No comments about A Maddening Space.

5 comments about Work in Progress.

1. After the Death of Frank Wells and the fallout from Katzenberg and Ovitz all i had heard about was how Michael Eisner was hard to work with. This book gives Eisner's account of the events.It gives a account of Eisner's career through his point of view.It does exactly what a autobiography should do without resorting to perticularly harsh blows to others.



2. The whole book is about Michael Eisner and the Disney Kingdom.

   Michael Eisner is the soul of the Disney Kingdom. He creates the success of Disney by his innovation and good managaement skills.

   From this book, I learnt that the critical success factor for a entertainment business is innovation. People want something new and exicting, if you fail to fulfill their needs, you are the loser of the game.

   After reading this book, I know how to increase my bargaining power, and how to put myself in a supervior position during a negotiation.

   This is really a good book!!




3. I got this book during my last visit at Disney and I can say I was not disapointed. The book starts with Mr. Eisner's visit to the hospital and then goes all the way back to his summer school years. You might ask, so why is it interesting at all?

   Well, the writting is very engaging and all sorts of names start to pop up like rabbits in a very natural way; like if you were speaking of your friends and collegues. The only thing is that your list of partners might not include George Lucas, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, among the several celebrities mentioned.

   Eisner, however, details his hits and misses with the apparent upmost sincerity. Like the first time he tried to close a deal and how he got mad because the other party tried to take advantange of the situation at the last minute...

   I come from a business background and I have experienced many of the situations that Eisner covers in his book. It is very nice to read his point of view on many topics and affect all business managers every day.

   I think his dealing with Jeffrey Katzenberg was debatable and each party tried to get the most water for their own well and forgot to see what was best for Disney. At the end I think they all lost...

   The book is very good indeed. Don't think is it another way to spend your money on a Disney product because if it is, you will be getting the best part of the bargain.




4. I bought this book on special - ... Can't complain!!

   But I must tell you it was a brilliant book and one that you will read right through and look forward everytime you pick it up. It was brilliantly written and about things that you know of. Movies you've seen or heard about. So it involves you in all his business ventures. In between all the stories is great advise and great ideas which you can relate to your own business.
   Overall just really enjoyable and well worth looking at.




5. Michael Eisner put out this book, which covers the first half of his tenure at the Disney corporation, in order to justify what he has done so far. While the man is convinced he is Walt reincarnated which will lead to problems later on this book does show what Eisner has accomplished. The modern movie industry would look very different if Eisner had not been on the scene. Overall I would take this book in stride and enjoy the story of everything Eisner touching turning to gold and then having it be someone else fault when it falls apart.

No comments about Elias / Elijah (Heroes of the Faith (American Bible Society Spanish)).

No comments about A First-class Temperament the Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt Part 1 of 2 [Unabridger] (Audio Book).

No comments about Letters Of Love And Sensibility (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection).

No comments about Napoleon : A biography.

No comments about How One's Biography Becomes One's Biology.

5 comments about Pdq Bach, The Definitive Biography Of.

1. I must agree with the previous review: This is the best book of its kind, whatever that is (it may be the ONLY book of its kind). If you enjoy music theory or music history, this book will make you laugh harder than Schickele's recordings of PDQ Bach's music. If you aren't fairly knowledgable about classical music (and many of the very dry books which this satirizes), don't buy this book, as much of the humor will be lost on you. If, however, you know that a sonata is not something to be wiped with a handkerchief, this book is full of non-stop laughs.



2. An absolute must for every P.D.Q. Bach fan! It includes an annotated catalogue of P.D.Q.'s music (titled "Such a Horrid Clang") up to its publication in 1976. Every page is full of hilarity. I am constantly getting mine out to read about the pieces I'm listening to, or just to laugh about the hilarious photos and captions in the pictorial essay. Even the index is worth reading beginning to end!



3. I first read this hilariously absurd book when I was in college. My only regret is that I read it in a public place, so I had to stifle the nearly-uncontrollable fits of laughter it provoked. Only Peter Schickele would solemnly explain that a suite for "divers instruments" was not actually performed with scuba gear, or that the left-handed sewer flute is nearly extinct as an instrument because most of them ended up back underground. Only Schickele would write a classical piece featuring ocarina and plucked strings (ok; so that's not true; Gyorgy Ligeti did it, too--but maybe Ligeti read this book!)

   In short, this is the best written satire on classical music ever produced. It gives classical music the same treatment as the "Airplane" movies gave Irwin Allen films--one joke after another after another...




4. A hilarious fake biography of the fictional, "last and certainly least" child of Johann Sebastian Bach. P.D.Q. spends most of his young life rebelling against his family's artistic legacy before he finally realizes that having the name Bach means that people will pay him good money for mediocre musical works.

   And mediocre they are--besides being a drunk and a philanderer, he has no musical talent whatsoever. Which doesn't stop him from creating some of the most inept, bizarre and funny art the world has ever seen. Great stuff, even if you have no knowledge of classical music.




