5 comments about The Iliad (Classics on Cassette).

1. I just finished an extension course on The Iliad, and had the luxury of picking whatever translation I desired. I tried many, including Fagles, and a bit of the Greek original, and came to this conclusion:
   
   Don't be misled by poetic or quasi-poetic translations. These can never do justice to a language incompatible with English, and miss the concision and power of Homer. If you want poetry, read Christopher Logue's reimagining of the epic in his several books.
   
   Instead, get the best literal translation. For me right now, that's Hammond. Fagles tries to combine both worlds, and is unsatisfactory in either. I must admit, the packaging is handsome, but Fagles takes too many liberties with the text. For instance, when the text is repeated in Greek, it should be repeated in English, but Fagles doesn't do this.
   
   At least Fagles is readable, unlike Lattimore, whose English does not trip happily on the tongue much of the time.



2. Great introduction by Bernard Knox. Very few introductions add anything important to what comes afterward, but this one is even delicious to read, the great subject matters of the Iliad are here explained in terms that reach any person who can read.
   
   I hadn't read the Iliad since a lot younger, and I was happily surprised to see so many different aspects that I hadn't noticed before. The war-film impressions of a kid were gone, and now only the sadness of death, the rage of Achilles, no mercy to the enemies... Hector stood as my hero this time, clearly defined as the last man to stand up for true human, civilized values. The embodiment of civilization, the last bastion of a soon to die culture of life.
   
   It really sounded to me as a warning to cultivated societies of today that peace, freedom, happiness, wealth, art, are not free. And if this is not realized the shorter lived they will be. Not necessarily to be interpreted as a call to arms, but rather as food for thought, in the sense that trying to bribe the enemy is not the solution in the long run. Every time a Trojan got caught his family, or himself, would try ransoming him at the same time revealing the wealth, treasures they had collected, and arousing the greed and resentment of the "bad guys". "Remember, my child, that it was my sweat and labor that put you through college", we could use that expression to describe it. But it's like calling on deaf ears, since no pampered kid will feel obliged to such parental cares, on the contrary, rebellion is the outcome. The child becomes arrogant, even perverted, reluctant to admit his debt to his illiterate parents. No more digressing.
   
   The translation is wonderful, very readable. A book never to become old. Also readable the essay on The Iliad by Simone Weil focusing on 'might'. Who are today yesterday's Argives and Troyans?



3. This was amazing that i got this book on time. The book is new like untouched even though it was said used book. Good job!! I thank you.



4. Ah, the original look at the glories and heartache of the Trojan War! While many authors like to take bits and pieces of the story (which is fine) it's necessary to look at the entire epic to appreciate all that happened, from its origins to its heroes and the gods that experienced just as much triumph and pain, if not more. It's full of all the good things of a good story: action, betrayal, friendship, romance, tragedy. Always a great read.



5. Although I respect Fagles as a modern translator, I cannot recommend his translations of Homer...I would probably only recommend his translations of Sophocles's 3 Theban Plays.
   
   Homer's Iliad and Odyssey don't sound like Epics anymore under Fagles...they are turned into mild nice sounding children stories! He tones down Homer to the point that I feel that Fagels wants his personality to shine NOT Homer's! I am gravely disappointed by this.
   
   I also find that he not only forces beauty into the text but adds too much of his personal warmth that gets in the way of the texts and creates a vision of Homer's epics that is truly unsound to the original.
   
   Not only that but the font and design of the print is an eye sore, I don't like the choice the publishers and Fagles gave to the works. It doesn't make for easy reading...
   
   Stanley Lombardo's translations are unparalleled in their print layout, design and font...not to say vivid and powerful evocative translation.
   
   I continue to find Richmond Lattimore's facinating translations the most accurate to how the Ancient Greek language sounds to English ears. I would buy Lattimore over Fagles (and Fitzgerald).
   
   And I still think Rieu's famous Prose version of the Iliad from 1950 is hard to beat for it's modernity and readibility.
   
