much do-gooding his few non-famous friends have done.There are also long stories about the escapades of his 13-year-old son.

Never does the author address the issues raised in the subtitle, e.g., how does a person balance his or her life between charity and selfishness?Shore's definition of "giving something back" is working at a multi-million dollar tax-exempt organization and paying yourself $400,000 per year.Nice work if you can get it but what about the rest of us?

For a thoughtful look at the issue of personal charity read the novelist Nick Hornby's "How to be Good".

Right on the mark
This is a book that touches the heart of both important social issues and the reader. Written in a wonderfully open style the author writes from a perspective of sharing rather than preaching. Bill Shore's approach of tying his view of how the issues of today's society can be most effectively addressed to his personal experiences, rather than theory and conjecture, brings substantial credibility to his writings.
The issues addressed are those of scaling the resources of non-profit, public service, organizations to meet the growing needs of our society in the face of shrinking government resources. The notion of making non-profit organizations self-sufficient is well outlined and easily understood. "The Cathedral Within" is a book that left me feeling encouraged to know that there is not only room for improvemnt in our social structure but that it is being aggressively and effectively pursued.

Not just for non-profits
Bill Shore's enlightening book, "Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back" is not just about non-profits.It provides insight into every part of human life.He spikes the book with advice about marriage, child care, and friendships.The book, in my opinion, has less to do with non-profits and more to do with living a great life.It is certainly a must read by anyone who cares about humanity. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375758291
Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. General    4. Philanthropists    5. Philanthropy & Charity    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. United States    9. Volunteer Work    10. Volunteer workers in social se    11. Volunteer workers in social service    12. Women    13. Women in charitable work    14. Current Events / General   

The Light of Conscience : How a Simple Act Can Change Your Life
by BILL SHORE
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (17 February, 2004)
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Reviews (2)

The Rippling Effects Will Be Profound. 10 Stars!
The brilliant words of Bill Shore will have a far greater rippling effect among humanity for all who heed his profound insight, sharing and understanding that one single brave, caring, generous, and heartfelt act can bring.
This epic book is a beacon for the simple yet profound acts of generosity and courage no matter how large or small, and how they can change the course of humanity forever.
One of my favorite examples was the brave woman Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat during the segregated times of the 1960's, and how that one act was the catalyst for equality for people of all color and creed in the USA.
One donation can help someone become a doctor who winds up saving YOUR life. `The Light of Conscious' should be required reading in all schools, in all lands, to teach by the examples Bill Shore provided how one simple act CAN make a difference for our entire world. An absolute MUST Read. Profound!
Barbara Rose, author of `Individual Power' and `If God Was Like Man'

Living (even for a moment) What You Believe
Bill Shore uses stories from his life, as well as from the famous and not so famous, as a backdrop to his message. A childless cleaning woman from Mississippi works her entire life and saves $150k which she donates to the University of Southern Mississippi so someone like her has the chance to go to college. This huge act on her part inspires those who have significantly more to act. The simple actions of Rosa Parks in refusing to move from her seat on the bus and Pee Wee Reese in publicly putting a hand of support on Jackie Robinson's shoulder had large impacts on the world. Shore weaves his message about the value of trying to line up our actions with our beliefs amidst this backdrop of stories that show how fallible we all can be. Highly recommended. Not an academic tome, but a pleasurable read. ... Read more

Isbn: 0375505970
Sales Rank: 271699
Subjects:  1. Conscience    2. Ethics & Moral Philosophy    3. Inspirational    4. Motivational & Inspirational    5. Normative Ethics    6. Philosophy    7. Religion / Inspirational   

Nonzero : The Logic of Human Destiny (Vintage)
by ROBERT WRIGHT
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (09 January, 2001)
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Editorial Review

Nonzero, from New Republic writer Robert Wright, is a difficult and important book--well worth reading--addressing the controversial question of purpose in evolution. Using language suggesting that natural selection is a designer's tool, Wright inevitably draws the conclusion that evolution is goal-oriented (or at least moves toward inevitable ends independently of environmental or contingent variables).

The underlying reason that non-zero-sum games wind up being played well is the same in biological evolution as in cultural evolution. Whether you are a bunch of genes or a bunch of memes, if you're all in the same boat you'll tend to perish unless you are conducive to productive coordination.... Genetic evolution thus tends to create smoothly integrated organisms, and cultural evolution tends to create smoothly integrated groups of organisms.

