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Seven Pillars of Wisdom

T.E. Lawrence

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 54 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Worth reading, but in some parts you may need Lawrence's perseverance 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Rightfully regarded as a modern classic, this book is nevertheless not light reading. This is a result of the density of information, as well as Lawrence's writing style, which often makes a re-reading of passages necessary to fully grasp them, besides his use of some unusual vocabulary. But by the time one has completed the journey to Damascus with Lawrence and his Arabs, one has almost got a taste for his own peculiar style, even if one cannot always agree with his views, which however, were pretty progressive for a man who grow up at the height of imperialism.

There are, however, many contradictions in the man. At the start of the book, for example, he sympathizes with the unwilling Turkish conscipts, illiterate Anatolian peasants who really wished to be back home, led by a militaristic officer caste fresh from the Armenian genocide. Later in the book though, little sympathy is shown, and on one occasion when Lawrence was angered by the Turks, he did nothing to stop their massacre on their defeat, and left all their wounded where they fell - every one of hundreds froze to death in the cold winter night...

But when one considers that he lost both brothers in 1915 in France, his father in 1919 of the Spanish influenza, and his closest friend, and probably boyfriend, Salim Ahmed, shortly before his entry into Damascus, one can be more forgiving of his attitude. And who can forget his botched execution of Hamed, who'd killed another man? To avoid a blood feud, Lawrence suggested that he execute the man, which was insisted on by the Arabs. 3 shots with his pistol, one of which hit the man on his wrist. No wonder he said he couldn't sleep that night. Or his having to shoot long-time compatriot Farrah in the head as he was too seriously injured to move, and wanted to avoid the inevitable torturing to death of Arab prisoners. Enver Pasha, the Turkish commander, had thrown so many men live into his furnace that he knew just how long it took before you heard the sound of their heads popping. Considering this background of brutality, Lawrence comes across as positively humane.

The book has it's lighter moments though. Who can forget the tribe of the Ageyl, who were so poor they used to go into battle stripped to their loin cloths, both in the belief that it reduced their chances of infection if they were hit, as well as to protect their clothing from bullet holes or blood stains...the young Arabs urinating on others' wounds as the only antiseptic treatment in the desert...the Howeitat treatment of snake-bites - bind up the part with snake-skin plaster, and read chapters of the Koran to the sufferer until he died. Life was hard, and luxuries were few, something which seemed to attract Lawrence even more towards his mission of reaching Damascus and driving out the Turks, even if his conscience continued to bother him that the British Govt's promises to the Arabs were unlikely to be fulfilled.

Finally, Lawrence claimed he left the original manuscript on the train, and had to rewrite the entire book from memory, an amazing feat considering the wealth of detail here. Actually, it would be a superhuman task, and Robert Graves, one of his best friends, believes the story was a lie. The implication is that Lawrence made out that he'd had to rewrite the book by recalling his memories as a cover for the fact that parts of the book are invented, and many facts changed, and that this would be the perfect excuse should his information later be found to be inaccurate. But why claim to have blown up over 70 bridges when the real number was around 20 or so?

The answer is that this is a work of literature, and not a military textbook. We'll never be really sure of which parts are exactly true, and which merely invented as representing what typically happened. It's not always light reading, so set some time aside for this one, but when you get to the end, you'll be glad of having made the effort.

Editorial Review:

The monumental work that assured T.E. Lawrence's place in history as "Lawrence of Arabia." Not only a consummate military history, but also a colorful epic and a lyrical exploration of the mind of a great man who helped shape the Middle East as it exists today.

Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

Richard Branson

List Price: $27.50 By: Crown Business Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $0.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 130 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Oh, screw it, let's do it."

That's the philosophy that has allowed Richard Branson, in slightly more than twenty-five years, to spawn so many successful ventures. From the airline business (Virgin Atlantic Airways), to music (Virgin Records and V2), to cola (Virgin Cola), to retail (Virgin Megastores), and nearly a hundred others, ranging from financial services to bridal wear, Branson has a track record second to none.

Losing My Virginity is the unusual, frequently outrageous autobiography of one of the great business geniuses of our time. When Richard Branson started his first business, he and his friends decided that "since we're complete virgins at business, let's call it just that: Virgin." Since then, Branson has written his own "rules" for success, creating a group of companies with a global presence, but no central headquarters, no management hierarchy, and minimal bureaucracy.

Many of Richard Branson's companies--airlines, retailing, and cola are good examples--were started in the face of entrenched competition. The experts said, "Don't do it." But Branson found golden opportunities in markets in which customers have been ripped off or underserved, where confusion reigns, and the competition is complacent.
And in this stressed-out, overworked age, Richard Branson gives us a new model: a dynamic, hardworking, successful entrepreneur who lives life to the fullest. Family, friends, fun, and adventure are equally important as business in Branson's life. Losing My Virginity is a portrait of a productive, sane, balanced life, filled with rich and colorful stories:

Crash-landing his hot-air balloon in the Algerian desert, yet remaining determined to have another go at being the first to circle the globe

Signing the Sex Pistols, Janet Jackson, the Rolling Stones, Boy George, and Phil Collins

Fighting back when British Airways took on Virgin Atlantic and successfully suing this pillar of the British business establishment

Swimming two miles to safety during a violent storm off the coast of Mexico

Selling Virgin Records to save Virgin Atlantic

Staging a rescue flight into Baghdad before the start of the Gulf War . . .

