2 comments about At the Plate With ... Ichiro.

1. Although "At the Plate with...Ichiro" ends with the Seattle Mariner's rookie season in 2001 it is still worth reading. That is because the point of Matt Christopher's book is how a player everybody said was too short, too skinny, and too weak to make it in professional baseball in the United States ended up winning both the American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. Even though Ichiro continues to be a star, last year breaking George Sisler's record for most hits in a single season, the key lesson here is how he succeeded as the first Japanese-born position player in Major League Baseball.

   In the first chapter Christopher sets up the context for Ichiro's accomplishments by looking at "The American Pastime in Japan." To understand what Ichiro did young readers have to know about the history of the game in Japan and Masanori Murakami, who became the first Japanese player to play professional baseball in the United States when he pitched for the San Francisco Giants in 1964-65 (I have his rookie card). But Christopher also talks about the cultural differences in how the game is played on each side of the Pacific. By the time you get to the big splash by Hideo Nomo in 1994, the struggles of Hideki Irabu, and the relative success of Kazuhiro Sasaki, you can appreciate the odds that Ichiro was facing.

   It is only then that Christopher tells the story of how Ichiro was first introduced at the age of three to the game of baseball by his father and went on to become not only the greatest baseball player in Japan (lifetime batting average of .353), but also the most popular figure in the country. Christopher devotes less attention to Ichiro's actual accomplishments on the field in winning seven consecutive batting titles and three MVP awards and spends more time setting up Ichiro's decision to play in the United States. Consequently, young readers will understand why the Mariners were the only team to bid for his services and why Ichiro was ecstatic to be playing for a team on the West Coast.

   Six of the book's ten chapters are devoted to the 2001 season, and I was happy to see that Christopher had the story of how Ichiro was driving Seattle manager Lou Piniella (now with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) crazy in spring training by just hitting balls to the left side of the infield. Of course there was a method to Ichiro's madness and the story sets up the success to come. I also appreciated how Christopher would talk about Ichiro's first bunt in the Major Leagues in detail, stressing both the strategy behind and the execution of the play. One thing young baseball players will get from reading this biography is how hard work and intelligence are just as crucial as natural ability in playing the game.

   The rest of the book covers that 2001 season, when Ichiro got off to a hot start, made the All-Star team, and set some records. Again, Christopher tells specific stories with key details and does not just rely on listing statistics. There are eight pages of black & white photographs of Ichiro with Seattle along with a couple of pages of statistics and records in the middle of the book. Christopher has written enough sports fiction for young readers to know how to work in lessons along with the biography in this informative and insightful book. Other baseball players that Christopher has written about in a similar fashion include Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Alex Rodriguez, and Curt Schilling (Position players are "At the Plate" and pitcher are "On the Mound").




2. It is about Ichiro going to the M.L.B. and about his life as a kid, and about how the Mariners got him. It's also about him being the second player in history to win the M.V.P and the rookie the of the year in the same season. Matt Christopher is the author.
   The book's name is "At the Plate with Ichiro".
   My favorite part is in the book is the 2001 All-Star game when Ichiro led off and got a single in Seattle. The story takes place in Japan
   and the U.S.A.
   People who like baseball would like this book. The book started good. And it told us about how he was the most exciting player in Japan. I liked the book because it is about baseball. And because it is about him going to the U.S.A. I was a fun book to read.
   by Jackson

5 comments about Confessions of a Yakuza: A Life in Japan's Underworld.

1. Somehow, I thought this would be some blood drenched melodrama, and along the way I would learn a thing or two about the Yakuza way.
   
   But this book was far more subtle and deeply real. It is clear that in the old days, a good Yakuza boss keep a low profile and maintained good connections with his community. All of this is very subtly and carefully portrayed. Many times, it is his careful and diplomatic efforts that yield some of the best results.
   
   And yet, his story is underscored by how he lived outside of society often times. On top of all this, it conveys a time in Japan long ago, and did so very graphically.
   
   All in all, an very good book.



