No comments about Eugene Odum: Ecosystem Ecologist and Environmentalist.

5 comments about Hornet's Nest : The Experiences of One of the Navy's First Female Fighter Pilots.

1. Thank you Missy for telling the world your story. As a women aviator in the Air Force I feel like you took the words right out of my mouth. Wow! All women interested in military aviation need to read your book to better prepare them for what they are up against. I only hope it doesn't discourage future women from trying to obtain their goals. Go Hokies!



2. Anyone who has read Brenda Maddox's book about Rosalind Franklin, the Dark Lady of DNA, will see the all-too-familiar parallels to Cummings's Hornet's Nest - those of a competent, strong, and courageous woman trying to make her way in all male field. The two stories in many ways seem to be the same story, just set in a different time and place. A must-read for women in both the military and sciences.



3. Wow- how to start this...I don't want everyone to stop reading as soon as I point out that I am a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field myself, and know what it can be like. However, this is a case of a woman being as qualified, or, as is frequently the case, more qualified. Missy Cummings was a danger to herself and others. The strings pilled to keep her flying as some sort of proof that women can do it are astonishing and disgusting. There are women pilots out there who don't have to be babysat to keep them form flying into the ground. Missy just isn't one of them.



4. This is an incredible story of one woman's struggle against a male-dominated good old-boy culture. Her honesty about herself and the unfolding events is almost too painful to read. What I think is a shame is that the book ended too early and she did not incorporate her legal victories over the Navy which protected the right to privacy for all military members.



5. The real truth to Missy Cummings is she was a terrible pilot that couldn't hack the program. She was dangerous and was rightfully washed out. Now here is the interesting part...when most people get washed out they go away. Not Missy, she goes to her senators and congressmen and accuse sexual harassment. She gets reinstated due to her senators and washes out again due to her utter incompetence. Her response??? This time she goes out and writes a book on how everyone was unfair to just her. Interesting that there are plenty of other females that made it through just fine and are very good pilots. It must be the conspiracy of the Navy that wanted poor Missy out. Don't waste your time with this book, it's full of nothing but lies.

3 comments about Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte (New York Review Books Classics).

1. The best thing about this book is the preface by Charles Rosen. The rest it hugely disappointing. It is amazing how a poet can be so non-descriptive! How can any writer has been friends with both Mozart and Casanova and yet have nothing to say about them? One gets no sense of what life was like during the end of the 18th century at all. Even Da Ponte's own thoughts and motives do not come across. All that is left are petty political games at an assortment of different opera houses. Da Ponte's story is less amusing than the description of a single flirtation in the truly interesting and picaresque memoirs of his friend Casanova.



2. Da Ponte's Memoirs are a worthy, if eccentric, addition to the NYRB catalog, but the NYRB provides almost no help in situating it. This translation first appeared, I believe, in 1929 and has been available in recent years from both Dover and Da Capo. One, (or was it both?), carried an excellent preface by the distinguished scholar of the Renaissance, Thomas Bergin. NYRB does not republish Bergin. It does republish the original 1929 introduction (by Arthur Livingston, once a teacher of Italian at Columbia) but with no hint of its provenance and, so far as I can discern, no mention of the date (the biblio page gives you a hint when it mentions a "renewal copyright" dated 1957). There is also an LC entry identifying "Livingston, Arthur, 1883-" but I doubt very much that Livingston was still alive when NYRB published in 2000. There is a preface by the distinguished music-scholar Charles Rosen, but it is beneath him: a slapdash affair that does little aside from assuring us that Italian olive oil is now available everywhere in America.

   Aside from these matters of production - the text itself is absorbing and instructive if you understand what you are getting. Da Ponte's only real claim to fame is, of course, that he is the librettist of Mozart's three great comic operas. Da Ponte cheerily declares that Mozart was the greatest composer of his time - perhaps the greatest ever - yet he gives this greatest of all composers perhaps a half dozen pages out of the entire 472-page text, less than any of a dozen other drifters and dreamers or down-market impresarios whom he met along the way.

   Rather than reading it as a work of music criticism, you can take it as a loose-jointed adventure story, in the tradition of Casanova (Da Ponte claims him as a friend) or Benvenuto Cellini. A perhaps more interesting comparison would be to Stendhal's "Charterhouse of Parma": readers who are scandalized that Da Ponte gives such short shrift to Mozart will recall that Stendhal's hero trekked all unknowing through the Battle of Waterloo. I suppose it is just possible that Stendhal read Da Ponte: I have no idea whether he did in fact. But it doesn't matter; the comparison adds a gratifying resonance anyway.

