Sex in N.Y. City: An Illustrated History

Book Description

This book celebrates sex and demonstrates that New York is the sexiest city in the world. It vividly documents the city's erotic history through a dramatic gallery of images: early prints and drawings, cartoons, news clippings, rare archival photographs, and art. The book shows how civilization has been pitted against nature in the city and covers urban life from the first startling encounters between colonists and native Americans to today's sexual carnival. Sex in N.Y. City chronicles social mores and unveils a riveting spectacle of voyeurism and exhibitionism, from the peaks of celebrity to the decadent underground. New York is revealed as the city of a million insatiable appetites.

The first book to showcase four centuries of a lustful approach to life, Sex in N.Y. City will delight all readers of erotica and lovers of New York City, both gay and straight.

Customer Reviews:

Hot Fotos.......2003-05-30

I loved this book--heard about it from artist friends in NYC. It's got terrific visuals--the stuff the author found is really unique and HOT. Really enjoyed the writing too--a lot of fun. Not all that boring theory you get from the campus types. This is a great gift book--I already got it for my cousin's birthday in Mexico. Plus it has nifty design so is like a coffee table book you can leave out when people visit. Wish all books on sex were like that--sort of classy with lots to look at.

Don't Bother!.......2003-02-27

This is a garbled, confused assessment of sex in New York City. Its awe-struck yet condescending faux-poetic descriptions say more about the author's inflated sense of self than the topic about which she writes. It's some of the worst writing I've ever come across.

Parts are way better than the sum.......2003-02-11

Ms. Maddex has created an interesting and well-researched book that allows the reader to learn a bit more about New York City's vast sexual history over the centuries. Starting with Dutch settlements in the 1600's all the way through to the current times, the book attempts to canvas New York City's sex culture through individual stories and news snippets accompanied with illustrations and/or photos. Some of these individual snippets on each page are extremely interesting as there are stories plucked directly from the headlines of the time. Moreover, Ms. Maddex attempts to catalog the history of women and gays over the centuries.

This book adds a new dimension if you have lived in NYC and have an appreciation for its rich history. The only drawback is that after I completed the book, I wasn't sure what Ms. Maddex was trying to say besides just cataloging the sex culture of NYC over the centuries. I wanted some overarching theme that tied all of the stories together more tightly. But regardless, you will be entertained.

Amazon.com

A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. The Lost Continent is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth (he should know better), the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook.

With a razor wit and a kind heart, Bryson serves up a colorful tale of boredom, kitsch, and beauty when you least expect it. Gentler elements aside, The Lost Continent is an amusing book. Here's Bryson on the women of his native state: "I will say this, however--and it's a strange, strange thing--the teenaged daughters of these fat women are always utterly delectable ... I don't know what it is that happens to them, but it must be awful to marry one of those nubile cuties knowing that there is a time bomb ticking away in her that will at some unknown date make her bloat out into something huge and grotesque, presumably all of a sudden and without much notice, like a self-inflating raft from which the pin has been yanked."

Yes, Bill, but be honest: what do you really think?

Book Description

An unsparing and hilarious account of one man's rediscovery of America and his search for the perfect small town.

Customer Reviews:

You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll laugh until you cry!!!.......2007-09-13

This book is absolutely hilarious, and Bill Bryson, is, in my opinion, the best writer the planet ever produced. I'm a creative director at an ad agency, and I swear, his writing is so superb that MY writing actually gets markedly better after I read him. But only for about a week. Then it's like Flowers for Algernon...I get all average again!

Boy oh boy do I envy anyone who has not read Bill Bryson's books, because you still have all that pleasure in front of you!

Non Fiction.......2007-09-03

I read this after having been through and in a few of the places Bill Bryson mentions in The Lost Continent : Travels in Small-town America, so at the time I found parts of it highly entertaining. Accounts of Nowheresville, USA are not going to be too interesting if you get lots and lots and lots of them, though.