2. it is a great book that combines history and the orginazied crime family that played a large part of many people's lives. It is an insider view of a world that very few knows exists.



3. A great way to look into the yakuza world and not have Hollywood mucking it up. I recently did some research on the yakuza and out of all the books I read, this one was by far one of the best. Even though he's kind of recounting tales to this doctor, the story is still very involved and engrossing. A great read!



4. There is much to like about this book - it simply taking place in Japan, a culture so different than the United States, makes it interesting; another layer of interest is in the time frame, which begins in the early 1900s; and, of course, the most obvious twist of all is in its exploration of the organized crime syndicate, the Yakuza. It is important to have an account of the sort of life one would live under these circumstances in that far from the Hollywood presentation we've grown accustomed to, this tells the story very honestly and without much glamor. On the other hand, it is told in a retrospective, anecdotal fashion; as this is not a Yakuza boss's memoir but the story of a Yakuza boss's life as narrated to another, recorded on tape and transcribed to text, it loses much of the emotion and immediacy that it would have if told in the moment. Its being narrated to another presents us only with pieces of a larger picture, as well - Eiji's prison terms, military conscription and time spent as a night boatman, transporting people through the darkness, hidden from the eyes of the corrupt police force, for example, could have multiple chapters devoted to them, but instead we only get one or two of the most interesting anecdotes of each. The darker parts of the biography detailing murders and men selling their wives so as to keep up their gambling habits are disturbing but detached; one chapter ends with the sentence "It's pretty frightening, really, when you think about it...." which I think sums up the feeling pretty well - we shake our heads but do not feel truly disturbed, as we might if the story were presented in a different voice. Though the editor's note explains that he removed some of the more confusing and tedious parts, I doubt that this would alter the feeling that we are simply getting a few glimpses at a much larger picture. Another gripe is that some of the humor gets lost in translation, and when someone tries to make a joke, simply the way it is phrased ruins it. For example, the gambler Tsukada Saburo tells him, "Well, making things is just my line - I can even make babies with other men's wives! - and this was a cinch for me." I'm sure that you get the idea. But that is a small flaw, and the book as a whole, while not being entirely enveloping or emotionally gripping, is still very interesting and enjoyable, and worth a read for sure.



5. Although, I have not read this book yet, I am looking forward to reading it and I am glad that I made this purchase.

No comments about Mine Okubo: Following Her Own Road.

5 comments about Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account of the Bataan Death March and the Men Who Lived Through It.

1. This is an amazing report of an American soldier held captive by the Japaese in the Phippines and the island of Japan itself for three and one-half years after his capture in World War II.
   How he could remember the details of brutal beatings, starvation and resulting illnesses is almost beyond belief. His experiences with fellow prisoners runs the gamut from the highest heroism to utter selfishness. Every day he looked forward to freedom, only to be repeatedly disappointed until that memorable day when he met the invading U.S. forces and he knew that he was free ,atlast! The dscription of his home coming is heart wrenching as it was for all of us on our return. This book's contents are enough to make almost anyone swear to never buy another Japanese produced article.

   met h




2. On April 8, 1942, Manny Lawton was a 23 year old army captain stationed on Bataan when orders came down to surrender to the Japanese who had invaded and captured the Philippine Islands in the opening months of World War II in the Pacific Theatre. Lawton and his fellow U.S. troops and their Filipino allies were compelled to endure a six-day, sixty-mile trek forever after known as the Bataan Death March, during which approximately eleven thousand men died of exhaustion or were murdered by the Japanese by bayoneting, clubbing, or simply shooting their prisoners outright. By the time the war ended in August 1945, about 57 percent of the American troops who surrendered to the Japanese on Bataan had died in confinement at the hands of the enemy. Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account Of The Bataan Death March And The Men Who Lived Through It is an important historical documentation and seminal contribution to World War II Pacific Theatre reference collections.



