Book Description
“International interest in this distinctive art form was renewed by Sherwood, whose personal collection is considered the world’s most comprehensive. Captivating and commanding, this opulent compilation superbly show-cases vivid new interpretations of familiar subjects.” —Booklist. “Equally important for both botanical and art collections.”—Library Journal.
Customer Reviews:
Reference .......2007-01-11
This book is very helpful, especially as a reference for anyone learning botanical illustration or anyone wanting to learn about specific botanical artists.
It's beautiful art work also makes it very nice as a "coffee table" book for others to admire.
Great Contemporary Botanical Art.......2005-05-07
As a rank beginner in watercolor and pen and ink I much appreciate the effort it takes to produce great illustrations of natural objects. Shirley Sherwood has brought together her remarkable collection of modern botanical paintings (and some ink renderings) in "A Passion for Plants: Contemporary Botanical Masterworks" and made them accessible to the public. It is certainly an impressive effort.
Unlike many styles of illustration, botanical art usually involved a finely detailed painting on a white background, occasionally with additional smaller drawings or paintings. Occasionally a background is also provided, but most have no background. The renditions of just about every artist featured are extremely well done and it is hard to pick a favorite. Kate Nessler's watercolor of Rose Hips & Oak Leaves, Mariko Imai's exquisite watercolors of carnivorous plants, Elizabeth Dowle's paintings of fruit, Francesca Anderson's detailed ink renditions of sunflowers and cacti, and John Wilkinson's ultra realistic (complete with insect damage and hover flies!) watercolor of Ligularia, are just a few of the treats in this magnificent book. It sure makes for a tough standard, but a worthy one, for us beginners!
A great book for artists, botanists and anyone interested in plant illustration!
A superb, international collection of botanical art........2002-05-30
This is an excellent collection of botanical illustrations reproduced in very detailed, rich color on quality paper. Artists from all over the world are represented with brief biographies of each one. I think this book is one of the best books to have if you love botanical illustration and would like to see examples done by highly skilled, scientifically accurate illustrators. Just as good or better than the first Shirley Sherwood collection book.
Book Description
Flora Photographica is a bouquet, a striking and extravagantly designed album of images that celebrate the beauty and pathos of flowers in all their forms. In these pages flowers speak to us with a greater intensity and more subtle modulation than in nature itself. For each bloom shown here has been observed with an acuity of vision that only the most sensitive of photographers can bring to bear.
What we see is both reality and revelation. The artist's eye decodes the flower's message and sharpens its beauty. Here are Mapplethorpe's tulips, half-metal, half-living creatures; Steichen's delphiniums, preserved in an everlasting summery perfection of blues and pinks; Atget's open-air profusion of poppies; Cunningham's magnolia, richly fertile and lush; Man Ray's surreal yet pure calla lily; Chris Enos's dying poinsettia, its colors curdling in decay.
Roses and irises, zinnias and eglantines, orchids and camellias—all submit to the photographer's gaze, in opulent still-lifes, in spare renderings of a single sprig, in elegant anatomies, and as emblems of personality in portraiture and nude studies. These are masterpieces of photographic art in an astonishing range of media, from photography's beginnings up to the present day. Full details of the techniques and processes used are elucidated in the commentaries and introduction. But, above all, here are flowers as we have never seen them before, an unparalleled display to marvel at, contemplate, and enjoy. 215 photographs, 56 in color.
Some of the photographers included are: Ansel Adams &149; Eugene Atget &149; Hippolyte Bayard &149; Cecil Beaton &149; Julia Margaret Cameron &149; William Henry Fox Talbot &149; Lee Friedlander &149; Yasuhiro Ishimoto &149; André Kertész &149; Robert Mapplethorpe &149; Sheila Metzner &149; Joel Meyerowitz &149; Duane Michals &149; Paul Outerbridge &149; George Platt Lynes &149; Lucas Samaras &149; Edwin Smith &149; Edward Steichen &149; Josef Sudek
Customer Reviews:
story is too dry. .......2007-10-10
book in fair condition, but not as description would lead me to imagine, still good service
Product Description
Carp is the world's most popular food fish. An impressive fighter whose acute hearing and superior intelligence make it the world's most challenging sport fish. This is the true story. Includes: Fishing methods, bait recipes, and cooking recipes. The book is filled with great illustrations.