And much more. Losing My Virginity is the ultimate tale of personal and business survival from a man who combines the business prowess of Bill Gates and the promotional instincts of P. T. Barnum.

Also available in the UK from Virgin Publishing, and in Canada from General Publishing,

Notes from a Small Island

Bill Bryson

List Price: $25.95 By: Thorndike Pr Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $5.29

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 279 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."

After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson-bestsellingauthor of The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to returnto the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another,so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out ona grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home.

Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.

"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."

After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson-bestselling author of ,i>The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to return to the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home.

Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.

West With the Night

Beryl Markham

Amazon Price: $26.85 List Price: $26.85 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Topeka Bindery Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $20.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 122 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Reads like fiction 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I agree with Hemingway that this is a piece of high literature that reads like fiction and spreads itself before the reader like a well-produced film. It drove me to learn more about the author and her life.

West with the Night 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this book because someone suggested my family might have been related to Beryl Markham, which is not the case, but...
What a woman - this is a true account of one of the first bush pilots in Africa, Beryl Markham, who was the first pilot to fly westward across the Atlantic from England. Although there is some dispute whether she actually wrote this autobiographical account (some say that her paramour, who edited the book, actually wrote it - she never confirmed or denied it), the stories are true and fascinating, encouraging the reader to learn more about her. The writing style is wonderful and interesting - no wonder Hemingway loved it. You wouldn't know this book was first published so many years ago.

Editorial Review:

A chronicle of Markham's growing up in Kenya, sharing hunting adventures with native tribes and her careers as race-horse trainer and aviatrix. 2 cassettes.

Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England

Alison Weir

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ballantine Books Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $8.00

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Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Isabella arrived in London in 1308, the spirited twelve-year-old daughter of King Philip IV of France. Her marriage to the heir to England’s throne was designed to heal old political wounds between the two countries, and in the years that followed, she would become an important figure, a determined and clever woman whose influence would come to last centuries. But Queen Isabella’s political machinations led generations of historians to malign her, earning her a reputation as a ruthless schemer and an odious nickname, “the She-Wolf of France.”

Now the acclaimed author of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alison Weir, reexamines the life of Isabella of England, history’s other notorious and charismatic medieval queen. Praised for her fair looks, the newly wed Isabella was denied the attentions of Edward II, a weak, sexually ambiguous monarch with scant taste for his royal duties. As their marriage progressed, Isabella was neglected by her dissolute husband and slighted by his favored male courtiers. Humiliated and deprived of her income, her children, and her liberty, Isabella escaped to France, where she entered into a passionate affair with Edward II’s mortal enemy, Roger Mortimer. Together, Isabella and Mortimer led the only successful invasion of English soil since the Norman Conquest of 1066, deposing Edward and ruling in his stead as co-regents for Isabella’s young son, Edward III. Fate, however, was soon to catch up with Isabella and her lover.

Many mysteries and legends have been woven around Isabella’s story. She was long condemned as an accessory to Edward II’s brutal murder in 1327, but recent research has cast doubt on whether that murder even took place.

Isabella’s reputation, then, rests largely on the prejudices of monkish chroniclers and prudish Victorian scholars. Here Alison Weir gives a startling, groundbreaking new perspective on Isabella, in this first full biography in more than 150 years. In a work of extraordinary original research, Weir effectively strips away centuries of propaganda, legend, and romantic myth, and reveals a truly remarkable woman who had a profound influence upon the age in which she lived and the history of western Europe.

Engaging, vibrant, alive with breathtaking detail and unforgettable characters, Queen Isabella is biographical history at its finest.


From the Hardcover edition.

Eyewitness Travel Guide to Ireland

DK Publishing

List Price: $25.00 By: DK Travel Amazon Marketplace: 72 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Buy it!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Bought this guidebook for our trip to Ireland in 2007. Incredibly useful for picking out things to do/see, places to visit, what to avoid. There were even maps of the floorplans for historic buildings! This book was dog-eared long before the trip and carried in the totebag every day. Dublin seems to have a phobia with street signs so I used the hotel listings in the back to determine how much further was the walk from that hotel to Trinity College - worked like a charm! Galway was far and away the best part of the trip due to the extensive recommendations. And County Meath - we would never had gone to the mid-lands if not for this book and I am so glad that we did go. Trim was quaint and charming and convenient for traveling around castle gazing and visiting the Bru na Boinne and Tara.