5. The hardcover original of this book is roughly 10" x 10" square. This paperback edition takes those pages, keeps the square aspect ratio, and squeezes them onto 9" x 6". So the picture, print, etc. are 40% smaller than intended, with wide stripes of white space at top and bottom. Many of the funny details in the pictures are lost, and much of the text is unreadable.
   
   The other reviewers are exactly right as to the hilarity of the content. By all means, seek out the hardcover original of this book from a used book seller. A used copy may be imperfect, but it will be less expensive and more readable than this edition.

5 comments about Active Side of Infinity.

1. You have to read all the previous works to see how simple it is, otherwise you miss the profundity. He could have been a trickster at one point, but that ws long ago. Don't even dream of starting Castaneda with these later books. Take the time to ground yourself with his earlier works.



2. Carlos Castaneda was one of the most controversial writers of the twentieth century. Some in academia branded him a fraud for claiming his stories were biographical rather than fiction, while lauding him as a great novelist for exposing a mass audience to otherwise inaccessible philosophical abstractions they claimed were largely plagiarized. Each of his works is a piece of a larger puzzle, which makes it impossible to critique any one book without addressing the larger context into which it fits.
   
   
   
   His first two books, "Teachings of Don Juan" and "A Separate Reality" describe experiences induced by ingesting psychotropic hallucinogenics prepared by a Yaqui Indian shaman from Sonora, Mexico he called don Juan Matus, and accounted for his becoming a guru to a generation seeking short cuts to spiritual enlightenment, as well as his lifelong interest in the relationship between perception and reality, a theme now explored in many popular books on consciousness and quantum physics. Unfortunately, these books remain his best selling works, in spite of Castaneda refuting their importance in his later works. Readers would be best served to skip these and avoid the risk of being turned off to Castaneda and missing the more stimulating works that followed.
   
   
   
   His third and fourth works were "Journey to Ixtlan" and "Tales of Power." In Ixtlan he admits to over-estimating the value of his drug experiences, which caused him to overlook the more profound teachings of don Juan which became the focus of future writings. What emerges is a spiritual discipline dating back to the Pre-Colombian Toltec sorcerers of Latin America, culminating with don Juan's departure from our world, effectively ending Castaneda's direct affiliation.
   
   
   
   In his fifth and sixth works "Second Ring of Power" and "Eagles Gift" Castaneda suffers strange flashbacks of what seem to be memory fragments of events he is unable to fit into any logical time sequence. In his seventh and eighth works, "Fire From Within" and "Power of Silence," Castaneda succeeds in reconstructing his lost memories, which derive from teachings previously administered by don Juan while Castaneda was in a "heightened" state of awareness.
   
   
   
   In books nine and ten, "Art of Dreaming" and "Active Side of Infinity," Castaneda focuses on what he describes as inorganic predators from another dimension, some having the power to imprison humanity in "ordinary reality" so they can feed on the dark emotional energies we produce when succumbing to the negative thoughts they insert into our minds.
   
   
   
   In later years several seemingly substantiating works appeared by two of Castaneda's female apprentices, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau. In addition, two scathing exposés were also published by two of his ex-wives. The first, "Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda" by first wife, Margaret Runyon, offers little corroboration, since her marriage pre-dates the time when the bulk of Castaneda's adventures were claimed to have occurred. While steadfast that Castaneda was a sorcerer, she doubts the existence of don Juan, even claiming authorship of many of the concepts Castaneda ascribed to him.
   
   
   
   The second, and more credible work, is "Sorcerer's Apprentice," by well-known writer Amy Wallace, daughter of the late best selling novelist Irving Wallace. Here again, we find little corroboration since the time of the events she describes is well after the period when Castaneda's relationship with don Juan is alleged to occur. What the book does provide is a troubling look inside Castaneda's final years, a picture of descent into what seems sexual addiction and possibly madness, leaving one to wonder if Castaneda was just one cup of cool-aid short of a Jonestown.
   
   
   
   Many have asked why I put any stock whatsoever in Castaneda. A story from my autobiography, "The Vortex" may shed some light. A year before Castaneda published his first book I had an experience that would remain a mystery until Castaneda published "Power of Silence" twenty years later.
   
   
   
   For a brief time, in my youth, I became a practicing Muslim, meticulously performing the complex prayer ritual five times a day. Then one night, sitting in my car, frustrated and complaining at not being able to find the address of my next sales appointment, something inside me snapped. It was as if some part of me had disconnected from my body and assumed control, lecturing me about my lack of discipline. A profound calm settled over me, rendering me simultaneously detached and engaged. For two days my sales figures soared. It was as if no one could say no to me. On the evening of the second day I decided to put my new state of being to the acid test by visiting my parents. Their behavior was so uncharacteristically supportive I hardly recognized them. It was enough to convince me that I was now living in an altered reality. But by the following morning I had returned to "normal." So distracting had this event been that I completely forgot to perform my Muslim prayers, and in fact, never did so again.
   
