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Lovecraft is "the American writer of the twentieth century most frequently compared with Poe, in the quality of his art ... [and] its thematic preoccupations (the obsessive depiction of psychic disintegration in the face of cosmic horror)," writes Joyce Carol Oates in the New York Review of Books. Del Rey has reprinted Lovecraft's stories in three handsome paperbacks. This first volume collects 16 classic tales, including "The Rats in the Walls," "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Dunwich Horror," and "The Colour Out of Space." Introduction by Robert Bloch. Wraparound cover art by Michael Whelan.
Book Description
This is the collection that true fans of horror fiction have been waiting for: sixteen of H.P. Lovecraft's most horrifying visions, including Lovecraft's masterpiece, THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME--the shocking revelation of the mysterious forces that hold all mankind in their fearsome grip.
"I think it is beyond doubt that H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."
Stephen King
Customer Reviews:
Exceeded my Highest Expectations.......2007-10-22
It wouldn't be a stretch to say that H.P. Lovecraft is to horror what J.R.R Tolkien has been to fantasy. Sure, he's not nearly as beloved and the movies made from his writings could generously be described as less than stellar but the world he created is just as rich and imaginative. It's just a whole lot creepier. Lovecraft crafted his realm around his own Cthulhu mythos but unlike Tolkien whose stories took place in Middle-Earth, Lovecraft set his tales in a re-imagined New England within fictional cities like Innsmouth, Dunwich and of course Arkham the location of the enigmatic Miskatonic University. Along with his own creative geography Lovecraft developed an extensive pantheon of Cthulhu gods or `Old Ones' including Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth and an endless parade of bizarre, otherworldly manifestations of terror.
The `Best of H.P. Lovecraft' features time travel, dimensional travel and space travel, aliens from other planets, ancient gods, giant invisible blobs and even a brain in a jar. The Lovecraftian world is one of lost magics, sprawling cyclopean structures with weird inhuman angles, smooth blubbery creatures with octopoid features, ancient nightmares and strange extra-terrestrials capable of traveling through the cold vacuum of space without mechanical means. Through it all Lovecraft manages to place his stories in such believable environments that they almost seem plausible. The tales and events frequently focus on the power of hidden knowledge particularly those held within dusty tomes like the fictional Necronomicon which gets a mention in nearly every story. Lovecraft combines the occult with science including references to the still fledgling field of quantum mechanics. He also has some fun teasing the reader with the possibility that the newly discovered planet of Pluto may be the home of alien life forms who come to earth to mine our minerals and remove our brains. Most stories are told as first person accounts where the protagonists are lucky if they manage to escape with a shred of sanity after just a glimpse at the horror of the old ones. I discovered that if a story is told from any point besides first person it's a sure sign that the main character failed to survive.
Lovecraft's style is about creating atmosphere and an ever pervasive tone of doom. Although the stories are self contained, each one takes place in the same bleak world, like small separate pieces of a larger horror. Beyond his vibrant imagination Lovecraft is just flat out a fantastic wordsmith. It almost seems like this kind of quality writing is a dying art and despite being over 80 years old his stories never feel dated. Instead, the age of the stories add to their mysteriousness and antiquity as if the reader was privy to some unearthed nightmare. The writings of Lovecraft are such a treasure trove that it's no mystery why so many movies are inspired by his works. If ever a movie was made based on Lovecrafts stories that approached the quality of the Lord of the Rings I have no doubt that interest in his tales would soar and, unlike Tolkien, Lovecraft has a tremendous amount of source material to work from. This is the first book I've read by Lovecraft but I have to say it more than exceeded my highest expectations.
Revolutionary of Horror.......2007-09-25
So how do I describe H. P. Lovecraft? Picture Michelangelo sculpting a cow patty. The artistry is there, but everything else is wanting.
I am a big fan of anthologies. You get the wheat without having to swallow a lot of chaff.
To his credit, HPL is a master of suspense, chilling horror, and psychological misdirection. He is clearly a revolutionary in horror fiction, having the advantage over Edgar Allen Poe with the advent of Science Fiction. However, he is also a victim of his own clichés, plot ruts, and ho-hum nihilism.