Average customer rating:
|
Lightning in the Mind
Aaron Christensen
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Biographies & Memoirs
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Health, Mind & Body
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1412067693
Release Date: 2006-06-30 |
Product Description
These poems were written during a tumultuous time in Aaron Christensen\'s life and he just happened to enjoy writing as an emotional escape.
Average customer rating:
- Sinkings Salvages Shipwrecks
|
Sinkings, Salvages and Shipwrecks
Robert Forrest Burgess
Manufacturer: Backinprint.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
General
| Ships
| Transportation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Ships & Shipwrecks
| Ships
| Transportation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Guidebooks
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Adventure
| Specialty Travel
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Salvaging Spanish Sunken Treasure
-
Shipwrecks in the Americas
ASIN: 0595006329 |
Book Description
What was it like to have been aboard a doomed treasure ship destroyed by hurricane on the Florida coast. . . and then, 255 years later, to be the first to find the treasure?!? Or to walk the sunken streets of Port Royal and hear the bell toll in the tower? It all lives again as Robert Burgess puts you into these exciting true sea tales. Fully illustrated.
Customer Reviews:
Sinkings Salvages Shipwrecks.......2001-08-20
This was just an awesome book! I read it several summers ago and it was the most intriguing and interesting book. I'm totally into that stuff and it was awesome! Everyone should read it. It's fairly easy to understand.
Average customer rating:
- Beautifully-written
- "Some words hurt like fire"
- A Great book!
- Perfect.
- I wish I could talk but I can't!
|
Black-Eyed Suzie
Susan Shaw
Manufacturer: Boyds Mills Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Abuse
| Social Issues
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Dysfunctional Relationships
| Social Issues
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Illness
| Issues
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Teens
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Teen Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Rules of Survival
-
Cut
-
A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive
-
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
ASIN: 156397729X |
Customer Reviews:
Beautifully-written.......2007-04-27
Chilling and riveting, angering and thought-provoking. We start off meeting Suzie, the "box" she puts herself in, and the "cloud" she floats on. A safe, quiet world. A world where her mother can't make Suzie talk...because if Suzie can't talk, then she can't say things to anger her mother and cause her mother to hurt her. Suzie stops sleeping. She stops talking to her mother, her sister, her father, her best friend. Everyone. She stops walking. The one thing she can't stop doing is crying. She retreats into this safe box, those safe clouds, hiding, until she is finally taken get help.
This is a beautifully written that book takes takes a frank look at the family dynamics of co-dependency and abuse, and leads the reader on a journey through Suzie's healing process. The reader will root for Suzie as she opens up and starts to trust. After a dramatic breakthrough, Suzie alters the lives of her sister and herself forever.
"Some words hurt like fire".......2007-04-25
Twelve-year-old Suzie has just been dropped off at St. Dorothy's mental hospital after she stops walking, sleeping, or speaking. The only time she feels safe is when she is inside her 'box,' and that's usually how she stays all day long, sitting in a chair with her knees up to her chin, unmoving. Her Uncle Elliot, disturbed by her ever-worsening behavior, initiates her eventual stay at the hospital.
There are already several summaries up for this book, so I think there really isn't a need for me to give another one; plus, I don't want to spoil anyone. I do want to say that Susan Shaw's debut novel is a very beautiful, sweet, and sad story that follows Suzie's struggle to distance herself from the world as she has been doing, and the eventual revealing, through her, of what happened and why she has become the way she is. I was very drawn into the story and her relationships; from her mother, a former singer, her father, her sister Deanna, Karen, a girl in the institution, her uncle Elliot, aides: Marie, Stella, and Bill, and Moses and Joshua, two other children in the institution. The story was moving and powerful, with moments of quiet as Suzie gained a new view of her world and shattering revelations, with characters to care about and hope the best for.
I think this is a wonderful story, not to be missed. It is one of the best books I have read all year long.