Admittedly, it's as hard to think clearly about natural selection as it is to think about God, but that makes it just as important to acknowledge our biases and try to exclude them from our conclusions. It is this that makes Nonzero potentially unsatisfying to the scientifically literate. Time after time we've seen thinkers try to find in biological evolution a "drive toward complexity" that might explain all sorts of other phenomena from economics to spirituality. Some authors, like Teilhard de Chardin, have much to offer the careful reader who takes pains to read metaphorically. Others--legions of cranks--provide nothing but opaque diatribes culminating in often-bizarre assertions proven to nobody but the author. Wright is much closer to de Chardin along this axis; his anthropological scholarship is particularly noteworthy, and his grasp of world history is excellent.Unfortunately, he has the advocate's willingness to blind himself to disagreeable facts and to muddle over concepts whose clarity would be poisonous to his positions: try to pin him down on what he means by complexity, for example. Still, his thesis that human cultures are historically striving for cooperative, nonzero-sum situations is heartening and compelling; even though it's not supported by biology, it's not knocked down, either. If the reader can work around the undefined assumptions, Wright's charm and obvious interest in planetary survival make Nonzero a worthy read. If the first chapter's title--"The Ladder of Cultural Evolution"--makes you cringe, the last one--"You Call This a God?"--will make you smile. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (82)

Natural Selection's Argument for Directionality
Wright is a masterful author who tackles an important and intellectually-interesting issue: Is evolution, specifically natural selection, simply "random" as suggested by Stephen Jay Gould et alia or is it "directional" from the simplest to the most complex? Using archeology, paleaeontology, human history in broad scopes, game theory's zero-sum and nonzero-sum outcomes, kin versus individual selection, Richard Dawkin's memes from his book "The Selfish Gene," and a posteriori logic, Wright tackles the issue directly, concisely, forcefully, and elegantly.

His answer to the question, in contradistinction to his Marxist antagonists like Gould (See the sociological critique "Defenders of the Truth" by Ullica Segerstrale for sociobiology's reprecussion in academia), is that the evidence points unquestionably to the nonzero sumness outcomes of organisms to develop from the simplest to more complex organisms, implying at least a "directional" undercurrent in sociobiology rather than simple "random" effects that his nemeses posit. This conclusion inevitably suggests the subsidiary question whether evolution is teleological -- that is, directed to some ostensive purpose or goal (which he rejects, but not without empathy for those who find oppositely). On his principal argument and the evidence he evinces for it, however, Wright is consistent, coherent, logical, and persuasive.

Two caveats: (1) his notion that natural selection's directionality from simplicity to complexity seems to suggest "progress" towards some higher purpose leads Wright to argument unconincingly for a one-world government about midway; (2) Wright, as masterful though he be with the facts and prose, is not a scientist and does not hold himself out to be; but he amply draws from primary and secondary sources to support all the evidence necessary to make his directionality of natural selection very compelling.

One annoyance: This highly documented work is supported with a peculiar "note" system that is simultaneously confusing and awkward. The ubiquitous "dagger" instead of individual endnotes or footnotes is highly aggravating.

Finally, one has to ask, Is Wright's thesis really important to an understanding of ourselves, and if so, how? I found his directionality thesis of natural selection both compelling and important in that there is "progress" in a very generic sense, but did not find Wright's politial and economic "solutions" interposed midway supported by any evidence, but was sort of an ad hoc notion from his own political biases (see his articles in the New Republic magazine and elsewhere). I actually found the opposite conclusions to be supported by the supposition that biodiversity to be the impetus behind natural selection's constantly undergoing improvements and balancing of traits.

"NonZero" is an important, well-written, and scientifically supported case for natural selection's inherent directionality from simplest to the more complex organisms. Being at the top of the evolutionary pyramid in terms of complexity, homo sapiens needs to find ways to use this increasing complexity to its own advantage. I assume that a more reflective, less ad hoc intrusion midway, will be forthcoming to "demonstrate," if Wright can, that one-world government is a solution to some of our predicaments. The same evidence actually seems to support the opposite conclusion. Highly recommended.

A Good Hypothesis, Well-Argued, But Poorly Defended At Times
Robert Wright's NonZero is quite a well-written book. I went into this treatise expecting to be irritated and expecting to find someone who did not know what they were talking about. I was wrong on both accounts.