The Lost Continent..are we there yet?.......2007-09-02

Originally published on SensiblySassy.blogspot.com
Lost Continent:
Well a couple years ago I read Bill Bryson's book Neither Here nor There and it was a hilarious guide through Europe. So when I saw Lost Continent on the shelves I instantly wanted to read about Bill's road trip through the U.S. Within the first five pages I was chuckling to myself and out loud. (Luckily Jon was the only one sitting next to me on the plane as I read) By the time the hour and a half flight touched back down on the ground I had polished off quite a few pages.

As the book went on I began to feel less enamored with the book than I initially had. The tone shifted from funny to cranky as the trip/book wore on. Now I wonder if it is the fact that the trip began to take its toll on Bryson or if he felt that crotchety was a good tone for him to switch to-we may never know. Overall if you were to sample some of Bryson's work I would absolutley recommend Neither Here nor There over Lost Continent . Neither Here nor There gives you a hilarious and personal guide through Europe whereas Lost Continent really helps you remember what it was like to take loooong car rides with your parents-the good and the bad.

satisfied my curiosity towards small towns.......2007-08-30

We all know what big cities are like, but how about small towns? Of course Bill Bryson did not (& obviously could not) visit all small towns in his home country, this book satisfied my curiosity towards small towns in America.

I guess there's always irresistible charm of overland travel, and Bryson described his overland trip with hilarious writing style.

One suggestion: if the editor could add a route map at the beginning of book showing Bryson's itinerary, it would be even better.

A bumpy, yet scenic, road.......2007-08-03

Bill Bryson, a child of the 50s, used to spend each summer with his family on one of those all-American vacations that consisted of endless driving, sweltering heat and the inevitable destination that was, due to his father's preference, free and educational. He always longed for the chance to buy tacky hats with plastic crap on them and other tasteless souvenirs, and now that he's an adult, he finally gets that chance when he embarks on a nation-wide odyssey in the hopes of getting to know the country he left behind in The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America.

Although he was born in Des Moines, Illinois ("Someday had to," he explains on the opening page), Bryson's heart was elsewhere, and he spent most of his adult life living in England. Some 30 years after those summer journeys he's back in the states, and with no specific itinerary or time constraints, he leisurely passes from town to city, looking for the perfect place that survived from his childhood in this travelogue.

Of course, America has changed since Bryson's childhood days, and instead of finding Perfect Town, U.S.A, he encounters a deluge of faceless shopping malls, unremarkable villages and far too many gas stations. His hilarious observations usually come at the expense of the people he talks to and places he visits, which almost seems to suggest an air of British snootiness that he picked up from his years living abroad. Still, there are plenty of irreverent comments ("I only ever knew one journalist with a truly tidy desk, and he was eventually arrested for molesting small boys. Make of that what you will; but just bear it in mind that next time somebody with a tidy desk invites you camping") that are just so outlandishly amusing, that it's easy to forgive him for his treatment of the occasional small town citizen.

Traveling across America and being disgusted with the over-commercialization is hardly groundbreaking material. John Steinbeck, the quintessential American, did exactly that in 1962 with Travels with Charley: In Search of America. While Steinbeck is a folksy, talkative guy, Bryson instead bares his teeth. He travels alone and all along the way he doesn't strike up many conversations aside from brief chats with a plethora of waitresses and moronic country folk. He does meet up with a friend, and later a niece, but they're pushed into the background and the surroundings become the main characters. The closest we get to travel companions is when Bryson vividly describes what the past trips with his family were like. His mom says nothing other than "Would you like a sandwich, honey?" and "I don't know, dear."

Much of Bryson's journey on both coasts, and everything in between, brings up plenty woeful places, yet he does find some attractions worthy of his admiration. A rare few of the stops on his trip nostalgically remind him of his youth, from the sheer scope of the Grand Canyon ("Your mind, unable to deal with anything on this scare, just shuts down and for many long moments you are a human vacuum") and the "sleepy" college town of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania ("You feel at first as if you should be wearing slippers and a bathrobe"). Bryson covers so much ground (38 states) and visits so many similar towns, that at times, his travelogue almost read like a list. Even the memorable places are often described as simply "pleasant," and after a paragraph, it's off to the next destination. Like the long road trip that Bryson embarks on, The Lost Continent captures the vastness and monotony of driving across America. Because of the now-famous Bill Bryson humor, for most of it works well and there are plenty of laughs, The Lost Continent becomes more than another lackluster expressway town.