(So am I reviewing HPL, or this collection? A little of both.)
My experience with HPL began with reading "The Doom That Came to Sarnath (A Del Rey Book)." When I finished, I said, "This one story is better than all The Silmarillion. I wish Tolkien could write like him."
HPL beats Tolkien on style and execution, hands down. Yet Tolkien outstrips HPL in every other aspect: plot, theme characterization, setting, and conflict. However, HPL is SO strong in style and conflict, especially psychodrama, that it is almost an even balance.
I spoke of HPL's ruts. Some stories end with a jerk, as the narrator passes out. This is a psychological deus ex machnia. But more about God in the machinery of the story later . .
His conflicts are about Man versus His Own Sanity, and Man versus Irresistible Cosmic Beings and Forces. Instead of rising up and "take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them," or by bowing down, the anti-heroes in these stories take a pointless mid-ground position. They snap into a gibbering lunacy.
HPL said it best himself when he criticized "naïvely insipid idealism" and denounced the attempts of "didactic literature to `uplift' the reader toward a suitable degree of smirking optimism." (Supernatural Horror in Literature). Why he derives a sadistic pleasure by feeding his appetite for destruction is beyond me.
Søren Kierkegaard once complained about having a melancholy arrow in his heart. He knew if he pulled it out, he would die, so he left it in and kept his gift of irony (Papers and Journals: A Selection (Penguin Classics), 268). HPL does the opposite. He also had an arrow of melancholy, ye he yanked it out, loaded his crossbow, and began shooting everyone in sight.
So much of the man, now for the collection . . .
Being a selection, this book is a best of the best. Here is my best of the best of the best.
First of all, I suggest reading the book in order, since the arraignment does have a logic behind it. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" must come after "The Thing On The Doorstep," and the last story is a knot to all the threads of the short stories. They are knotted up, but the knot is loose, without the Disney Saccharine Ending.
But if you are in a hurry, you may wish to begin with "The Call of Cthulhu." This is the keystone myth for HPL's whole legendarium. The story will seem familiar, since it was vulgarized in both "Ghostbusters Double Feature Gift Set (Ghostbusters/ Ghostbusters 2 and Commerative Book)" films.
"The Silver Key" reminded me of George MacDonald's "The Golden Key and Other Stories (Fantasy Stories of George MacDonald)" or a darker version of "The Chronicles of Narnia." "The Music of Erich Zhan" is a quirky tale with a core of friendship lurking behind it. "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Colour Out of Space" are good, solid SF/Horror stories. If you are a fan of the Twilight Zone, the you'll love the feel of these stories. The anthology ends on a prospective note with "The Shadow Out Of Time." This is a cross between "Last and First Men and Star Maker : Two Science Fiction Novels" and "The Time Ships."
The best story out of the lot is "The Thing On the Doorstep." This story has HPL only truly heroic character--Edward Derby.
SPOILERS:
Derby is so stout of heart and has such a sharp sense of justice and duty that while being trapped in his dead wife's decaying body--three months old and liquefying--he claws his way out of the shallow grave, marches over to Daniel Upton's doorstep, and issues the Call to Adventure to kill the evil Ephraim. Therefore Derby is quintessentially Christic Albeit a moldy, fetid, and crude Christic figure, but one nonetheless. It parallels Christ's Resurrection and issuing the Great Commission to the Apostles on the Olivet.
Additionally you have Cosmic Justice being satisfied. Upton is able to avenge his best friend's death (Gilgamesh here) and stop the demon body-snatcher from further menace.
This story would make an hour long and very dark Twilight Zone story. Yet it would be worth it because the key element of justice--righting a wrongful death, death of a villain, and Derby's Herculean effort to deliver the critical massage to Upton. If only HPL could have written more stories like this. Not with happy endings--Derby does not get his body back--but with just endings like Oedipus, Jack Bauer, Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition), or Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1).
2/3 great, 1/3 mediocre........2007-09-24
This is not really 'the best of Lovecraft' collection. It doesn't include "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".
Of the 16 stories in this collection only 9 are really great. Three others "The Rats in the Walls", "The Outsider" and "The Silver Key" are good. The rest don't belong in this collection at all. Especially generic, forgettable crap like "The Picture in the House", "Pickman's Model" and "In the Vault". I don't understand what the publisher was thinking. They should have included "Cool Air", "Dagon", and "The Lurking Fear" instead.