Wright does a good job of theorizing on the driving forces of cultural and biological evolution, claiming that both are driven by intrinsic cost-benefit analyses that are basically enforced by that brute of the biological world: survival. If we weigh our analysis improperly, we will not have a chance to regret it. To a certain extent, he is correct. His arguments are lucid and rational, at least for the majority of the book.

However, at one point I must confess that our dear Mr. Wright left the road of rationality, driving headlong into the realm of near-psychotic hatred of Stephen Jay Gould. Now, admittedly, I don't agree with Dr. Gould's theories of evolution either. Particularly his viewpoint on punctuated equilibrium. However, Dr. Gould is a trained biologist, and a world-known expert in the field of evolutionary theory. As near as I can tell from Mr. Wright's mangled ideas of DNA (at one point he claims that it is not only a blueprint for proteins, but that it unconsciously "decides" which proteins to create, which is a technical falsity. As a trained molecular biologist, I can honestly say this is not a common or widely held point of view, mainly because proteins serve these functions), Mr. Wright is an anthropologist. To be clear, he does have a good grasp of the facts of evolution, but he is not the expert that Dr. Gould is. Therefore, when Mr. Wright, on page 393, claims that Dr. Gould's arguments are based on biases and not on reasoned facts seems short-sighted. In fact, he spends nearly 30-40 pages trying to savage the arguments of Dr. Gould, and claims, with what credible basis I am not informed enough to discuss, that Dr. Gould's arguments are false.

This is really the major problem that I had with this book. The other problem was a small point really. While Mr. Wright acknowledges the forces of irrationality in the decisions of heads of state and the possession of peoples of weapons capable of wiping out an entire city or state in one fell swoop, he fails to tie these two critical pieces of information together. He argues that societies making poor, zero-sum evaluations are eventually ground into dust by history, but he fails to adequately acknowledge the fact that they may take a good portion of the world's population with them. He seems to know this, and doesn't seem concerned, which really isn't my problem. My main problem is that he fails to see this as a dent in his rosy imaginations of the future of our species.

Overall, well argued and well thought out. Several glaring fallacies do exist, but they are not enough to destroy enjoyment of the book. Good job. This book should be as widely read as the reviews of it suggest that it is. If you are interested in cultural anthropology, or decision science, then this may be a good pick for you. If not, pass it by for the latest Grisham thriller.

Harkius

Non-zero may ultimately be failing us
Though the author is neither a scientist nor an historian, his effort to explain both biological and cultural evolution is a worthy effort, despite not seeing the limitations of his argument. He contends that it is cooperation, or non-zero sumness, among entities, be they cells, humans, or societies, that leads to advancement and survival. He downplays the success of pure competition as a means of long-term survival.

But it is the increased complexity of organisms and societies that results from cooperation that favors them in the natural selection process. Contrary to some reviewers, the author's descriptions of the advancement of simple one-cell organisms to complex one-cell organisms and on to multi-cellular globs over a span of a couple of billion years seem to comport well with his basic idea.

Most of the book is devoted to the advancement of human societies at the levels of hunting-gathering tribes, Big-Man societies, chiefdoms, and states. The author's arguments are far more persuasive when discussing elementary societies. The pooling of resources, often resulting in technological advances especially in areas that facilitate information flows, among disparate groups has often lead to the survival of the newly formed, larger group. At the level of primitive societies, it seems that these small social advancements are rewarded by a natural selection process similar to the one picking winners and losers among simple organisms.

What is most worrisome about this book is whether processes that operated over billions of years, or hundreds of thousands of years concerning hominid societies, often in very halting manner, can be applied to cultural evolution over the last two thousand years. The last time that natural selection was a factor among human societies was in the extermination of the Neanderthals by more adapted Africans. Can one really view the raids of northern European barbarians or the Mongol hordes as examples of non-zero sumness. But then the author tends to see advance in most collapses or subjugations of societies.

The author is of a mind that the tremendous advances in communication and transportation technologies andthe huge rise in global commerce with its attendant supra-national controlling bodies in the modern era are the height ofnon-zero sumness. He little notes very real concerns. Technologically based cultures have severely stressed the environment with matters worsening every day. Where is the concern for the propagandistic potential and realities in communications, often passively enjoyed. Globalization, as well as national economies, is basically being driven by essentially criminal conspiracies, often referred to as corporations. The author takes little notice of a global elite that drives commerce and governments with token concern for most of mankind. Our vast technological and cultural advances seem to contain destructive aspects that may well threaten oursurvival.