The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America and Made in America.

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The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America and Made in America.
Bill Bryson
Manufacturer: Abacus 1996 / Black Swan 1999.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L6B5O8

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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America

Manufacturer: Abacus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Notes from a Small Island

ASIN: 034910056X

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The Lost Continent:Travels in Small-Town America

The Lost Continent - Travels In Small-town America
Bill Bryson
Manufacturer: Perennial / Harper-collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1PHRA

Customer Reviews:

The Lost Continent:Travels in Small-Town America.......2007-06-22

I just discovered Bill Bryson a few months ago, and I have loved every book that I've read, but this is by far the most hilarious one yet. I was reading it while traveling in a car with my husband, and, after laughing out loud, would have to reread passages to him. I haven't found it on audio book, but would love to hear it in Bill's voice, which adds to his sarcastic wit.

Lost Continent, The : Travels in Small-Town America

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Lost Continent, The : Travels in Small-Town America
Bill BRYSON
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF2C84

THE LOST CONTINENT: TRAVELS IS SMALL TOWN AMERICA AND NEITHER HERE NOR THERE TRAVELS IN EUROPE

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THE LOST CONTINENT: TRAVELS IS SMALL TOWN AMERICA AND NEITHER HERE NOR THERE TRAVELS IN EUROPE
BILL BRYSON
Manufacturer: SECKER
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S73JOY

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The Lost Continent. Travels in Small - Town America.

Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I35LNA

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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America

Manufacturer: Abacus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I1QB2M

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Great book for a Wonka fan.

Magic movie but not book

Definite Pure Imagination

A good book only if you don't have the DVD.

Come with me....

Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Mel Stuart , and Josh Young
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory: Music From The Original Soundtrack Of The Paramount Picture

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ASIN: 0312287771

Book Description

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of the most popular and memorable films of the past 30 years. Based on Roald Dahls classic novel, the film has been seen by millions since its release. Written by Mel Stuart, the films director, ure Imaginationis the ultimate companion piece for fans of the film. The first book ever written on the film, this is the consummate insider account of the making of the film and a look at its growing cultural impact. It takes readers behind the scenes with colorful necdotes; lavish, never-before-seen photographs from Warner Bros. and Stuarts personal collection; interviews; notes on production techniques; original set design sketches, and fascinating trivia about the film. A New York Timesarticle explaining the films lasting popularity, concludes that: Like most things that endure, it offers something for everyone.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for a Wonka fan........2007-09-01

I bought this book as a gift for my cousin's birthday. He's not a huge Willy Wonka fan persay but we have fond memories of watching the movie together when we were younger and we like to randomly quote lines from the movie. What a perfect gift idea this would be, I thought. So I bought it online, not knowing what the pages inside looked like. And I was thrilled when I finally received it!

The first thing I must point out is the great pictures. They're high quality and are probably the best parts of the book. There are pictures from the actual movie which are wonderful but my favorite pictures are the behind the scenes pictures. It's neat to see the characters when the camera isn't rolling. There are also a couple of sketches of different scenes (including the "Pure Imagination" scene).

The book is also filled with stories and facts that the average Willy Wonka fan might not know. The book is seperated into chapters so if you're not into, say, how the movie was put together and edited, you can skip right over that part. Being able to see how certain scenes were created and how they casted the movie and where the actors are now (one of the most intriguing sections) makes this book a rather interesting read.

If you know someone who loves Willy Wonka, this would make an excellent gift. I highly recommend it.

Magic movie but not book.......2006-11-10

After reading this book I learned Mel stuart deserves a alot of credit, and rightly so, for bringing to the movie that timeless magical quality that after decades, I never get tired of. However, Mel leaves out to much behind the scenes, personal accounts, stories, general info. esp. as it pertains to the rest of the cast for this to be an enjoyable read.

However, if you love the movie as much as I did, you will still want to buy this book at least to get Mel's take on the making of the movie.