Still at least 9 of the stories in this book are essential for any fan of Lovecraft's work. These include "The Call of the Cthulhu", "The Dunwich Horror", "The Whisperer in Darkness", "The Colour out of Space", "The Haunter of the Dark", "The Thing on the Doorstep", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Dreams in the Witch House", and "The Shadow Out of Time". For this reason it's still worth buying, I just wish someone would publish the 'best of Lovecraft' collection that's truly only the very best.
Shub niggurath never tasted so good..........2007-09-13
What can I say about Lovecraft that hasn't been said before? He's the first and real master of Gothic horror. Forget Stephen King, forget Clive Barker, forget 'em all cept for maybe Edgar Allen Poe himself. Lovecraft gets better as the years go by--his archaic language only adds to the layers of creepiness.
A Chilling Read.......2007-08-07
H.P Lovecraft scares me worse than any Stephan King novel. His combinations of graphic descriptions, eerie settings, odd circumstances, and unique characters come together to scare the reader on a whole new level.
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Dying for Work: Workers' Safety and Health in Twentieth-Century America (Interdisciplinary Studies in History)
David Rosner
Manufacturer: Indiana Univ Pr
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0253318254 |
Book Description
This pathbreaking collection explores the history of occupational safety and health in America from the late nineteenth century of the 1950s. Thirteen essays tell a story of the exploitation of workers as measured by shortened lives, high disease rates, and painful injuries and of the often contentious development of policies and programs to protect them. An interdisciplinary group of scholars examines the history of alternative approaches to protecting and compensating injured workers, the growth of state and federal involvement industrial safety and health, the controversies over the recognition of lead as a poisonous substance and the three emblematic industrial diseases of this century-radium poisoning, asbestos-related diseases, and brown lung.
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This digital document is a journal article from Tourism Management, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
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Managing Foodservice Operations: A Systems Approach for Healthcare
Knight
Manufacturer: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0787233749 |
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Managing Foodservice Operations: A Systems Approach for Healthcare and Institutions
DMA Staff
Manufacturer: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0840378556 |
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Hospitality Operations: A Systems Approach
Stephen Ball ,
Peter Jones ,
David Kirk , and
Andrew Lockwood
Manufacturer: Int. Cengage Business Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0826448267 |
Book Description
Adopting an innovative systems-based approach, the authors provide the reader with both an understanding of particular services and functions within the hospitality industry and an overview of the industry as whole. Using an array of international case studies, Hospitality Operations provides a comprehensive, integrated analysis of a diverse and complex industry.
Average customer rating:
- Even women should read
- Salem, Oregon, is clearly the home of great writers.
- The Crowbar
- A Look At the Positive Side of Men
- hysterical men reading
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Man Things: Equal Time for Men
Lauran Paine
Manufacturer: Cascade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0965760731 |
Book Description
This is a book about the things men like, think, and do. It describes men in their natural habitat: under the hood of a car, at the hardware store, in the shop, at the football game, by the campfire, and fishin'. It is 'equal time' for the working man. If you read between the lines it says a lot about why men act like men. Also included is a chapter entitled "Rules About Women." This book will make you smile.....then it will make you laugh.
Customer Reviews:
Even women should read.......2002-03-22
This book is even a good read for women. I have shared it with women who have any type of relationship with men. Okay, so thats all of us. It did have some places that I questioned, of course that may be because I am a female. It gives us an insight into the way men work, or dont work. It really is a good read for anyone...
Salem, Oregon, is clearly the home of great writers........2000-05-17
Someone gave me this book. I'm glad they did. It's great!
Lauran Paine is an airline pilot, but most important: he has no peer when it comes to explaining men, and how we operate, and our value systems, and our philosophy of life.
Speaking of which, Chapter 22, "Man Philosophy," is worth ten times more than the price of the book:
"No clothes are so dirty they can't be worn one more day."
"Wimpy truck equals wimpy guy."
"Any new project is worth buying a new tool for."
"Any politician whose primary motivation is re-election should not be re-elected."