A Great book!.......2006-06-18
I haven't read this in a while, but I intend to read it again soon. This book is extremely intresting, it wraps you up, so that you're forced to turn the page. It almost makes you feel as though you are in the mental institution with Suzie. I do remember that her recovery was suprizingly quick, but Suzie also says that her problem is not completely solved, making the book very realistic.
I love how Suzie defines talking by how you express yourself, not by the actual words.
Hating pineapple is talking...Wearing Peacock feathers is talking...
Perfect........2005-04-16
Black Eyed Suzie is one of the best books I've pulled off the shelves yet. For one thing, it is just a wonderfully written story. True, believable character that you can simpathize and relate with on a totally amazing level. The plot is one that drags you and and forces you to keep reading, no matter what. And after you finish it, you'll end up taking it out and rereading it again and again.
I think troubled teens should give this story, or one like it, a shot. It helps to bring the thought that 'Hey, I'm not the only screwed up person out there.' Over all, a wonderful read that I will return to every chance I get.
I wish I could talk but I can't!.......2005-04-16
The book I am reading is called Black Eyed Suzie by Susan Shaw. Ever since Suzie's mom abused her, Suzie stopped talking. Eventually Suzie's Uncle Elliot saw her and made her go to a mental hospital. At the mental hospital people try to get her to talk but she can't. She feels she has no words.
The conflict in this book is that Suzie can't talk but people try to force her to. At the mental hospital she has conflicts with only one other girl, Karen. Karen pushes her down and breaks her possessions, but Suzie can't do anything because she is too weak. Often, when people at the hospital help her, they're a little too late. After a while in the mental hospital she thinks, `well maybe if I start talking they will let me go to be with my family.' The conflict starts, like I said, when her mom beats her and her dad is never home. The conflict is not easy to resolve for Suzie.
I think that Black Eyed Suzie is good for teenagers who have a problem, who want to learn what kind of problem people have, or just want to read a good book. I think almost anyone would enjoy this book, but I think really teenagers would enjoy it most. I would tell you the ending but I think you can read it and find out.
Average customer rating:
|
BLACK-EYED SUZIE
SHAW SUSAN
Manufacturer: BOYDS MILLS PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PH2K7O |
Average customer rating:
|
Cell Biology and Membrane Transport Processes, Volume 41 (Current Topics in Membranes)
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Cell Biology
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Molecular Biology
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Physiology
| Basic Science
| Medicine
| Subjects
| Books
Cell Biology
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Molecular Biology
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Medicine
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0121533417 |
Book Description
This volume brings together contributors from several different fields of cell biology, physiology, and molecular biology. The common thread that runs through all of the work presented is that cell processes regulate the activities of membrane transport proteins and classes of membrane transport proteins participate in a number of critical cell phenomena. This volume is unique in covering three different members of the ATP Binding Cassette family (MDR, CFTR and STE6) in one place, as well as in including structure and function analysis of the sodium pump in the same forum where its cell biology is considered. The book will appeal to a broad range of biologists with interests in membrane transport, membrane biology, cell biology, and sorting.
Average customer rating:
|
Zumdahl Chem Ise W/Tech Pkg 6ed
Zumdahl
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General & Reference
| Chemistry
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General & Reference
| Chemistry
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0618442294 |
Average customer rating:
- Best General Introduction to Biophysics
- A colorful introduction to the subject with
- Good Textbook
- Outstanding Book
- Very good book, ideal for students.
|
Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life
Philip Nelson
Manufacturer: W. H. Freeman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Biophysics
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Molecular Biology
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Biophysics
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Deals
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Random Walks in Biology
-
Molecular Driving Forces: Statistical Thermodynamics in CHemistry & Biology
-
Molecular and Cellular Biophysics
-
Biological Thermodynamics
-
Mechanics of the Cell
ASIN: 0716743728 |
Book Description
The first text of its kind, Biological PHysics synthesizes information from the developing field of biological physics. The text focuses on new results in molecular motors, self-assembly and single-molecule manipulation,integrating these topics with classical results. The text also provides foundational material from the emerging field of nanotechnology. Built around a self-contained core, the text is geared toward undergraduate students who have taken one year of calculus-based physics. Additionally, there are "Track-2" sections that contain more advanced material for senior physics majors and graduate students.