   ...Find out for yourself by comparing a few versions but don't be duped into this mysterious "Fagles hype"!

No comments about New Insight into IELTS Student's Book Audio CD (Insight).

1 comments about Oxford Latin Course: Cassette I: Recordings for Part I and II (Oxford Latin Course).

1. Worst Latin purchase I have ever made! These tapes were not in the least bit helpful and seemed to drag on and on.

No comments about Active Listening 2 Class Audio CDs (Active Listening Second edition).

5 comments about Dereliction of Duty.

1. This book presents a lacerating indictment of Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other ancillary characters in the run-up to the Vietnam War. Short sighted political thinking on the part of Johnson, equally short-sighted inter-service rivalries amongst the Joint Chiefs (as well as a failure to speak out in the face of idiotic strategic military decision making), and a hubristic sense of infallibility on the part of McNamara are described - with compelling historical evidence - as the key sources of the fiasco. The parallels with the war in Iraq are obvious. A disturbing work that once again demonstrates that far too many political and military leaders are seemingly incapable of (a) learning from history, and (b) acting on anything but the most narrow, short-term agendas - mostly centered around the advancement of their careers.



2. The subject of the is book is very interesting, so I struggled through to the end (with plenty of skimming), but this guy can't tell a story. Too dry, too long, no sense of style.
   
   Tayloe Nickey



3. The Vietnam War took the lives of 58,000 Americans and over one million Vietnamese, while consuming billions of U.S. dollars and leaving Vietnam in ruins. It also led Americans to question the integrity of their government as never before.
   
   McMaster provides a detailed history of the top-level decision-making in Washington regarding the war. Readers clearly realize that while General Taylor (then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and Secretary Mcnamara consistently withheld, watered-down, and misrepresented JCS views to LBJ, McNamara also bent Vietnamese leadership positions to his own and kept the JCS out of the decision-making loop to create a greatly "overstated" sense of unanimity.
   
   The JCS, however, were far from blameless. Some allowed themselves to be bought off in return for service enlargement (Marines), reappointing General LeMay despite his bombastic attitude (Air Force), or maintenance within the existing power structure (Navy). Meanwhile, the group never seemed to get beyond inter-service rivalry - eg. the Air Force proposing "solutions" that featured bombing, the Marines proposing multiple point invasion and enclave-holding, etc. About the only thing they agreed on was that Mcnamara's strategy of limited response was doomed to failure - the French had already failed with 500,000 troops in North Vietnam, and an early Pentagon war game had eerily predicted the eventual direction of the war.
   
   Why LBJ's direction? On the one hand, he feared being blamed for losing Vietnam to the Communists (aka Truman vs. China), while on the other did not want to detract from his re-election efforts and subsequent passage of the Great Society initiative through Congress.
   
   Other reasons for the JCS' silence include the "lesson" of Truman vs. MacArthur, early training on allegiance to civilian control (however, this also include Congress, which also ended up woefully misinformed).
   
   Mcmaster concludes that the Vietnam War was not lost in the field, nor on college campuses, nor the pages of the New York Times - rather it was lost in Washington, almost from the beginning.
   
   What have we learned from "Dereliction of Duty?" At one point, it was "recommended" reading at the Pentagon's top level. On the other hand, General Sinseki clearly was pushed out prior to the Iraq War for telling the truth, as was Bush's chief economic advisor (Lindsay) for giving an unvarnished economic estimate of projected costs. Other lower-level generals have resigned to speak out rather than continue to support the Iraq War. At the same time, General Powell, in his new role as Secretary of State also failed to model forthright and assertive behavior to rebut Cheney, Rumsfeld et al, while Secretary Rumsfeld clearly failed to learn anything from McNamara's failures. Meanwhile, the book's author (Mcmaster) has been passed over twice so far for further promotion to Brigadier General.
   
   Bottom Line: I do not question the loyalty or integrity of those in current military leadership positions. However, we have still managed to repeat the Vietnam leadership failures in Iraq.