3. This is one of those books that just makes you churn inside. The abuses and suffering are never ending during the length of the book. The detail provided could only have come from someone that was there. Mr. Lawton explains in vivid detail the degree of torment these guys endured. YOU NEED TO READ THIS!



4. I am reviewing the 1984 hardback edition of this book which was entitled "Some Survived. An Epic Account of Japanese Captivity During WWII."
   Although this is not the first book on The Death March I have read, it is probably the best. It is well written and easy to read. The thing I liked best was the fact that not only did it give, in great detail, an eye witness account of the atrocities committed by the Japanese on American POW's in the Phillipines, it went on to describe life in the camps after the march, then on to a very detailed description of their treatment on the 'Hell Ships' that took the prisoners to prison camps in Japan.
   This is not a book of despair only. It is also of faith, guts, determination, and final victory by Manny Lawton and a few others that survived this horrible period of time. It also prompts us to remember those that didn't. God Bless them.



5. This book is a must-read. These guys literally went through hell. You must get this book, it is outsading. If you feel terrible about how your life is, read this book. You'll realize how good you have it.
   
   Well written book. Hard to put down.

2 comments about Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family (Oregon Reads).

1. I just finished reading The Stubborn Twig today. I love to spend hours in bookstores looking for different kinds of books and am pretty quick at purchasing what I know I will like. This book intrigued me just by the title - it went right to the top of the pile of books that I brought home that day. I started reading it right away.

   The story deals with how the Yasui family copes with the trials and daily living of being different. It also gives a look into how they at times fit in with their white (hakujin) neighbors and no one noticed.

   The story is both touching and exciting as the reader goes through the generations of Yasui's and how they feel about the world around them.

   I think that Ms. Kessler did a very good job of telling the story of each family member while weaving them into the importance of the famliy as a whole. I too come from a large family with generations of history. It has inspired me to start better record-keeping for my own children and the ones to come.

   I never knew of the reasons behind the internment of the Japanese Americans during the war. This book not only gives facts and history but the details of how real people had to cope to survive. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, and an admirable approach to finding the courage to start over in life.




2. I found this book while browsing in the stacks one day. I had no idea that Japanese had been imported to build the Railroads in the Northwest during the late 19th and early 20th centuries (this was because Chinese were not available... laws had been passed making their immigration to the US illegal), and mainly ONLY MEN. It was a real eye-opener (I have seen NO such information ever in any US History book I read in school, and I am born and educated in the US -- graduated from UC Berkeley).

   This book is very easy to read and become engrossed into. I could not do anything else in my spare time other than work on finishing reading this. It goes a long way to filling in much of the missing pieces with Japan of US History before, during, and after WWI and WWII.

   Most US Citizens NEVER heard of Min Yasui, a newly minted Lawyer and Japanese-American US Citizen (by birth) from Hood River, Oregon, who decided to challenge Executive Order 9066 by deliberately disobeying it, getting arrested, charged, convicted, and put into Solitary Confinement for the duration of WWII even as the US Supreme Court ruled against him regarding the Constitutionality of it. And, yes folks, Executive Order 9066 could be reissued today, against anyone (even you), without Due Process. You too could be treated just like the Yasui's, ripped out of your job and home, have your bank accounts frozen, told you had 48 hours to pack and could only bring what you personally could carry with your hands and nothing more... and then lose your property and home when you could not pay the property taxes (because your Bank Accounts had been frozen by the Federal Government).

   You say you're a US Citizen? So were the Yasui's (except for Min and his wife, who were prohibited by Federal Law from ever becoming Naturalized Citizens -- a Law that was not changed until 1958!! Whites could, and Blacks after the Civil War in 1865 were added to the list. But Asians were never mentioned anywhere. It didn't say they could not, but it didn't say they could either. It just didn't say... and so the US Supreme Court ruled that Asian Immigrants were EXCLUDED from ever becoming Naturalized US Citizens. Hard to believe? Read about how the Yasui's coped with this issue. And the next time you eat an apple from a box marked HOOD RIVER, OREGON... you will know "the Rest of the Story... ".