Customer Reviews:
Best General Introduction to Biophysics.......2007-07-27
The field of biophysics has experienced a flowering over the last several decades, with new experimental techniques (such as single molecule manipulation) providing quantitative data that allow for true tests of theoretical models. This book provides a wonderful introduction to the ideas and techniques that are now at the forefront of much of biological physics research. The previously available books are either out-of-date (Cantor & Schimmel's classic series on "Biophysical Chemistry") or are better as a reference for researchers (John Howard's useful book "Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton"). Other options for an upper level introductory class (such as Duane's book "Molecular Biophysics") are, in my opinion, not as clear or as well-organized as Nelson's book.
This is the textbook that I would in teaching an introductory biophysics class.
A colorful introduction to the subject with .......2007-07-11
some weaknesses in some critical respects. The subtitle of the book is a little misleading because he does not address information theory at all (except by dismissal as discussed below), and confuses entropy with information. Let's look at a few problems.
He makes the standard textbook error of defining entropy as disorder or equivalently lost information. These can be useful teaching tools but physicists trained with this ultimately get into trouble. For instance in the former case, entropy is not always a measure of disorder, such as in crystalizations. Also the phase transformation of solid helium to liquid helium II does not require energy. In the second analogy of lost information, this leads to silly paradoxes like going back in time has increasing information. This is because he agrees that universal entropy increases with time - "the quantity that must increase is the whole world's entropy." If entropy decreases going back in time then he is suggesting information increases. Information to who? While Boltzman confused the situation a century ago, it was Nobel Prize winner Claude Shannon in the 1940's who derived the proper interpretation of information rate being the reduction of uncertainty to a recognizer of signals reeceived. Information begins with life, whereas entropy was increasing long before humans came along. It is a measure of the dispersal of energy and should not be viewed as uncertainty which requires an observer. The mistake is to equate entropy with the negative of information through Boltzman's constant whereas the proper measure of information is a state function difference (uncertainty before and after measurement. It is uncertainty that is the entropy-like formula without Boltzman's constant. This is a popular mistake.)
His biggest mistake is on page 232: "Communications engineers are also interested in the compressibility of streams of data. They refer to the quantity I as the 'information content' per message. This definition has the unintuitive feature that random messages carry the most information! This book will use the word disorder for I; the word information will be used in its everyday sense."
This is false; he is confusing entropy with uncertainty. Rather than a dismissive paragraph like that above, an entire book could be devoted to the subject and while there appears to be no book that gets this right, except Shannon's and Weaver's original treatise, Dr Tom Schneider has written extensively about this with articles available at his website. For instance in a recent published article he writes:
"Information theory was developed by Claude Shannon in the late 1940's to describe movement of information in communications. When applied to biological systems it has proven to be useful. Based on the frequency of each base at each position in a set of aligned [protein] binding sites [on DNA], we can determine the strength of an individual site in bits of information...the units of measure allow direct comparison between different molecular systems...Binding site information is correlated to stability...so the more infomration a binding site has, the larger the number of contacts it can make with the protein and correspondingly the more difficult it becomes for thermal noise to separate the two once they are bound together... The individual information appears to be well correlated to the kinetics of binding." In another article he says "the Second Law of Thermodynamics...is a simplified version of the [Shannon] channel capacity theorem under isothermal conditions."