   
   
   Twenty years later, in a chapter of "Power of Silence" entitled "Place of No Pity" Castaneda describes a very similar experience. In the aftermath of the event don Juan explains that humans are like televisions stuck on a channel called "self-preoccupation," lacking the energy to tune into any of the vast array of other channels available to us. To change channels, he explains, we first need to accumulate energy, by practicing rituals that are deliberate, precise and repetitious. Do this long enough and eventually our stored energy precipitates a shift to a channel where self-importance and self pity become impossible. Once this happens we connect with the force that controls the entire universe, a force don Juan called "intent," and everything can be bent to our will and even more channels can be opened, assuming we remember to keep practicing the rituals that save our energy.
   
   
   
   This one realization alone was enough to inspire me to dedicate my autobiography "To Carlos, with gratitude."
   
   
   
   Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma
   



3. What a great book!. My heart started thumping in horror when it came to the point of predator and flyers. Castenada's book has his own class of unimaginable spiritual adventures , but this goes beyond all of that.



4. Active side of infinity is one of the last books written by Castaneda and it is the book were Don Juan finally reveal what the predator is. Instead of giving unperfect summaries and explanations here is a most revealing excerpt :
   
   "I want to appeal to your analytical mind," don Juan said. "Think for a moment, and tell me how you would explain the contradiction between man the engineer and the stupidity of his systems of beliefs, or the stupidity of his contradictory behavior. Sorcerers believe that the predators have given us our systems of beliefs, our ideas of good and evil, our social mores. They are the ones who set up our hopes and expectations and dreams of success and failure. They have given us covetousness, greed, and cowardice. It is the predators who make us complacent, routinary, and egomaniacal."
   
   "But how can they do this, don Juan?" I asked. "Do they whisper all that in our ears while we sleep?"
   
   "No, they don't do it that way. That's idiotic!" don Juan said, smiling. "They are infinitely more efficient and organized than that. In order to keep us obedient and meek and weak, the predators engaged themselves in a stupendous maneuver - stupendous, of course, from the point of view of a fighting strategist. A horrendous maneuver from the point of view of those who suffer it. They gave us their mind! Do you hear me! The predators give us their mind, which becomes our mind. The predators mind is baroque, contradictory, morose, filled with fear of being discovered any minute now."
   
   Active side of infinity is a must read, particularly if you have already read the first books of Castaneda.



5. This is the fifth Carlos Castenada book I have read. Like the others, it was a gripping read from start to finish. Casteneda was truly a gifted writer. How else do you explain his ability to write so convincingly about ethereal matters? I am, however, left with one nagging question: Was it real? If so, then we as humans are really in the dark, living as we do in our world of concepts, constructs and perceptions. If he made it all up then all I can say is, what a storyteller! One thing is certain: Reading any of Castendas books is delightful entertainment. You won't be bored for a minute!

5 comments about Medal of Honor: PROFILES OF AMERICA'S MILITARY HEROES FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE PRESENT.

1. I orginally purchased this book thinking it covered all medal of honors winners. To my disappointment, it details only a very few. This book covers only a select few of the medal of honor winners who's life story could be told. Of the men mentioned in the book, it is interesting. It talks about their childhood, what they did in the service, and what they did once out of the service. If you are looking for a little different angle on a few medal of honor winners, then this is your book. If you desire information on all of the medal of honor winners then look elsewhere.



2. I read this book when it was first released two years ago. Of the 3,000 + Medal of Honor recipients, the authors did have to cut it down to about two for each war. It is a very informative book. I have read it several times over. I am surprised that only one woman was a recipient though. I figured there would be more. And, just one Coast Guard officer recieved this Medal. It is very informative, but to those who want more out of it, such as the entire biographies of all recipients, that book would be about 8,000 pages. There are some recipients who recieved the Medal of Honor two times. Do they get a second biography?



3. The book is not bad if you can get over the liberal agenda. What would be expected from Mike Wallace? I hate to admit this, I would like to have seen historical pictures of the CMH and its recipients.



4. Short biographies of 10 men and 1 woman who won this famous award and the lives they lived. Mikaelian selected only people who lived through their ordeal, and then reviewed their life stories after their heroic actions. For the most part, these men went back to living undistinguished lives. The author also details other MOH winners, along with these 11 individuals.
   The best story is about a Medal of Honor winner in the Eighth Air Force during WWII. Snuffy was an interesting character to say the list. His advocacy of a medicinal cream called Firmo was a real laugh.
   This was an OK read, and I got some insight into the military award process. I am not sure why Mike Wallace needed to contribute anything to this book. I guess the Publishers wanted a high name person attached to this book to boost sales. Wallace's contribution was little, and his writing should not have appeared in the book.



5. I've spent the last 20+ years in the military and I really enjoy reading about our military heroes. But, it bothers me when someone uses the military to espouse their political ideology. I don't know anything about Allen Mikaelian, but I'd guess he was very unhappy with the presidential election in 2000 and felt he needed to do something. The author selectively picks recipients that provide a positive image of the left wing and a negative image of the right wing. There is nothing wrong with highlighting minority or women recipients. I think that is great and much needed, but the author should have been up front with the title and foreword and should have left out the political propaganda. Instead he covertly gives the impression that these 11 individuals represent your typical CMH recipient, both historically and politically. This book definitely has some value, but unless your polical views are a little far to the left, you may get a bit irritated at the political rhetoric.