Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
This is far more than a textbook 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.
The editors of this edition are to be commended. The essays they have collected are a broad cross spectrum of mostly American writings. The subject matter, approach and style of the essays assures that anyone who reads them will find more than a little to capture the imagination and stimulate thinking. Instructors who are used to a follow-the-arrows type of reading/writing text may not enjoy this work. There is very little intrusion on the part of the editors. They do not give step-by-step instructions for the use of the essays. Each work is followed by a few questions that may be used in a classroom setting and only one suggestion for writing based on the essay read. However, for instructors who have built their own courses in reading-based composition, this edition offers an embarrassment of riches to choose from. The text does not "guide" the reader into thinking about an essay according to a preconceived plan. Because the student approaches the essays without coaching (except for what a classroom instructor might give), the ensuing class discussion and the writing that is generated is far more "genuine" than with many other texts. Actually, calling this a textbook may be a mistake. I have lent my copy to many people who are not in college, and they have enjoyed the selections sufficiently to buy their own copies.
Editorial Review:
With a wide variety of genres, authors, subjects, and styles, The Norton Reader offers the largest and most thoughtfully chosen collection of essays available in one volume. New essays maintain the Reader's long-standing balance of classic and contemporary, canonical and lesser-known selections. The Twelfth Edition also includes important new coverage of visual and spoken texts—photographs, paintings, drawings, and other images that were originally published with the essays.
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 214
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
A pretty hollow imitation of Walden 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Apparently, Ms. Dillard fancied herself being Henry David Thoreau -- she even named her pet goldfish Ellery Channing (Channing was Thoreau's lifelong friend). Structurally this book is organized similar to Walden, and it is Walden that Ms. Dillard tried to emulate.
The book starts with a bloody, filthy and delirious little episode with a tom cat. Fortunately, the whole book is much more forgiving. There is no doubt that Ms. Dillard is well-read, as she gives us excerpts from Fabre, Edwin Way Teale, Marius von Senden, etc., stories about different animals, the Eskimos and facts about sciences (even Quantum Mechanics), which are quite fascinating to read. It is also no question that she has a flowering pen, her vivid descriptions of nature and events are scattered throughout the book and I especially enjoy the chapters "Flood" and "Stalking".
However, to think that this book is merely an observation of the natural environment and the flora and fauna in it would be a mistake. For one thing, there are actually not that many narratives of first-person observations. The book consists of three main themes: 1. description of the natural environment; 2. anecdotes and stories from other sources; 3. the author's own reflection about theology and spirituality. The first theme probably only occupies one third of the book.
In the end, what we have here is vastly different from Walden. Reading Walden gives one delight, hope, and a sense of liberation -- from the everyday quiet desperation. I don't get much of these from "Tinker Creek". Yes, Ms. Dillard is a keen observer and writes very well, but her main focus is not nature, but instead her religious ruminations. It is very much different from Walden, or Desert Solitaire, or many other books in this genre: in the other books the authors do offer some opinions and reflections, but they are mainly description of natural phenomena, the opinions and reflections are sparkles that give them life, an upshot so to speak. In "Pilgrim", the relationship is reversed; the narratives of nature comes second to, and is dictated by, the author's theological pondering. The book on a whole gives me the impression of a theological discourse rather than a nature book. I also get the feeling that the author is more inward looking, in a sense she is more self-absorbed, often delirious, and sometimes narcissistic. It is really a book about a "pilgrim"; that she happens to be at Tinker Creek is largely coincidental, and probably irrelevant.
Another thread that keeps popping up in the book is her thoughts about a "creator" -- I don't mean to make this a "evolution vs. creationism" debate, but since this is in the book itself and carries much weight, I figured I have every right to comment on it. This is permeated throughout the book, but most strongly in "Fecundity". It is interesting that Ms. Dillard does not actually reject evolution; in fact, she gives us many scientific facts about biology (especially entomology), ecology, etc., one is inclined to believe that she actually accepts it. She goes on to say how "wasteful" nature is in creating a lot of things and then discarding them (which is true and she made a good case by giving us a lot of interesting facts), but then wonders how a creator can be so inefficient. Well, maybe the answer is right at your fingertips, Ms. Dillard, perhaps you should just do away with that first assumption, like Laplace did.
I may be harsh in giving it 3 stars (I would give it 3.5 if I could), but my expectations were much higher (probably it had something to do with the Pulitzer Price).
Editorial Review:
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the story of a dramatic year in Virginia's Blue Ridge valley. Annie Dillard sets out to see what she can see. What she sees are astonishing incidents of "mystery, death, beauty, violence."