However the book is well written and some analyses are very good such as on friction, but it is introductory only. There are no higher level subjects like Ising spins or networks and the passages on protein folding are brief; and of course nothing on quantun mechanics. Even these subjects fall short of fully addressing high complexity as R. Santilli points out, classical and quantum mechanics are ideal, local and linear. Instead he has invented a new math, Hadronic Mechanics, and he has a book out on Hadronic Chemistry for the invariant treatment of nonlinear, nonlocal, and nonunitary theories and a new structure model of molecules. However before advancing to that stage one has to understand the shortfalls with the conventional analyses. For instance as he says in a 2005 article available on the net (with a simple google search):
"In chemistry, quantum mechanics, quantum chemistry and special relativity have been unable to provide an exact representation of the binding energy of the simplest molecule, the hydrogen molecule...with larger deviations when passing to more complex molecules such as water...not to forget the embarrassing prediction by quantum chemistry that all molecules are ferromagnetic (a direct consequence of the independence of the electrons in valence bonds, thus permitting the polarization of their orbits under an external magnetic field)...the basic insufficiency...is the impossibility to represent interactions due to ...overlapping wavepackets and/or charge distributions of particles...This limitation is evidently due to the fact that quantum mechanics, quantum chemistry and special relativity are strictly linear local-differential and potential theories. Consequently the interactions...are beyond any hope of representation." [i.e. under those theories!]
Good Textbook.......2007-04-27
This is a good text book for both physicists and biologists.It's very well organized and the literature is clear and understandable.
Outstanding Book.......2006-03-09
Well written. Easy to read, yet very rigorous. Very relevant examples. Top-notch textbook.
Very good book, ideal for students........2005-07-05
I used Nelson's Biological Physics textbook for a graduate level reading course in physics, and found it excellent for my needs. I haven't taken a biology course since high school, and although I have researched biological systems for some time, I have had a very fuzzy view of biological physics until recently. I was skeptical of a book that claims it is appropriate for students from second year undergraduate through graduate studies, but by using the Track 2 option, and following up some of the cited papers and suggested readings I found it to be quite suitable. Also, the text was well written, and easy to follow - which is ideal for independent study.
Nelson's Biological Physics starts humbly, with a brief introduction of energy, and the size range inherent to biological systems. Using statistical and thermal physics principles, Nelson builds upon simple ideas to end the text with elegant descriptions of complex biological entities like molecular motors and ion channels. Under other circumstances such topics would frighten even the bravest physics student who has had no initiation to the biological realm of study! With little to no biology background myself, I was apprehensive about a course on biological physics, but found that Nelson usually described relevant systems and experimental methods in sufficient detail and from a perspective that appealed to me. If a topic were not described in great detail, the text generally cited additional resources - especially for more challenging topics.
The "Your turn" exercises scattered throughout the text alternated between being helpful and annoying. While useful for engaging the reader, they sometimes provide roadblocks to chapter sections and homework problems when particularly tricky. Also, I found the brief section on matrix mathematics and eigenvalues in chapter 9 inadequate. If the author assumes that readers will have a deficiency in this area, then it may prove more useful to either expand more generally on the mathematical tools described, or to develop an alternative approach to the material in this chapter. Perhaps in later editions an appendix on necessary mathematical material will be added to this text. In contrast, I appreciated the use of real experimental data in the figures throughout the text, and in many of the homework exercises as well. It provided an undeniable credibility to the work, and made the exercises seem more worthwhile, as they obviously related to actual experiments and models.
The book covers a lot of statistical and thermal physics, as necessary for a course intended for second year undergraduate and onwards. Although there was a lot of review for an upper level physics student, the examples were still interesting, and the Track 2 option provided a more in depth look at many topics, with both more challenging text sections and homework problems. The flexibility that this option (in combination with aggressive use of the suggested follow-up readings and independent use of related materials) introduces keeps the book accessible for second and third year undergraduates, while maintaining the necessary academic level for a senior undergraduate or graduate course. I would recommend this book to any student or professor, with either a biology or physics background that is interested in knowing more about biological physics.
Average customer rating:
|
Energy and Information Transfer in Biological Systems: How Physics Could Enrich Biological Understanding, Proceedings of the International Workshop Acireale, Catania, Italy 18 - 22 September 2002
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Biophysics
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Molecular Biology
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Energy
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Nanostructures
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Atomic & Nuclear Physics
| Nuclear Physics
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Biophysics
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Energy
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Nanostructures
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 9812384197 |
Book Description
This volume contains papers based on the workshop "Energy and Information Transfer in Biological Systems: How Physics Could Enrich Biological Understanding", held in Italy in 2002. The meeting was a forum aimed at evaluating the potential and outlooks of a modern physics approach to understanding and describing biological processes, especially regarding the transition from the microscopic chemical scenario to the macroscopic functional configurations of living matter. In this frame some leading researchers presented and discussed several basic topics, such as the photon interaction with biological systems also from the viewpoint of photon information processes and of possible applications; the influence of electromagnetic fields on the self-organization of biosystems including the nonlinear mechanism for energy transfer and storage; and the influence of the structure of water on the properties of biological matter.