Definite Pure Imagination.......2005-08-09

After watching the movie since I was a little girl, I finally came across this wonderful book. After being such a fanatic about Wonka, I read this book and found so much more interesting facts about the movie and how it was made. This book is indeed a real treasure find! It is definitely worth the $.

A good book only if you don't have the DVD........2003-05-02

While the book is interesting in and of itself, 80% of the content was already said in the audio commentary track of the DVD. The book reads like Mel Stuart listened to the commentary and retyped it out. Plus, even though the book is 160 pages, it's a very light read, you could do it in less than a day. I think it would have been better if there was more detail rather than just limiting all the topics to just one sentence each.

Come with me...........2003-04-28

...and you'll see a world of Pure Imagination. And pure imagination is what you get from this beauitfully done retrospective on one of the most important films of my generation: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, written by Mel Stuart and Josh Young.

Filled with pictures and wonderful stories, this book provides an enchanting, enjoyable walk down memory lane. You read starting from the original impetus to make the film, all the way to a fond reunion many years later of the kids and director.

Mel Stuart, being the film's director, has numerous and interesting insights to the creation of this classic. Some of the information in the book is also mentioned in a documentary on the Willy Wonka DVD, but no fear. It seems that if you love this movie, you simply cannot get enough of it!

This book was purcahsed for me as a gift, and it does make the perfect gift for anyone who loves this movie. Or buy it for yourself, curl up on a cold, rainy night, and relive all of those wonderful memories you have of this incredible movie.

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Pure Imagination, The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Mel Stuart/Josh Young.
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTN8UQ

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Pure Imagination : The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Josh Young
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTK0ES

Book Description

The newest addition to Miller FreemanÕs ÕAll Music GuideÕ series, this book is the most complete guide to the best CDÕs, albums & tapes in all genres of country. Over 500 pages are devoted to artist/group bios, historica l essays covering the roots of country music, reviews on performers and more.

Customer Reviews:

Country, plus much that isn't.......2002-06-25

I've been listening to country music for more than four decades, plus recently brushing up on music history while researching Faron Young's life. This book contains much good information, but I wonder how the writers define "country." In spite of all their hits, the Wilburn Brothers rate a two-inch column and David Houston gets three inches. Yet many, many performers I've never heard of (and non-country ones I have heard of) get a page or more. How often has Grateful Dead ever been played on a country station? Faron Young--a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame--is allotted one page, but Neil Young gets six. How many times did he appear on the country charts? None that I recall. Even the historical Carter Family is limited to two pages. There would have been room to give more information about more performers if the book had fulfilled the promise of its title.

It's The Tops.......2001-08-10

Books like this make know-it-alls like me shudder: now everyone can have decades worth of hard-won musical knowledge at their fingertips, for just a few bucks. Hardly seems fair. Highly recommended.

A Good Effort.......2001-06-10

I'm a big fan of this series, which is prized among buffs for its reliable and informative album ratings. This volume gets big points for unusually inclusive coverage, which makes sense for the "big tent" that is country music. We get everything from rockabilly to country-oriented rock acts to straight-up honky tonk. Also, you get good coverage of some fairly obscure artists (finally, Michael Hurley in a reference book!).

Complaints? I've got a few. The editing in this volume is not up to the series' usual standards. Some of the biographical sketches are sloppily written and some artists seem to have been left out unintentially (for example, Area Code 615 is mentioned many times in the text, but doesn't get an entry). Also, as long as I'm complaining, some of the decisions about who to include are a little loopy -- the Greatful Dead but not John Prine? And music reference books go stale fast -- the latest entries in this one are from mid 1996, so a new edition is called for.

With all that said, I spent half the night reading through this one, promising myself that I'd go to sleep after I read just one more entry... If you're anything more than the most casual country fan, you need this book.

At Last: A good book on Country Music!.......1998-10-25

I have collected all the books on country music I can find and there are not that many really good ones. This is a good one, in particular if you are shopping for CDs or building a collection. Lots of extras too, like maps, history of country music, etc. A keeper.

So-so.......1998-08-27

Not a bad book, but many key country artists of today are missing from its pages. Photos are lame, too. Can't bigtime publishers find something besides cheesy publicity shots?