   This book should be Required Reading for anyone taking or even remotely interested in US History.

5 comments about Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian's Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II.

1. What More can be said or added to the astonishing account of survival by Louis Zamperini. After enduring forty-seven days in a life raft, being shot down in the middle of the Pacific, he prevailed for two more years as a POW in a Japanese prison camp.
   Following his release and being welcomed home as a war hero, Zamperini sank into despair and heavy drinking,only to be rescued from the depths of hopelessness through the ministry of the great evangelist Billy Graham.
   His story is at once extraordinary and inspiring-a powerful testimony to the stalwartness of the human spirit, particularly in light of the fact that upon revisiting the site of his tortuous existence he found it in his heart to forgive his brutal captors.
   Even if one is only remotely inclined to revisit events that occurred surrounding US POW's in the Pacific during WWII,the reader will find this narrative the best of the best. This reader salutes you, Louis, and others like you for reminding us that the "greatest generation" continues to illuminate and enkindle.



2. Having received this book as a Christams gift from a buddy of mine , it is an absolutelly astonishing and wonderful read!
   A great story of a one of what we now call "The Greatest Generation".
   My buddy was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association's crew that travels with a world war two bomber called FUDDY DUDDY, and while at Van Nuys California airport , he met Louis Zamperini personally and told me Mr Zamperini just kind of "hung out" with the FUDDY DUDDY crew in April 2005 for about three days and shared his stories with them.
   So my buddy bought two copies from Louis Zamperini and asked him to autograph them, so I received mine for Christmas 2005.
   What a great story and hope someday I can meet Louis Zamperini!
   He is truly an American Hero!
   
   This review written by
   Edward DeBolt
   Grabill, Indiana



3. This book has no plot and constantly repeats itself. He alo takes much of the time to promote the books of his other POW friends. The only touching pat of the book is one passge that lasts about a page. DON'T READ!!! I had to read it for a histroy class, but I had such a hard time staying focused on such a bad book!



4. This tale reads like Candide or Forest Gump, but of course this isn't fiction. The life of Louis Zamperini is, in a word, incredible; it's no wonder that they know as the Greatest Generation. Anyone who is interested in WWII, military service, or survival tales will enjoy this story. This is a must read!



5. Louis Zamperini was an amazing man, and his life story is so well written I have read it 3 times myself, recommended this book to many and sent it as gifts. I have never heard anything but high praise for the book. I read with disappointment the negative review by Belmonte who had to read it for a history class; my hat goes off to the teacher who recommended it. It made me sad that students of this generation would find reading about someone like Zamperini, a true hero of the "Greatest Generation", such a bore.

5 comments about Polite Lies: On Being a Woman Caught Between Cultures.

1. Having lived in Japan 4 separate times, I loved returning because things worked somehow and at the same time confused me as to how they worked. Mori by sharing her personal experiences -- through her mother's suicide, her stepmother's evil intent, her transition to life in Green Bay, her divorce to her husband, and more -- offers a lot of insight into the thinking that makes Japan's culture such a magnetic source of confusion for me. Although this represents more the author's insights from her personal experiences more than whatever "average" there may be to Japanese life, the reader can still learn from her unique experience of being "Japanese."
   
   Also, coming from the Chicago area, I learn from Mori's comparison of her understanding of Midwestern Green Bay culture and Kansai Japanese culture. It's a comparison that other sociological books and more quantative readings fail at. In terms of writing quality, maybe I'd give it 3 stars, but the way Kyoko Mori shares so much personally, this open honestness encouraged me to give it 4 stars. This book might also be useful for couples with a Japanese or Japanese-American partner.



2. I really enjoyed reading this book. Mori, as befits a writing instructor, writes beautifully. Her essays have a wonderful flow about them and are peppered with interesting details. I think they would serve as great instructional pieces on writing personal essays.
   
   However, I found some un-evenness in the actual content of what Dr. Mori had to say. Her observations about what it's like to be a person caught between or maybe with one foot in each of two very different cultures struck me as very true and perceptive, as this is also my life story.
   