   Moreover, even if this book is not remotely useful as direct criticism of Mozart, I think it does cast the great libretti in a new light: you come to understand the schemers and seducers of the Mozart operas were not a mere nonce creation: they accompanied Da Ponte throughout the whole of his long and rumbustious life. "I trusted them and they betrayed me..." would be a pretty good title for the whole. You can certainly tire of his preening, his score-settling his tale-telling. Indeed you come pretty quickly to realize that not 100 percent of it can possibly true. How much, then? 80 percent? 50? 20? Of course I have no idea: maybe 50 will do as a guess. But I don't think that matters either. Recall what Goethe said about Livy: yes, they are just stories, but they are good stories. At the end, I think you can give Da Ponte credit for his most (nearly) disinterested passion: his desire to spread Italian culture to the Anglo-Saxon world. In this light, we can greet him on his own terms: se non e vero, e ben trovato.

   Four stars for the book, one for the presentation. Compromise on three.




3. I trawled my way through this book as I usually like to start what I finish, but, my, it was hard going. The first half particularly is basically a lot of score settling which comes across as being so irrelevant especially now two centuries later. Half the time, my mind wandered and I just found the whole thing difficult to follow. Da Ponte seems full of self-pity and perhaps a justified sense of victimhood. Anyone would think he was a failure!

3 comments about Lullaby For Morons.

1. This was a book I could not put down - it kept me up late because I just had to finish it. Based on the actual 1914 murder trial of 16 year old Jean Gianini, Dr. Siegel has woven a tale which is at once a psychological thriller, a murder mystery, and an indictment of medical misdiagnosis in the early 1900's. I strongly recommend this as a fascinating "can't-put-down" read. My sister, to whom I lent the book, had the same experience as I did, by the way- she also could not put it down!



2. This book is shocking in that it reveals the prejudices & dearth of understanding still prevalent into the 20th century. I live in the area of the crime and I'm acquainted with the very fine present-day members of the G. family. Just by coincidence, when I was a child, I met the expert witness Dr. Bernstein as I had close relatives who worked in the colony system of the Rome State School.



3. Although a fictionalized account, this is a truth revealing book. Self-proclaimed experts, hysteria, and a full range of human behaviors emanating from ignorance, fear, compassion, bewilderment and pain are explored. A shocking testimony to what has been allowed to occur, and an awakening to be wary of similar manipulations of hysteria in our own time and place, for although the book cover calls this is a story of a "Dark Age," it is neither so long ago nor far from occurring again in another guise. I highly recommend this book for the historical rendering, the good story telling, and for further reflection.

No comments about Student Affairs.

5 comments about Zig: The Autobiography of Zig Ziglar.

1. If you ever need an inspirational help of great success in life then I would recommend Zig Ziglar. Ziglar is author of best-seller, 'I'll See You At The Top' and many other motivational books, has helped thousands improve their lives to achieve that success in every aspect of living. As you read his auto-biography you'll learn about his remarkable story how he beat the odds and applied it to the teachings of Jesus Christ. You will learn to take the next step in your plan and keep God's plan at the center of your plans just as Zig did. His approach is a down-home, wholesome manner with the business savvy of a wise, honest salesman. Most of what he learn of being successful and the importance of networking with honest and wise mentors. The first part of the book tells of his early life and the family that shaped his destiny. In his early adult years he was hard-working and used his knowledge to make money and there were times he made financial mistakes as a result of foolish decisions. This was a time God wasn't a part of his life where his life had no meaning or purpose. The last part of the book, is about his change in life when he reflected back on the moral values in his early childhood and his mother. He then gave his life to Christ. He then found his purpose as a public speaker. From then on instead of his self-centered ambition he gave it all to God. And Zig has been successful ever since. Like Norman Vincent Peale, Zig applied biblical principles to the goals he has with the plans God manifest in the center of his life. Zig's secret is never quit, have faith in God and a whole lotta love. He's a mentor you can trust with a solution. Wish there were more like Zig.



2. Zig's life was a great testament to what he teaches. He walks the walk. His life is in balance, and even through tragedy, still reached out to make a difference for all lives he touched through his motivational seminars. His character is outstanding, and his level of integrity speaks for itself.

   This book shows the good, the bad, and the ugly. Life has not always been rosy for Zig, but he is living proof that you can overcome anything. As he always says: "you can have anything you want if you just help enough people get what they want".

   This book shows that Zig has faults just like the rest of us, and he makes that really clear in this book. He is humble and in some cases ashamed of some of his past behavior. No sugar coating in this one. The fact that he is such a strong christian is also satisfying to those of us who are believers. He makes it very clear who gets the credit for all of the blessings in his life.

   This book is a great read, and will be hard to put down if you are a fan. True to form, it's humorous with only a hint sorrow in some parts. He really is an amazing person.




3. I was exposed to Zig's philosophy some years ago and have read See You at the Top more than once. His "Check up from the Neck up" and the need to prevent "Hardening of the Attitudes" and "Stinkin Thinkin" are well ingrained. This was an interesting read and learning about his background and history was very well laid out and informative.



4. Zig is a very humble man. He tells the story of his life in stages that are inspirational in that the mundane things in life are all part of the whole that we experience. The early years in his life are full of mishaps in his opinion, yet lead to a logical place that may not have existed otherwise.
   