4. This book is a clear indictment of LBJ and his closest advisers on the policy on and war in Vietnam. Why was the Vietnam War lost? It was lost because of the fault of LBJ. The war was lost in Washington before it even began in Vietnam. LBJ shared the same distrust and despise of the military with his closest adviser, Robert S. McNamara. How can a military campaign be won if a leader does not trust his military experts? How can a war be won if a president does not listen to the recommendations of his military experts and instead follow the strategy set by his civilian advisers who have little or no military experience?
   
   Plus, LBJ and McNamara consistently misled Congress and the American people about the U.S. policy toward Vietnam as well as the situations in Vietnam. Can a war be won based on lies? I would think not.
   
   The most outrageous thing is that McNamara based his whole policy of "gradual pressure" for Vietnam on his single experience in the Cuban Missile crisis. Only an idiot, in this case a super-arrogant idiot, would rely on a single experience for the war in Vietnam. McNamara thought he was an instant military expert just because he defused the Cuban Missile crisis. What a fool he was! McNamara should have studied the past great generals and military leaders on how they lead and fight wars. But alas, he was too proud for that.
   
   Though this book place equal blames on LBJ, McNamara and the Joint Chiefs, I strongly disagree with the author on this view. The Joint Chiefs had been systematically excluded from strategy and policy setting in LBJ administration. They were powerless. Therefore, the failure of the Vietnam War and the dead of 50,000 U.S. soldiers should be placed only on LBJ and McNamara.
   
   In my opinion, the best way to view a presidency is to see what kind of top-level people he uses. Looking at LBJ, one can clearly see that he used smart people, but these people were arrogant liars and master-pleasing compromisers. No wonder Vietnam War was such a dismal failure.
   
   Why only four stars? The author is very repetitious - the same points were stressed over and over again. Also, the writing style was very dry.



5. To paraphrase Clausewitz: "War is a continuation of politics by other means." In a democracy such as ours we are ingrained with the concept of civilian control of the military. We have seen many instances where this was not the case (I recommend a highly readable book called "The Warlords" that depicts Hindenburg and Ludendorff's command of the Imperial German Government in World War I as an example of what can happen if the military is allowed to dictate politics in wartime).
   
   However, there has to be a balance between the military and the civilian leadership during times of international crisis -- especially when the decision is made to commit military assets and personnel. "Dereliction of Duty" is about a regrettable lapse of this balance for whom there is much blame to be passed around.
   
   McMaster discusses how in 1961 the new Kennedy Administration quickly dismisses the national defense structure Eisenhower had installed and quickly became disillusioned with his Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). He brings in retired Army General Maxwell Taylor who circumvents the JCS. Kennedy disillusionment was displayed after the Bay of Pigs adventure and how he kept the JCS at a distance during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. His ability to avoid a nuclear war and a land war on that island convinced him the military advisers were not the experts they claimed to be.
   
   However, the Kennedy Administration, led by SECDEF Robert McNamara, decided the lessons learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis could be similarly applied to a more complex problem -- Vietnam. I do not know if anybody really knows what would have happened if President Kennedy had not been killed -- many claim he would have pulled out of Vietnam after the 1964 elections but we will never know for sure -- but his successor inherited that problem and the bulk of this book is about how the Johnson Administration mis-managed Vietnam and mis-led the American people.
   
   Lyndon Johnson wanted to win in a landslide in 1964 and could not afford a military solution in southeast Asia. So he and his aides conspired to keep the issue as minimal as possible. After his election he and his aides conspired to keep the issue as minimal as possible while he pushed his Great Society agenda. Eventually, though, the time came where he had to decide whether to withdraw and let South Vietnam go Communist or to stay and fight what he was convinced was an unwinnable war. We know the decision he made and the efforts taken to hide as much as possible the truth from the American people.
   