   The problem is when Dr. Mori talks about Japan. She is one of a fairly typical group of adult-immigrants to the US, who moved here because they disliked their life in their home country. And since she has been here for 20 years and has been very successful and lived a full life, all her stories about Japan are going to have a goal of saying 'I am so glad I left Japan.' In addition, as the other reviewers have said, Dr. Mori had an extremely unhappy childhod in Japan, which probably colors all of her perceptions of that country. I found her descriptions of her feelings in flying closer to Japan on a rare visit there very revealing -- to her, Japan is not a home, not even a happy place, but instead a place full of terrible memories that she is only too happy to have escaped from.
   
   Nonetheless, I think this book is worth reading both for its writing and its observations about being a person who is bicultural by choice.



3. I loved this book. I am not surprised that there are bad reviews. Some Japanese and japanophile readers could be offended by the revelations about Japanese culture. But, Kyoko is giving the reader tremendous insight into the social structure of Japan. She points out quite a few similarities to American Midwest culture. Best of all, her stories draw the reader in and keep reader wanting more.



4. As a half-Japanese raised in the Midwest by an old-fashioned Japanese mother born and raised near Tokyo, I could really relate to much of this book. Mori's personal story and her eye-opening revelations of traditional Japanese culture vs general American culture are fascinating, however she did lose me a bit in her comparisons with the Midwest which I did not fully buy into. Others may argue that Mori discloses the "old" Japan, but there are plenty of books out there trying to teach Americans how to negotiate the Japanese social terrain which is extremely complex and still quite traditional and conservative. Mori is an unusually independent and practical woman, so much so that she discovers marriage even to a good man who gives her space is too constricting. It seems her own childhood experiences have thrust her into the extreme. I hope she finds happiness.



5. I picked up this book hoping that I might find some similar experiences. Like this author I immigrated to the US when Iwas 20 and have been in the US for more than 20 years and living in two cultures: Korean and American.
   
   I didn't mind reading the author's comparisons about two cultures, saying "in Japan....but in Midwest ..." But her voice is getting too much negative and so angry then it becomes that she sounds arrogant: no personal warmth from the author.

5 comments about History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1).

1. Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun (ie. closer), different tilt on its axis (ie. less than 23.5 degrees), different orbit (ie. more circular), different rotation (ie. in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different relative positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently from how we would today? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history or geography is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.



2. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAZQNMXM4M9CL Has history been tampered with? Yes, it has! Did events and eras such as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Roman Empire , the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, actually occur within a very different chronology from what we've been told? Yes, they certainly did!
   
   The history of humankind is both drastically shorter and dramatically different than generally presumed.
   
   Why is it so? On one hand, it was usual custom to justify the claims to title and land by age and ancestry, and on the other the court historians knew only too well how to please their masters. The so called universal classic world history is a pack of intricate lies for all events prior to the 16th century. World history as we learn it today was entirely fabricated in the 16th-18th centuries. It's likely that nobody told you before, but
   
   there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artefact that is reliably and independently dated prior to the 11th century.
   
   Naturally, after what you've learned in school and university, you will not easily believe that the classical history of ancient Rome, Greece, Asia, Egypt, China, Japan, India, etc., is manifestly false.
   
   You will point accusing finger to the pyramids in Egypt, to the Coliseum in Rome and Great Wall of China etc., and claim, aren't they really ancient, thousands of years ancient? Well, there is no valid scientific proof that they are older than 1000 years!
   
   The oldest original written document that can be reliably dated belongs to the 11th century!
   
   New research asserts that Homo sapiens invented writing (including hieroglyphics) only 1000 years ago. Once invented, writing skills were immediately and irreversibly put to the use of ruling powers and science.
   
   The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the 16th century by the Jesuits.
   
   The world history was compiled from contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts and other irrefutable proofs delivered by late mediaeval astronomers that were cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.
   