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 93
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
A lesson for us all 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Imagine a man, living in the present time, who is fed up with life in our ever-changing electronic world. So, he goes to live in a hut he's re-built out by a gentle pond, reasonably away from civilization. He throws away his cell phone, computer, TV, radio, etc. and lives simply and quietly, observing naature with his eyes and a microscope. He's not a hermit, because he visits and is visited by, friends and neighbors. He examines his life in solitude and writes about the sights and sounds of the woods and the pond.
For two years living alone this way, he comes to know nature and himself intimately and when he returns to civilization, he is refreshed, spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
Now, imagine all this as done 160 years ago when technology consisted of things like the newly invented telegraph (which he disdained), railway system, and others. Thoreau, like many of us today, longed to live simply and in harmony with Nature. The inspiration for hundreds of hippies, eco-freaks, Luddites and anti-technologists, he showed us that we sometimes need to get back to simple and clean living with no one and nothing to intrude on our thoughts.
And by the time you've finished this little gem of a book, the weekend will be over, and it will be time to go back to the ugly, long commute to a place where technology and stress seemingly go hand in hand.
Editorial Review:
One of the great books of American letters and a masterpiece of reflective philosophizing. Accounts of Thoreau's daily life on the shores of Walden Pond outside Concord, Massachusetts, are interwoven with musings on the virtues of self-reliance and individual freedom, on society, government, and other topics.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
The first and only collection of unpublished works by Kurt Vonnegut since his death--a fitting tribute to the author, and an essential contribution to the discussion of war, peace, and humanity's tendency toward violence.
Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace. Imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor, the pieces range from a visceral nonfiction recollection of the destruction of Dresden during World War II--an essay that is as timely today as it was then--to a painfully funny short story about three Army privates and their fantasies of the perfect first meal upon returning home from war, to a darker, more poignant story about the impossibility of shielding our children from the temptations of violence. Also included are Vonnegut's last speech as well as an assortment of his artwork, and an introduction by the author's son, Mark Vonnegut. Armageddon in Retrospect says as much about the times in which we live as it does about the genius of the writer.
Read an Unreleased Kurt Vonnegut Story, "Guns Before Butter"
"Guns Before Butter," Kurt Vonnegut's story of hungry GIs held as prisoner of war in World War II in Dresden (a site of Vonnegut's best-known novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, and his own wartime imprisonment), was unpublished until its inclusion in Armageddon in Retrospect. Read the complete story here.
Kurt Vonnegut Sketchbook
Click through on the images below to see samples of the artwork included in Armageddon in Retrospect:
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
A must have 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
A timeless essay not only for women. Good hard binding that will keep. It's a must have if you like English literature.
Obligatory Reading 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Virginia Woolf in her best form - personal but not self-centred, concentrated and ready to fight for what she believes is right. This long essay gives her views on the position of women in literature but offers also an overview of their role through centuries - from the imaginary Shakespeare's sister to her contemporaries. A must read for all readers regardless of sex!
Editorial Review:
Surprisingly, this long essay about society and art and sexism is one of Woolf's most accessible works. Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet conversational--and completely entertaining--walk around the history of women in writing, smoothly comparing the architecture of sentences by the likes of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, all the while lampooning the chauvinistic state of university education in the England of her day. When she concluded that to achieve their full greatness as writers women will need a solid income and a privacy, Woolf pretty much invented modern feminist criticism.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
A new memoir by the most talented and respected British food writer of her generation.
Award-winning food writer Fuchsia Dunlop went to live in China as a student in 1994, and from the very beginning she vowed to eat everything she was offered, no matter how alien and bizarre it seemed. In this extraordinary memoir, Fuchsia recalls her evolving relationship with China and its food, from her first rapturous encounter with the delicious cuisine of Sichuan Province to brushes with corruption, environmental degradation, and greed. In the course of her fascinating journey, Fuchsia undergoes an apprenticeship at China's premier Sichuan cooking school, where she is the only foreign student in a class of nearly fifty young Chinese men; attempts, hilariously, to persuade Chinese people that "Western food" is neither "simple" nor "bland"; and samples a multitude of exotic ingredients, including sea cucumber, civet cat, scorpion, rabbit-heads, and the ovarian fat of the snow frog. But is it possible for a Westerner to become a true convert to the Chinese way of eating? In an encounter with a caterpillar in an Oxford kitchen, Fuchsia is forced to put this to the test.