Book Description
From one of the most gifted and widely read journalists at work today, a volume that collects the best of his pieces from The New Yorker over the last fifteen years. David Remnick is fascinated by the men and women obsessed with creating the history of our era as well as those intent on chronicling it. Public figures rarely step away from their public selves. But Remnick has the ability to see the private self beneath the public façade and give readers startling glimpses of familiar figures: Al Gore attacking George Bush as he tries to make sense of his incomprehensible loss in the 2000 election, Tony Blair struggling for votes in the midst of the Iraq crisis.
In Reporting, Remnick returns to two countries he knows well, Russia and Israel. His account of Vladimir Putin contending with Gorbachev’s legacy affords a fresh view of postcommunist Russia; his appraisals of Benjamin Netanyahu, Ariel Sharon, and Sari Nusseibeh of the P.L.O. shed unexpected light on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Often, Remnick’s intent is to see someone up close, if only for a moment in time: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as he packs his bags to return to Russia, Václav Havel as he prepares to end his career as President of the Czech Republic.
Whether David Remnick is writing about Katharine Graham and the state of American newspapers, the literary visions of Philip Roth and Don DeLillo, or the decline and fall of Mike Tyson and the sport of boxing, his powers of observation, analysis, compassion, and wit are always present. Reporting is confirmation of Remnick’s skill at writing insightful and influential political and cultural narratives, and of his unique gift for bringing his subjects to life on the page with extraordinary clarity and depth.
Customer Reviews:
good, not great.......2007-07-29
David Remnick is a perceptive reporter and a lucid writer. The longer stories, such as the first of two profiles of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, have nuance and a sense of completeness that are the hallmark of the best kind of journalism. The shorter pieces are packed with verve and deadpan observation. The story of aging boxer Larry Holmes' "comeback" bout -- held in an annex of Madison Square Garden that is "the venue for such parental jungle missions as Sesame Street Live" -- is probably the funniest, saddest one-and-a-half pages I've read in a long time.
I mentioned that there are two pieces on Solzhenitsyn; this is part of the problem with this anthology: there simply isn't enough variety here. There are five profiles of literary figures(six if you count the piece on translators of Russian literature), four pieces about Mike Tyson or in which he figures heavily, four pieces on Cold War-era dissidents (including the two on Solzhenitsyn) and so on.
It's reasonable to assume that these subjects fascinate Remnick most, though he never gets around to telling us so himself. But for me, it sometimes felt like I was reading more or less the same story over and over.
These all are good stories, but there could have been more.
Like Reading About Interesting People?.......2007-06-05
Reporting contains a rich assortment of twenty-three essays, all essentially personality profiles. In the book's preface, Remnick describes his method: "The pieces collected here--all written for The New Yorker, where I have worked since 1992--attempt to see someone up close, if only for a moment in time." Attempt is the key word. Remnick admits his interest in profiling people who seek to shape their public image and control what any writer (and reader) learns about them. Each essay is an account of a struggle between Remnick, who is seeking understanding and access, and (usually) a powerful or famous person, who only wants the public to have access on his or her terms.
As a former newspaper reporter with experience on beats ranging from police to politics to sports, Remnick is well equipped for this task. He wields all the tools of good journalism--observation, interviews, research, and writing strong sentences--to construct lengthy and riveting pieces of narrative nonfiction. His essays always embody what David Halberstam used to call "density"; Remnick clearly has more material and knowledge than he weaves into his finished pieces, which he crafts to present his readers with the most truthful portrait of the person he has managed to uncover. But when necessary, as in a favorable profile of Katharine Graham, Remnick can be as blunt as any editorial writer: "the demand for unreasonable profits is undermining the quality of American journalism."