   Early in life, we learn about ancient history. Children love the magical lessons of history - they are like fairy tales. Teachers recite breathtaking stories; very soon We learn by heart the names and deeds of brave warriors, wise philosophers, fabulous pharaohs, cunning high priests and greedy scribes.
   
   We learn of gigantic pyramids and sinister castles, kings and queens, dukes and barons, powerful heroes and beautiful ladies, emaciated saints and low-life traitors.
   
   Ancient history is based documents, manuscripts, printed books, paintings, monuments and artefacts - called primary sources.
   
   The problem is that neither these ancient documents, nor events described therein can be irrefutably dated, moreover they contradict each other for the most part.
   
   When a school textbook tells us that Genghis Khan in year X or Alexander in year Y, have each conquered half of the world, it means only that it is so said in some of the written sources.
   
   There are no answers to simple questions:
   
   When were these primary sources written?
   
   Where and by whom were these sources found?
   
   It is wrongly presumed that ancient and medieval chronicles, written by Genghis Khan's or Alexander the Great contemporaries and eyewitnesses, are readily available. Actually, only sources written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events are there, compiled mostly in the 16th 18th centuries, or even later.
   
   As a rule, these sources suffered considerable multiple manipulations, falsifications and distortions by editing. At the same time,
   
   innumerable originals of ancient documents under various pretexts were destroyed in Europe under various pretexts.
   
   The names of persons and geographical sites often changed meaning and location during the course of the centuries.
   
   Geographical locations became clearly defined on maps only with the advent of printing.
   
   This made possible the circulation of identical copies of the same map for purposes of the military, navigation, education and governance tasks.
   
   Historians from Oxford say: "hey, everybody knows that Julius Caesar lived in the first century B.C.
   
   `Julius Caesar' statement is only a point of view as
   
   there is simply no irrefutable documentary proof that Julius Caesar or any other great name of antiquity ever existed.
   
   Better than that - extremely rare sources that can be reliably dated back to the 10th-14th centuries A D, do not show the polished picture of classical history.
   
   They show a picture both contradictory and confusing.
   
   All methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts are erroneous:
   
   Radio-carbon C14 method produces dating with exactitude of plus minus 1500 years, therefore it is too crude for dating of events in historical timeframe!
   
   The Almagest tractate, which lies as corner stone contemporary chronology, compiled in the 2nd century A D by Ptolemy, the founding father of astronomy, contains astronomical data of 9th to 16th century!
   
   The Bronze Age,that has supposedly began 5000 years ago. Bronze is made of 90% copper and 10% tin, but the technology for tin extraction dates back to 14th century A D!.
   
   All eclipses contained in manuscripts, like Thucydides one, relating 'ancient' events have exclusively medieval dating. All horoscopes cut in stone or painted in Egyptian temples, like Dendera have exclusively early medieval dating solutions.
   
   Not quite what you have learned in school? Open your eyes, and, you will find sufficient proof to reach step by step the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world universally accepted today, is also false. Have a fresh outlook on everything said or printed about "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, medieval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.
   
   Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th and polished in 19th 20thcenturies. Human civilization is in fact barely 1000 years old!
   
   This book will change your perception of History forever!
   What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance?
   What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages?
   What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
   Sounds Unbelievable?
   Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician.
   Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science.



3. The professional historians faint as prominent mathematician Doctor Fomenko et al research the known historical data and come to fairly controversial conclusions.
   
   For example, the English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. As the sign of recognition of the special role of the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
   
   The Russian historians brand it as pseudoscience because Dr Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by over two centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called `Tartars and Mongols' were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a trilingual state and aspiring Global Empire with Arabic and Turkic spoken as freely as Russian.
   
   The ancient proto-Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities and the hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called `blood tax'). Their `invasions' were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion.
   
   Fomenko proves for a fact that official Russian history is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scholars brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs. Their ascension to the throne was the result of conspiracy, so they charged these German historians-imports with the noble mission of making Romanov's reign look legitimate.
   