   His story of his older daughter's (Suzan's) illness and death, and the reaction of some of his mentors and partners in understanding, is one of the most touching renditons I have ever read and it is beatifully preserved by his younger daughter (Julie - you kind of feel the hominess of the family in the reading of this book) who edits his writing.
   
   Also, "The Wall of Gratitude", and how each person on it influenced him is another unselfish display of how he has become who he is. It is as if these mentors of his should have their pictures hung in many more dens/offices throughout the country because of their influence to him that he has passed to so many others.
   
   I met Zig and felt his sincerety in his conversation with me that I hope to duplicate in all I do - that's how good the meeting was! I can see why God called him to do what he does. In his autobiography he states all of the facts (and faults) of his personal life unashamedly. I do not think I could have shared some of the things he shared; too personal, but, his humility is seemingly endless.
   
   I first saw Zig in a sports motivational video in high school in the seventies. I got a lot of motivation out of it. It has stuck with me for all of these years: yet I was amused and amazed me to read about the experiences he had around that time and to the time at the end of this book.
   
   Obviously this review has come three years after the last one, yet it should show how timeless this story is, and, like Zig's salvation, it truly is "better late than never."



5. This was the first book I've read by Zig Ziglar. This very charming book details his childhood in America's rural South in the midst of the Depression, his early adult years, and adulthood. I'll write about the book in reverse chronological order.
   
   I especially enjoyed the part about his early adulthood, where he writes honestly about the uncertainty he went through. His adulthood part was interesting as well, although he tended to compress the 40+ years a little too much. After chronicling his childhood so meticulously, the later parts of the book seem a bit lacking in detail.
   
   His writing about his early childhood was very entertaining, a little sentimental, and excessively moralizing. Zig had a lot of mentors and learned valuable lessons, but he tends to stretch them too thin and draw almost too many morals to them. That he learned a lot about character and whatnot is unsurprising (he is a motivational speaker, after all), but it gets somewhat boring, a contrast to his humorous and vivacious "See You at the Top!
   
   For this, I give Zig an "excellent rating", which corresponds to 4 out of 5 stars in my humble book.

1 comments about A Love of Discovery: Science Education - The Second Career of Robert Karplus (Innovations in Science Education and Technology).

1. Once upon a time, science was taught in classrooms using wordy textbooks and a chalk board. There were no practical lessons and there was no room for exploration. Then a man called Bob Karplus came along and changed all that.
   "A Love of Discovery" describes the achievements of Bob Karplus in transforming American classroom science.
   Karplus initiated the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) in the early 1960s which aimed to find methods of teaching students of all ages scientific concepts in a way that would excite and inspire them about science. Their method was essentially, "Don't tell me, let me find out." They guided students through practical problems allowing them to make their own observations about the world.
   The editor of "A Love of Discovery", Robert G Fuller, states in his introduction that the book is "an attempt to support the claim that several of his contributions to science education are as important today as they were when he first made them." In one sense the book achieves its aim. It introduces a new generation of readers to Karplus' work. It places many of his key papers in one easy volume. However to some extent the book also fails this aim. The many contributors are eager to point out the success of Karplus' program, its translation into numerous languages, and its use in schools across the world. However all this success gives the feeling that the book is redundant: We don't need to hear about Karplus because we already know.
   The structure is a slightly awkward mix of plain-English introductory chapters written by ex-colleagues, and Karplus' own research papers. The juxtaposition of these two styles does not work particularly well. The introductions to Karplus' papers are filled with praise for the man and his work, but seem to have only a loose association with the papers they are supposed to be introducing. The resulting structure means the book loses momentum and the ideas presented do not seem to build upon the one before.
   Nonetheless, the book is a valuable one in that it is a tribute to a man who achieved so much in his work. The difference that Karplus' research made to science education is clear. Many science educators would find Karplus' methods a useful tool in their classrooms today.

1 comments about Black Philosopher, White Academy: The Career of William Fontaine.

1. Kuklick is not pushing the story of a heroic, iconic individual--Fontaine is not cast as a symbol of racial improvement.
   
   Instead he's telling the story of an individual whose career in academia was unlikely, rare for its time, and was, in fact, a mentor to Kuklick at the University of Pennsylvania. Fontaine's scholarly contributions, and his broader importance are both discussed.
   
   Race in higher education is a subject that will not go away any time soon, and this book certainly pushes the discussion forward.

No comments about Just Beneath My Skin: Autobiography and Self-Discovery.

2 comments about A Life With History.

1. Wonderful insights into the workings of the Eastern academic establishment in the 20th century. Superbly-written - an easy, smooth read. Perhaps of particular interest to this reader, a former student of Mr. Blum's, his book should also have appeal to anyone interested in an academic life.



2. Blum has written a fine memoir. It offers insights into Anti-Semitism, and the inner-workings of academia. Writing is graceful and compelling.
   
   The book is beautifully designed and produced by U Kansas Press.
   
   Too bad Yale University Press did not publish this book.