From the vibrant markets of Sichuan to the bleached landscape of northern Gansu Province, from the desert oases of Xinjiang to the enchanting old city of Yangzhou, this unique and evocative account of Chinese culinary culture is set to become the most talked-about travel narrative of the year.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
For more than four hundred years, the personal essay has been one of the richest and most vibrant of all literary forms. Distinguished from the detached formal essay by its friendly, conversational tone, its loose structure, and its drive toward candor and self-disclosure, the personal essay seizes on the minutiae of daily life-vanities, fashions, foibles, oddballs, seasonal rituals, love and disappointment, the pleasures of solitude, reading, taking a walk -- to offer insight into the human condition and the great social and political issues of the day. The Art of the Personal Essay is the first anthology to celebrate this fertile genre. By presenting more than seventy-five personal essays, including influential forerunners from ancient Greece, Rome, and the Far East, masterpieces from the dawn of the personal essay in the sixteenth century, and a wealth of the finest personal essays from the last four centuries, editor Phillip Lopate, himself an acclaimed essayist, displays the tradition of the personal essay in all its historical grandeur, depth, and diversity.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Definitely worth a try 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Not everyone is inclined to navel lintgazing. Nor is everyone up for the level of effort necessary to gain any type of understanding of Camus' writings either. That doesn't mean the effort should not be made though! I avoided Camus for years, until a reference at work (hostage negotiation) made me realize that Camus' work was an essential element for my toolbox - namely being able to agree with folks about the absurdity of life, have a story to tell (Sysyphus) and a general explanation how one of the "great philosophers" worked through it. At times like that, you would be amazed at what kind of attention folks pay!
I read the work at least five times through, and I can say that each time I read it, I bring a bit more away. His writing is very rich and dense. No sentence can be passed over - and that sucks if your a lazy reader!!! But... at the end of the effort, the results are worth it. You have another take on the whole "Is life, is the effort worth it?" I'll leave that for you to decide, but I do heartily recommend this book!
Interesting side thought - compare the worldly Camus with the rugged individualists across the pond (Emerson, Thoreau, and all the Transcendentalists) with their eternal optimism. Comments welcome! :)
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 87
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
blueberries for sal-- 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
sweet book for little kids. It is an excellent book to read aloud to your children and grandchildren. It is about a girl out picking berries for her mom and it shows a baby bear doing the same for his mom.
My niece loves this book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
She has hundreds of books and everytime I visit she would ask me to read her this book. She loves the illustrations... especially the seal!
Editorial Review:
Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk go the blueberries into the pail of a little girl named Sal who--try as she might--just can't seem to pick as fast as she eats. Robert McCloskey's classic is a magical tale of the irrepressible curiosity--not to mention appetite--of youth. Sal and her mother set off in search of blueberries for the winter at the same time as a mother bear and her cub. A quiet comedy of errors ensues when the young ones wander off and absentmindedly trail the wrong mothers.
Blueberries for Sal--with its gentle animals, funny noises, and youthful spirit of adventure--is perfect for reading aloud. The endearing illustrations, rendered in dark, blueberry-stain blue, will leave you craving a fresh pail of your own. (Picture book)
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
Experience the dazzling, amazing, exciting and wonderful adventures of best-selling author Frank Scoblete. Learn how he beat the casinos for 20 years and was even banned from many of them for his winning expertise. Discover how he astral traveled in time and to other worlds bringing back proof of these mind-bending, sometimes terrifying adventures. Enjoy how he creatively handled some of the most wildly eccentric students imaginable during his teaching career, including Gerry the Rat Boy, Wrong Way McKay, Mel Odious, and the Disgusting Beast. Experience how he learned the laborer's ropes as a teenager in a dangerous Manhattan housing project in New York City. Go into the studio as he partakes in a disastrous and very painful television interview. Suffer with him as he realizes what caused his weight gain and how he bravely fought against it for a full 24 hours. Laugh when he decides to go after sex for the first time as a teenager. Marvel at his first kiss, his Virgin Kiss, which was not like anybody s first kiss ever. This is a hilariously funny but, at times, scary, nail-biting and thoroughly riveting and enjoyable read about someone whose life is indeed stranger and more exciting than fiction.
Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace. Imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor, the pieces range from a visceral nonfiction recollection of the destruction of Dresden during World War II--an essay that is as timely today as it was then--to a painfully funny short story about three Army privates and their fantasies of the perfect first meal upon returning home from war, to a darker, more poignant story about the impossibility of shielding our children from the temptations of violence. Also included are Vonnegut's last speech as well as an assortment of his artwork, and an introduction by the author's son, Mark Vonnegut. Armageddon in Retrospect says as much about the times in which we live as it does about the genius of the writer. 