   Dr Fomenko et al prove Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. These rulers represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate Godounovs and the ambitious Romanov upstarts.
   
   The European historians fume not only because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History but for asserting that all medieval European Kings and Princes were but breakaway vice-regents and vassals of the Global Empire who badly needed glorious and very `ancient' past in order to legitimize their new independence from the Empire.
   
   Dr Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one: the Ancient Rome: the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the 14th century A. D., the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, the Ancient Egypt: the pyramids of Giza become dated to the 11th to 14th century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global Empire, no less.
   
   The civilization of the `ancient'' Egypt is irrefutably dated to the 11th to 15th century A. D. following the breakthrough in decoding of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone and painted on the temple walls.
   
   Arabic historians may find some consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire as a part of the Global empire in the 15th - 17th century. The trouble is that this Empire was initially a proto-Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, but built in 1550-1557 A.D. by Sultan Suleiman according to Fomenko and Islam with all its key figures is datable to 15th 16th century A. D.!
   
   The Chinese historians are also an unhappy lot because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such history. Period. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the 17th 18th century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation.
   
   The Divinity excommunicates Dr Fomenko because the history of religions according to Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the 11th century and Jesus Christ ), Bacchic Christianity (11th to 12th century, before and after Jesus Christ), Jesus Christ Christianity (12th to 14th century) and its subsequent mutations (15th to 17th cy) into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on..; and The Old Testament written after the New Testament in xiv-xvi cy A.D., if you please! Everybody served? Saint Augustine was quite prescient when he said: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."



4. this book is absolute garbage. the author has no concept of history and completely disregards the archaeological and historical record. If you you want to know more about ancient history, go to the experts. heck, even Livy is better than this guy!



5. Looking through this book reminded me of the movie "A Beautiful Mind". A brilliant mathematician constructs a fantasy world complete in every detail. The only problem is that it doesn't exist, and that he's as mad as a hatter.
   
   Just two examples of the many "possibilities" suggested by our schizoid author:
   
   (1) The Biblical flood and the Trojan War were the same event because Noah was Aeneas, who fled Troy to found Rome. (Noah and Aeneas had names that sound alike. Thus it is proven.)
   
   (2) Nine kings fled the fall of the Tower of Babel and seven kings founded Rome. Therefore, Rome was founded by the kings who fled the fall of the Tower of Babel. (In the author's words, the Biblical figure of nine is "close enough" to the Roman figure of seven.)
   
   Need I go on?

4 comments about Matsuo Basho.

1. This delightful little book deserves a brief review, some stars. I read it twenty-five years ago, and can remember the experience with great clarity (which I can only say of a select few books). I didn't have high expectations when I picked it up, but found it surpisingly exciting and deeply satisfying - and grew to care for the book, and Matsuo Basho, long before I was done. If you have an interest in Basho or haiku poetry, this is a marvellous and friendly guide. As well as being a very readable biography of the man, it's also an excellent means of understanding and appreciating the poetry he wrote - what it was, why he wrote it, with whom, what they accomplished, and why it matters. And it's written with love as well as with knowledge. It's not dry at all. Ueda later compiled "Basho and His Interpreters: Selected Hokku With Commentary", which is a great collection if you want to go in deeper. But start here.



2. While reading this book I realized that I knew nothing about haiku. I had always thought that the form of haiku, the 5-7-5 pattern was important but I had never really considered why this pattern mattered, or what one tried to accomplish with a haiku that could not be accomplished with a more free-form style of poetry.

   This book, "Matsuo Basho," not only supplies an interesting history of the undisputed master of Japanese haiku, but it also contains an introductory lesson on the different forms of poetry that Basho utilized, the haiku, the renku and the haibun. Many of Basho's poems are included, both in the original Japanese as well as with a translation, and then interpreted. The author puts the poem in historical context, as well as gives an idea of the scene that Basho was describing. It is truly amazing how complete a scene Basho could bring forth using such a limited palette of words.