Best advice from this book: ride the Iarnrod Eireann (train) cross country rather than driving - it's quicker, hassle-free and cheaper than car rental and a tank of very expensive European gasoline (buy tickets on-line while in America to cut down on the fees for turning dollars into the Euro). We also hired a driver for the day we spent traveling about the Bru and the fee was cheaper than renting a car. Not to mention you don't have to worry about getting lost on those very narrow, very winding roads. I still thumb through this book remembering how great our trip was....

Editorial Review:

Recognized the world over by frequent flyers and armchair travelers alike, Eyewitness Travel Guides are the most colorful and comprehensive guides on the market. With beautiful commissioned photographs and spectacular 3-D aerial views revealing the charm of each destination, these amazing travel guides show what others only tell.

The Few

Alex Kershaw

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Da Capo Press Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $4.04

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Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

By the summer of 1940 World War II had been under way for nearly a year. Hitler was triumphant and planning an invasion of England. But the United States was still a neutral country and, as Winston Churchill later observed, "the British people held the fort alone." A few Americans, however, did not remain neutral. They joined Britain's Royal Air Force to fight Hitler's air aces and help save Britain in its darkest hour. The Few is the never-before-told story of these thrill-seeking Americans who defied their country's neutrality laws to fly side-by-side with England's finest pilots. They flew the lethal and elegant Spitfire, and became "knights of the air." With minimal training and plenty of guts they dueled the skilled pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe in the blue skies over England. They shot down several of Germany's fearsome aces, and were feted as national heroes in Britain. By October 1940, they had helped England win the greatest air battle in the history of aviation. At war's end, just one of the "Few" would be alive. The others died flying, wearing the RAF's dark blue uniform-each with a shoulder patch depicting an American eagle. As Winston Churchill said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Politics: Books III and IV (Clarendon Aristotle Series)

Aristotle

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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The irony of me calling Aristotle's work average is not lost on me. 3 out of 5 stars.
10 of 16 people found this review helpful.

Yep, I feel way over my head giving Aristotle three stars, but I'm throwing in my two cents anyhow.

This book is an incredible window into another time. Aristotle's views on a number of topics (women and slavery come quickly to mind) stand out so opposed to our beliefs today that it's almost worth reading this book just to get some perspective on how new some of the social ideas we take for granted really are. Getting that sense of perspective is truly the best part of this book.

That said, there is little here beyond that for anyone but a student of philosophy or someone engaging in a very serious study of the history of government. Very little of what Aristotle says rings true today and at times it's as if he went to the future and decided to predict the exact opposite of what's come to pass.

If you are a layperson looking for a classic on government, I recommend Plato's Republic. While it is even older than Aristotle's work, it is filled with insights that feel as if they must have been written in modern times. That is a truly inspiring feat of thought and foresight.

Editorial Review:

This reissue of Robinson's classic volume on Books III and IV of the Politics is brought up-to-date by a new supplementary essay and bibliography.

Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations

Georgina Howell

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Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A marvelous tale of an adventurous life of great historical import She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author (of Persian Pictures, The Desert and the Sown, and many other collections), poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer (she took off her skirt and climbed the Alps in her underclothes).

She traveled the globe several times, but her passion was the desert, where she traveled with only her guns and her servants. Her vast knowledge of the region made her indispensable to the Cairo Intelligence Office of the British government during World War I. She advised the Viceroy of India; then, as an army major, she traveled to the front lines in Mesopotamia. There, she supported the creation of an autonomous Arab nation for Iraq, promoting and manipulating the election of King Faisal to the throne and helping to draw the borders of the fledgling state. Gertrude Bell, vividly told and impeccably researched by Georgina Howell, is a richly compelling portrait of a woman who transcended the restrictions of her class and times, and in so doing, created a remarkable and enduring legacy.

Sacred (Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro Novels)

Dennis Lehane

List Price: $24.00 By: Severn House Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $25.49

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Total reviews: 89 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

good reading 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

good stuff
you get to escape for a while
patrick and angie are funny and you root for them
hope lehane keeps the series rolling
i love the shakespeare references

Sacred 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Another book by Dennis Lahane - ended up buying all I didn't have so that I can share with a friend of mine. The author takes you right to the Boston area and I stayed there until I finished the entire book.
Bookseller service again was excellent.

Characters are what makes the books in this series interesting. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

There are 5 books in this series of Dennis Lehane's with the charaters of Angie, Patrick and Bubba, the banter between these characters and the sarcasm of Patrick make this book along with the other four great reading, I had read the other 4 several years ago and could not find the 5th book in regular stores, luckily Amazon.com carried it and I was able to enjoy the characters once again.
The story is very interesting and has a different twist in the end, not what you expect. It is fast reading and I found it hard to put down.
Lehane is a great writer and all of his books have characters that come alive off of the pages of the book, I highly recommend all of his books for avid readers.
Great entertainment.

Editorial Review:

Desiree Stone has been missing for three weeks. So has the first investigator her father hired to look for her. Now on the search, Boston detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro find that nothing is remotely what it seems. And as they are led further down a trail of half-truths and corruption into a dark and terrifying world, the more they realise that on this case any wrong step will certainly be their last.