In the last chapters, the author is given to speculation as to whether one can find evidence of divinity, or at least some kind of higher purpose, in the growth of complexity that he has described. He does not address whether complexity equals human-centered progress in these modern times. Humans drive cultural changes now; drawn-out, obscure natural selection no longer is the primary means for change. Natural selection may be harsh, but it has worked somewhat consistently. Human selection may be far worse, even ultimately self-destructive. The author needed to address that real possibility instead of trying to find divinity in the WTO and the World Wide Web.




... Read more

Isbn: 0679758941
Subjects:  1. Civilization    2. General    3. History    4. History - General History    5. Human evolution    6. Life Sciences - Evolution - Human    7. Science    8. Social evolution    9. Sociology    10. Science / General   

The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love
by Matthew Miller
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (02 September, 2003)
list price: $26.00 -- our price: $16.38
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Reviews (13)

Sensible and Perhaps Do-Able but Probably Unlikely
The title is explained by Miller's bold assertion that the most serious challenges in the United States could be solved if the federal government spent only 2% more than it does now. These challenges include providing health care for those unable to afford it, attracting the best teaching talent to the weakest schools, establishing a "universal" living wage, and reforming campaign financing. In 2004, the gross domestic product will be approximately $11-trillion. Based on that, a 2% increase would be $220-billion.

Immediately I have questions. Has Miller taken in full account that as much as 85% (if not more) of an annual federal budget is already committed by law to programs such as Social Security and Medicare? Even if the Congress and the President were in agreement about the 2% tax increase and dedicated expenditures Miller proposes, would -- indeed could -- they make them? Even then, where would the (no pun intended) proverbial "buck" stop in terms of ensuring that the increased expenditures achieve the intended objectives? Finally, given the well-established infrastructures of government at the federal, state, and local levels, will an increase (in whatever amount) in a single year be sufficient to solve problems which have developed during the last (let's say) 50 years?

No reasonable person can quarrel with Miller's assertion that such problems exist, and, that public officials need to collaborate much more effectively on solving them. I agree with Miller that "our two major political parties are organized around ideologies and interest groups that systematically ban the expression of common-sense ideas that blend the best of liberal and conservative thinking." Perhaps there is a consensus in 2004 on what the most serious problems are. Historically, however, there has always been disagreement as to HOW to solve such problems and my guess (only a guess) is that political divisions are wider and deeper now than they have been at least since the 1930s and perhaps since the Civil War.

For me, this book's greatest value is best measured in terms of the controversies and conversations it stimulates. Miller does not have all the right answers...and doesn't claim to. No one does. In fact, he doesn't ask all the right questions. However, he offers a series of quite specific proposals and then supports them. If you disagree, as many do, Amazon offers this opportunity to respond and I am grateful for it.

A fiscal utopia .
Mr. Miller is very creative, innovative, and what have you.But, he is totally unrealistic.His book is just an interesting utopia of what we could do with our money if it grew on trees, and if political considerations were irrelevant.

The truth of the matter is that we have a structural Budget Deficit of 5% of GDP.In other words, day in day out our Federal government expenditures exceed our Federal tax receipts by 5% of GDP (about 21% to 16% respectively).In Miller's utopic language, we would call this the 5% Problem, or the 5 pennies on the Dollar problem.

Additionally, if we look at the Federal Government as an insurance company offering retirement annuity policies (Social Security) and health care insurance policies (Medicare, and Medicaid) for which it charges a premium (payroll taxes); the Federal Government is deemed insolvent.The net present value of the cost of those policies exceeds the premiums received by $72 trillion.This stresses that we actually have far more than a 5% Problem (in Miller's language) when we consider our tsunami of unfunded liabilities.

To resolve our fiscal crisis, we should think like libertarians on the expense side (cut the cost of government programs, restructure Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) and think like socialists on the revenues side (increase taxation to near European style levels).Miller does the reverse (think like a socialist on the expense side and like a libertarian on the tax side).Thus, none of the ideas he comes up with pay for themselves.Instead, they would dig us deeper in the hole.

Also, Miller's creative "grand bargains" amount to various voucher schemes to ultimately insure more people, increase the pay of teachers, and other most laudable social goals.Unfortunately, most of these "grand bargains" have already proven to be political nonstarters.School vouchers have already been turned down many times by voters at the State level.