   Also included are descriptions of Basho's travel guides, that he wrote on his many voyages across Japan, some highlights of Basho's thoughts on poetry as well as the author's personal interpretation of why Basho has remained a relevant poet, and will continue to remain so.

   A fascinating book overall, and one that has led me to become interested in haiku and seeking out more books by this amazing writer, Matsuo Basho.




3. If you are looking for a complete collection of Matsuo Basho's poetry, this is not what you are looking for. However, if you are looking for a personal and literary biography of the haiku master and his influence on Japanese literature, this is what you are looking for.
   
   The writing is clear and interesting and the text is liberally studded with examples of not only Basho's, but the the work of his contemporaries and students.
   
   Definately for the literary minded.



4. I am fairly new to haiku and this poet. Was recommended to me, and I now do the same to anyone wanting to read and be calmed by the depth of understanding of our lives, animals, all nature around us, that is presented by Matsuo Basho. I now have two of his books, his travel journals, and return to them often whenever I need to mentally take a trip myself to another time and place. Everyone should read some Basho. I recommend this book.

5 comments about Grass Sandals : The Travels of Basho.

1. Grass Sandals is a great book about friendship and poems. The main character's name is Basho. Basho liked to have tea on his porch every morning under his basho tree. Basho lives in Edo. Basho likes to travel around his country. When Basho is traveling he gets many gifts from his friends. Basho is great for his blue grass sandals (from his friend) and for haikus. This story took place 300 years ago in Japan.
   
   I really liked this book because of its illustrations and of how well it is written. I think that this book would be good for people who like books from other countries. I also think parents would enjoy this story too!



2. In the story Grass Sandals, there is a Japanese man named after a banana tree called basho. Basho loved nature so much that he wrote about it as a haiku poet. He lived in his small house in Edo surrounded by the morning glories in the 1600's. But one day, Basho decides he wants to travel because he is restless back at his home in Edo. Before his trip, Basho's friends give him supplies for his trip including grass sandals. On the trip he writes about what he sees, meets friends, and discovers different places in this adventurous book!
   
   I enjoyed this book very much because I loved all the places he traveled and all the creative poems he wrote. I recommend this book for all afes. It is very well written!



3. I read the book Grass Sandals. The main character is Basho. In the story, Basho travels all over Japan. He lives in Edo. The story takes place in the 1600's. Basho wrote poems about nature and by listening and looking at his surroundings.
   
   It liked this book because it made me feel like I was there with Basho.



4. This picture book presents Basho's travels, with a curious focus on the Japanese characters for various words in his haiku; I wished there had been more emphasis on the haiku themselves. But the illustrations are enchanting and evocative, deep and glowing, with a whimsical touch. While this book doesn't have the deep understanding of haiku found in Cool Melons - Turn To Frogs!: The Life And Poems Of Issa, it would be a charming supplemental text for grade school units on haiku, poetry, biography, and historical Japan.



5. I am a huge haiku fan, and it was that interest that lead me to this little book. Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho offers a beautiful, multi-sensory introduction to Japanese literature and ancient Japanese culture. Indeed the peaceful, flowing artwork looks like fine paintings rather than images in a children's story, and thick, full pages speak for the book's quality.
   
   Basho's journey is one of peace, curiosity, and observation. Along the way, lessons of simplicity, keen observation, genuine appreciation for the natural world, gratitude, promises, and respect are subtly revealed.
   
   In addition to the story (told in prose) and well-placed haiku samples, certain pages include a unique Japanese character, pronunciation, and translation that highlights an event or observation from that part of the tale. Thus, with adult guidance, a child can learn to look into the illustrations for specific details, learn to read the text of the story and the haiku, learn to trace a Japanese character with his / her finger, and learn to speak a Japanese word. Engaged children may take their knowledge to the next level by attempting to write the characters or their own haiku.
   
   This book definitely provides an appreciation for Japan, and it is worth reading, sharing, and discussing.
   
   My favorite haiku sample from the text is this one:
   
   a tiny pink crab
   tickling me climbs up my leg
   from glistening sea