The essays in Reporting are arranged into five untitled sections, which might be labeled as domestic politics and media, literary intellectuals, Russia, Israel and Palestine, and boxing. Since David Remnick is one of the remaining standard-bearers for the long article, the essays are educational feasts for the curious mind. "The Democracy Game: Hamas Comes to Power in Palestine" should be on the reading list of anyone who wants to understand the dynamics of power, hatred, and faith in the Middle East, and the profiles of Vaclav Havel, Vladimir Putin, and Mike Tyson are fascinating.
Armchair Interviews says: This book is highly recommended for readers who enjoy well-written profiles of interesting people.
fabulous reading.......2006-11-28
Anyone interested in public affairs will find some of the best writing of the last decade here, from Remnick's profiles of Blair, Gore, Havel and Putin to Netanyahu, Sharansky, Arafat and Solzhenitsyn--few reporters have captured these players in a more intelligent, illuminating fashion. In between, there's also fascinating reading with his takes of everyone from Philip Roth and Don DeLillo to Mike Tyson. Even though I had read every single one of these pieces in The New Yorker before, Remnick is one of those rare writers who reads even better the second and third time around. A joy to read from start to finish.
First- class reporting.......2006-06-14
A friend of mine who spent in his early years in the former Soviet Union, and knows its culture well, Moshe Fushman found Remnick's 'Lenin's Tomb' to be one of the most insightful books as yet written about Russian society.
Remnick shows in his investigative interviews an in- depth knowledge of his subjects that enables him to present them in a new light. He is a writer who tends to see things others may not. And certainly he is one with a stance and position of his own.
I saw that clearly in the long New Yorker interview he did with former Israeli Prime Minister Barak. This largely favorable report proved later to somewhat overplay Barak's brilliance and underplay his difficulty in learning from others less brilliant than himself. But in general Remnick in his Middle East interviews shows ( Netanyahu, Sari Nusseibeh, Hamas) good knowledge, with not always the best judgment. His optimism is naive, and his understanding of Palestinian society not really critical enough.
He writes more surely about Solzhenitsyn, Putin, and the world of Eastern Europe. His takes on literary figures beside Solzhenitsyn, Amos Oz, Don DeLillo are also insightful.
In general his pieces tend to have a swiftness and comprehensiveness which makes them, to me, at least very appealing.
This is a first- class collection of essays and highly recommended.
Average customer rating:
|
REPORTING: WRITINGS FROM THE NEW YORKER.
David. Remnick
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
20th Century
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
ASIN: 0330443984 |
Books:
- Amazon: Land of the Flooded Forest
- Arctic Sun on My Path: The True Story of America's Last Great Polar Explorer (Explorers Club Book)
- Aspen & Central Colorado Trails, A Hiking Guide
- Baltimore Trails: A Guide for Hikers and Mountain Bikers
- Bestiary: Being an English Version of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Bodley 764
- Biology Today: An Issues Approach
- Bridge to One America: The Civil Rights Performance of the Clinton Administration
- California Forests and Woodlands: A Natural History (California Natural History Guides , No 58)
- Corals of Hawaii: A Field Guide to the Hard, Black and Soft Corals of Hawaii and the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Including Midway
- Day Hike! Columbia Gorge: The Best Trails You Can Hike in a Day (Day Hike!)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- In the Arena: An Autobiography
- Know What You Believe: Connecting Faith and Truth
- Silverbridge
- Kitchen Table Wisdom & My Grandfather's Blessing
- Hot Monogamy: Essential Steps to More Passionate, Intimate Lovemaking
- History: Fiction or Science
- Larry Bird: An Indiana Legend
- Louis XIV and the Parlements: The Assertion of Royal Authority
- Mina P. Shaughnessy: Her Life and Work
- Frontiers in Microbiology: A Collection of Minireviews from the Journal of Bacteriology
New Flowering: 1000 Years of Botanical Art
The Art of Botanical Painting
How to Draw Plants: The Techniques of Botanical Illustration
Botanical Illustration in Watercolor (Practical Art Books)
Botanical Illustration Course: With the Eden Project