If you want to read good books on the future outlook of the U.S. better grounded in reality, I recommend: Laurence Kotlikoff's "The Coming Generational Storm" that describes the impact of our aging society on our fiscal position.I also strongly recommend two excellent books by Robert Stowe England: "The Fiscal Challenge of an Aging Industrial World" and "Global Aging and Financial Markets." These books make extensive comparison between the U.S. and other developed countries' fiscal position.Also, Paul Krugman's "The Great Unraveling" covers well our deteriorating fiscal position.

Ambitious? Definitely.Too Ambitious? Probably.
I'd like to start by saying that this book is brilliant and a fresh take on politics that is so rarely heard today.By initially removing himself from bipartisan politics and attacking to current politics of both parties within the first part of the book, Miller convincingly overcomes possible accusations of bias, which would allow the book to be utterly dismissed as "conservative propaganda" by the left and "liberal propaganda" by the right.Instead, Miller calls for an agreement, a truce in the name of progress, between the two sides of American politics.As Miller himself puts it, "What if both sides came together and said, 'I'll get serious about teachers if you get serious about vouchers?' and vice versa."At least he admits that the current system of politics is a system of charades, conflicts, and no real action.

But are Miller's plans feasible?The Two Percent solution itself is not one monolithic plan, but four smaller but formidable ones tackling four of what Miller sees to be the biggest real-world issues today: universal health coverage, education reform, living-wage subsidies, and "Patriot Dollars", designed to tackle the problem of campaign finance.Each of these has its own pros and cons and will inevitably come under fire from both sides of the political spectrum.

This is why the book strikes me and others as naive.The issue of how, politically, these plans will come to be is underrepresented in this book.I'd fully support these ideas if Miller could actually propose how to bring everyone in modern politics out of their entrenched positions and to their non-reactionary senses long enough to consider his plans.He hopes for a grassroots campaign that will someday take over America, but this cannot be reconciled with another complaint of his.Namely, one of Miller's woes is the lack of interest and trust by the public in politics.Frankly, the Two Percent Solution will not generate interest in the ways that Miller wants.He calls for believers in the solution to tell their friends and acquaintances about the idea.However, the lack of interest in politics, as described by Miller himself -- the general political ennui -- means this isn't a feasible plan; personally, I can't imagine many people whom I'd tell about the plan actually believing in its power themselves.Even fewer would further spread the word.

The book has some wonderful, fresh ideas that I hadn't expected from a political book.However, the problem is its ambitiousness - perhaps too much ambition and not enough direction toward achieving practical solutions.

If nothing else, this book is an enlightening political discussion on several topics.The one I found most interesting was on the concept of fairness between the rivaling camps of Milton Friedman and John Rawls.Rawls' concept of the pre-birth lottery and decision making "behind a veil of ignorance" is a point too important to go unknown by the general public, as it is now.If you're looking for a new plan, ambitious as it might be, pick up this book just for this one breath of fresh air.Even if you're looking only for a relevant discussion of modern politics, read this book for Miller's discussion of the topic. ... Read more

Isbn: 1586481584
Sales Rank: 6065
Subjects:  1. 1993-    2. Campaign funds    3. Government - General    4. Government - U.S. Government    5. Health care reform    6. Living wage movement    7. Political Ideologies - Conservatism & Liberalism    8. Political Science    9. Politics - Current Events    10. Politics/International Relations    11. Public Administration    12. Public Affairs & Administration    13. Public Policy - Economic Policy    14. Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare    15. Social policy    16. U.S. Government (General)    17. United States   

Built to Last : Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Harper Business Essentials)
by Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (20 August, 2002)
list price: $17.95 -- our price: $12.21
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Editorial Review

This analysis of what makes great companies great has been hailed everywhere as an instant classic and one of the best business titles since In Search of Excellence. The authors, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, spent six years in research, and they freely admit that their own preconceptions about business success were devastated by their actual findings--along with the preconceptions of virtually everyone else.

Built to Last identifies 18 "visionary" companies and sets out to determine what's special about them. To get on the list, a company had to be world famous, have a stellar brand image, and be at least 50 years old. We're talking about companies that even a layperson knows to be, well, different: the Disneys, the Wal-Marts, the Mercks.

Whatever the key to the success of these companies, the key to the success of this book is that the authors don't waste time comparing them to business failures. Instead, they use a control group of "successful-but-second-rank" companies to highlight what's special about their 18 "visionary" picks. Thus Disney is compared to Columbia Pictures, Ford to GM, Hewlett Packard to Texas Instruments, and so on.