Customer Reviews:

What??? Only two reviews???.......2004-11-19

This is one of the finest things ever written! I sincerely hope that a copy of this book lives on the shelf of everyone who has a love for tools and wood and what happens when the two come together. Underhill gives us a look into the world of real hand tool woodworking - no electricity, please. "Start with an axe and a tree and make first one thing and then another until you have a house and everything in it." It can be (almost) that simple, but you have to restore a fractured culture first, and also learn to speak the language of trees and wood and steel. This book will accomplish both those aims.

Underhill, former Master Housewright at Colonial Williamsburg, did the amazing hat trick of turning something as offbeat and esoteric as pre-industrial woodworking into a highly successful career, and became a beloved personality and celebrity in the process. When you read his books, you'll know how he did it. Instantly, you get the sense that his deep affection for his trade, and the trades that support it, illuminates his life. He "sees" things, he doesn't just look. Like ripples in a stream allude to rocks below the surface, he looks at the bark of a tree and understands what lies within - twisted firewood or beautiful furniture? Dissecting an old piece of furniture or part of a house tells you about the tools that made it, and the men who used the tools, and the community they lived in, and what their lives were like. But all of this could be ponderous and self absorbed if it weren't infused front to back with an infectious sense of humor and a Tom Sawyer/Peter Pan view of the world, where if we're lucky we'll all get to run away and be pirates together.

Poetic, lyrical, sad, happy, this book has it all. A true classic from an amazingly talented person. Maybe the 60's hippy culture did ONE thing right - it gave us Roy Underhill, boy genius, and set him loose upon a (hopefully) grateful world. His books, and the first two particularly, make a perfect gift for that tired, world weary person in your life who is thinking that there is something missing in his or her work, that their long days are filled with meaningless seeking, and who might like to turn their hands to something slower, calmer, more beautiful, and decidedly valuable for a change.

Rod Underhill, the very talented and busy writer.......2000-04-17

It's amazing how many books Rod Underhill has written. Woodcarving! Internet business! Music! He seems to be today's version of Issac Asimov, tackling books on every known subject. All of his books, especially this one, are very well written. Maybe he should stop writing books with his brother Roy, and move out on his own.

If you only buy one book on the subject make it this!.......1999-01-18

This remarkable book by the even more remarkable Roy Underhill will inspire you to forget the breathing and ear protection apparatus and get out your hand tools! It has to be the singularily most inspiring woodworking book available. Enjoy the soft smells and quiet sounds of real craftmanship. The rest of the series is indispensible also. And if you enjoy this book you'll also love the book "Restoring Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools" by Michael Dunbar. A MUST for any true craftsman at heart.

The Woodwright's Shop - A Practical Guide To Traditional Woodcraft

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The Woodwright's Shop - A Practical Guide To Traditional Woodcraft
Roy Underhill
Manufacturer: Univ. Of North Carolina
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V0DKOC

Book Description

With new movies, TV shows and books appearing all the time, the popularity of Star Trek is at an all-time high. Now, following his bestselling The Ultimate Unauthorized Star Trek Quiz Book, Robert W. Bly provides 750 more multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank and mix-and-match questions covering the entire spectrum of Star Trek lore.

Including information on the new series, Star Trek: Voyager, and film, Star Trek: Generations, Why You Should Never Beam Down in a Red Shirt also provides complete coverage of the final season of The Next Generation, more from the current season of Deep Space Nine and questions and answers from a variety of new sourcesincluding several recently published autobiographies by stars of the original series.

In addition, the book contains a host of new featuresa listing of companies selling Star Trek collectibles, an appendix listing Star Trek fan publications, a Star Trek bibliography and more. Why You Should Never Beam Down in a Red Shirt is one book no Star Trek fan should be without.

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Why You Should Never Beam Down in a Red Shirt: And 749 More Answers to Questions About Star Trek
Robert W. Bly
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Star Trek | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000NY3VVI

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Why You Should Never Beam Down in a Red Shirt: And 749 More Answers to Questions About Star Trek
Robert W.; Harper Collins Bly
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B000OF8BOS

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