   Of the main parties in this book -- the Kennedy Administration, the Johnson Administration, and the top military advisers -- probably the least guilty were the military advisers that made up the JCS. The JCS was also skeptical about winning in Vietnam but as the situation got worse they felt the military should be more pro-active. But in my opinion, they deserve the least blame for what happened for the least flattering of reasons. The JCS was largely ignored by the civilian leadership because they allowed themselves to be largely ignored. The JCS recognized what was happening but sabotaged their own credibility via inter-service rivalries. The JCS that should have been very much involved in the discussions and planning of Vietnam instead allowed itself to be marginalized.
   
   The accounts depicted in this book is a must read for any student of history. This is especially true as this country, and in particular, the Democratic Party, became and is still gun shy about how to use the military and how to approach national defense. Many still believe the lessons of Vietnam failure is to stay away from foreign adventures even if our interests are at stake. But such people ignore why Vietnam was a failure. I do not believe the main characters in this book deliberately set out to fail in Vietnam but they deliberately took actions that resulted in that failure. And this country is still impacted by their actions forty plus years after the fact.

No comments about English in Medicine Audio CD: A Course in Communication Skills (Cambridge Professional English).

5 comments about Clear Speech Class Audio CDs:Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in American English (Clear Speech).

1. The product contains mainly the answer key for the acutal student exercise book, and if you don't have that to refer to, it's not as useful. The teacher editon should contain the student workbook for easier reference. There is a CD that comes with it but again without being able to see the corresponding exercises in the student workbook, you feel as if you're working blind.



2. "Clear Speech" is the best. First, I use the text book & CD at a college, and I brought the Class Audio CDS for self-study at home. You need it, because CDs coming with Student's or Teacher's books don't include all listening dialogs.



3. The book starts from clear listening tests which made sense. Introduction to syllable(s) and sound(s) by listening to the CD is very useful, plus the pics show how the lips change when the alphabet vowel sounds are being said.



4. THIS PROGRAM IS GOOD FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEARN ENGLISH. IT IS A GOOD WAY TO LEARN A PERFECT ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. TRY IT.



5. I have taken quite a few Pronunciation classes and used different textbooks. This one is not as good as any other books we used in class. The structure of the chapters are not very reasonable and clueless. Too many rules in books conflict with standard rules we learn all along. They may be correct, but obviously confuse people who are not native speakers. And some exercises are not well designed, kind of useless. I won't recommend this book to any non-native English speaker. It is not in the same level of any other textbook in any sense.

No comments about English I Vocabulary Cards.

No comments about Interchange Intro Class Audio CDs (Interchange Third Edition).

5 comments about D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths.

1. I have had this book over 10 years and it is wonderful. It introduced me to mythology and hooked me from the beginning. I remember spending much time studying the pictures which are bright and detailed. Beyond being entertaining, the stories helped to prepare me for the frequent references to greek mythology in all types of art.



2. I got this book a long time ago when I was little, and even though some of the content was no doubt too old for me at the time, I still loved it and never grew tired of reading the book.
   
   I use this as my guide to greek mythology still - the pictures are gorgeous, and the stories well done.
   
   I'd recommend this for any Greek mythology lover.



3. If and easy-to-read introduction into Greek Mythology is what you are seeking, then there is no need to look any longer. All the stories from Gaia and her children the Titans to the legendary gods atop Mt. Olympus and their children are explained in rich detail with fully colored illustrations, that alone are worthy of 5-stars. But the adventure doesn't stop there, all the minor and major events that are attributed to Greek Lore are presented in the same painstaking detail. This definitely a must for all lovers of Greek legend and even for those with minor interests.
   
   Editor of the highly recommended Greek novel: Fates by Georgiou Tino.



4. My junior high used this as a textbook. I loved it so much that I bought a copy, only to lose it years later. Because I couldn't remember the author, I spent more than a decade hunting for a copy (try googling "Greek Myths"!), but now I've found it. As far as I'm concerned no other retelling of Greek mythology can hold a candle to D'Aulaires'. A must for any library -- personal or public.



5. My seven year old daughter was spellbound by the prose and the drawings in this wonderful version of the Greek myths.