The core myth, according to the authors, is that visionary companies must start with a great product and be pushed into the future by charismatic leaders. There are examples of that pattern, they admit: Johnson & Johnson, for one. But there are also just too many counterexamples--in fact, the majority of the "visionary" companies, including giants like 3M, Sony, and TI, don't fit the model. They were characterized by total lack of an initial business plan or key idea and by remarkably self-effacing leaders. Collins and Porras are much more impressed with something else they shared: an almost cult-like devotion to a "core ideology" or identity, and active indoctrination of employees into "ideologically commitment" to the company.

The comparison with the business "B"-team does tend to raise a significant methodological problem: which companies are to be counted as "visionary" in the first place? There's an air of circularity here, as if you achieve "visionary" status by ... achieving visionary status. So many roads lead to Rome that the book is less practical than it might appear. But that's exactly the point of an eloquent chapter on 3M. This wildly successful company had no master plan, little structure, and no prima donnas. Instead it had an atmosphere in which bright people were both keen to see the company succeed and unafraid to "try a lot of stuff and keep what works." --Richard Farr ... Read more

Reviews (107)

Great Writing with Sketchy Conclusions
I don't think a lot of people realize that Built to Last was published in 1994. It is only with the skyrocket popularity of Good to Great (published in 2001, but a bestseller in 2005) that Built to Last has re-graced bookshelves at all. The technical aspects of the writing are wonderful, weaving convincing arguments the way a high school lyricist weaves urban tales for his friends. And with the same result: the study doesn't hold up, especially not with the 11 years of hindsight we have on it. For starters, much of the research is on consistent growth and performance of specific companies against the general stock market, from 1926 to 1990. While the author correctly points out that this era covers a fantastic amount of change, he wrongfully dismisses that point, continuing to build his thesis on the shaky foundation that "what worked through the 1950's and 1960's is bound to work today". "Built to Last" is an interesting business history, but a terrible roadmap for success.

A Must-Read for Business Executive
I read this book 2 years ago with great excitement. Now having significantly progressed in my career I found this book even more meaningful. It was a great handbook for business executives worldwide to build great companies.I recommend it to anybody who is serious about not making quick money, but building sustainable businesses that last and last.

A Great Book with a Flaw
This book reminds me of the hero in the classic Greek tragedy.The hero is always magnificent, but has a tragic flaw.This is a magnificent book with a tragic flaw.

Porras and Collins set out to write a book about visionary companies, and they did just that.They chose the companies they would study based on specific, detailed criteria.

They wanted to study companies that had been premier institutions in their industries and widely admired while they made an imprint on the world around them.They wanted their companies to have multiple generations of chief executives and to have gone through multiple product or service lifecycles. And they wanted the companies to have been around for a long time - founded before 1950.

They compared each of their visionary companies with another company that was not a premier visionary company.Many of the comparison companies were solid performers.They were good companies, but not great companies.That's one of the great things about the book.You can see the distinction between good performance and great performance.

Another thing that makes the book great is the extensive research.The project took six years, and the authors and their research team dug into critical issues and came up with fascinating insights and comparisons.

Read this book and you will learn about the characteristics of great companies that have an impact on the world around them.The discussions will enrich your understanding of what makes a great company.This will be especially valuable to you if you're in the process of building a company that you want to be great.

That's the great part, the hero part.What about the flaws?

The first flaw is that essentially performance for each of these companies is equated with market performance.There are lots of things the authors could have used, such as return on assets, for example.But share price is easy to track over time and is used as a surrogate for greatness.I'm not sure that that's the best criterion.

What you are actually reading about is a selection of excellent, visionary companies that were perceived as good investments by the market.This "perception" issue is not addressed in the book.

The second flaw is more important.While this book tells you marvelous things about companies that are admittedly great and about some of the things that make for greatness in companies, and while it mixes statistical data with telling anecdotes, it falls short in one critical area.The book doesn't tell you anything about how to achieve greatness.

In other words, it describes what greatness might be and it gives you some examples of companies who have achieved it, but the book ultimately left me with the nagging desire that the authors would have given me some "how to."As far as you can tell from reading the book, these companies were always great.

That may not be a problem for you if you're just starting a company.You've got a clean slate to start from.But if you're guiding an already-established company, or a part of it, I think you'll wi