Priceless insights into the male psyche, and useful guides to live by!
And, to think that he lives in my own hometown. (I've never met him, but I intend to.) His invaluable insights into barber shops, asking for directions, fishing, tool belts, tractors,and meat loaf sandwiches reflect a timeless wisdom that is seldom encountered.
Let me quote you just one small bit of wisdom:
"'All you need are a few simple hand tools and thirty minutes time' is a lie. A big fat lie. Every man knows it because every man has been there. It looks good on the outside of the box--it sells good--but it never quite works that way. A 'few simple hand tools' includes that left-handed over-center re-ratcheting titanium reinforced moon rock buster that only one specialty store in the U.S. of A. has, for $750.00 on sale, when they can get it."
Is he right, men? You know he is. He's telling it like it is.
If you don't buy this book and read it, you are a wimp, and you drive a wimpy truck, too!
Joseph Pierre...
The Crowbar.......2000-05-02
The chapter about the crowbar made me begin my search for this tool. It made me think of how I wish I had one of these boy-becomes-a-man tools when I was growing up. Now, since somehow I graduated to manhood, I have to find one for my son, that a few hundred acres of land needing a fence. This is a great feel-good-about being a man book. Not crude, and not wimpy. I gave it to several friends. A great Father's Day gift. Besides, the Author's my uncle. Good Job Uncle L. you can pay me later for the review. ;-)
A Look At the Positive Side of Men.......1998-09-24
A lot of stuff written about men these days focuses on the negative; after all, we can be that way sometimes. But here is a book that focuses on what the author calls "the good man things" that anyone who really knows and loves a man will probably recoginze with a smile, a chuckle, and a warm feeling. This is a well written, thoughtful, and fun look at what we all do as men that can actually be nice to be near.
hysterical men reading.......1998-06-08
Must Reading for men ... will have you rolling on the floor
Book Description
PIANO FOR THE DEVELOPING MUSICIAN, 6th Edition delivers a wealth of performance music for the music major who must pass a piano proficiency before graduating. The Online Tutorials, which is a virtual second book, add author guidance and more practice music to the components of every chapter. The pedagogical structure divides every chapter into Exemplary Repertoire (the keynote composition), Topics to Explore and Discuss (musicology), Technique (skill at the piano), Reading (sight-playing), Keyboard Theory (theory), Harmonization (theory), Transposition (theory), Improvisation (theory and creativity), Ensemble (multiple pianos), Composition (theory and creativity), and Subsequent Repertoire (further exploration of the keynote concepts). With a flexibility that allows students or instructors to control individual or class progress, Hilley's expert pedagogical approach takes full advantage of Olson's music (much of which was written especially for this text), as well as music from the keyboard literature. Together, the authors have created a compelling and consistent text that synthesizes keyboard skills, music theory, and creativity in every chapter and coordinates with the theory curriculum.
Customer Reviews:
A Useful Method with some quirks.......2007-08-23
PIano for the Developing Musician is a comprehensive piano course that incorporates much of the current research about music learning. It would not be my choice for my private studio, but appears (admittedly, I haven't combed the entire book) to be appropriate for a college level piano class. The one drawback that I encountered involves some of the original music. While it is applicable to the lessons being taught, some of the selections are so weird as to not be engaging to the student.
A good book for a beginning piano student.......2007-01-05
It is very informative and a great learning device for the beginning piano student that doesn't know anything about playing the piano.
Great for all Keyboardists!.......2001-12-28
I studied under Martha at the University of Texas and went through her program using this book. I resented having to learn piano - it wasn't my primary instrument. In fact, I couldn't have been less interested in piano. But time goes by and a decade later I am actually a keyboardist in a rock band. I credit my ability to cover many styles to Martha and the PDM book. My wife, a "real" pianist, is amazed that I can improvise and cover most any tune with ease - something she isn't able to do very well (though she is a remarkable pianist). Bottom line - this is an excellent book and should be studied by PIANISTS as well as other musicians. I would submit that THE three books to have for all Keyboardists to own are 1) The Jazz Piano Book - Mark Levine, 2) Jazz Theory - Mark Levine, 3) Piano for the Developing Musician. Great Books. Buy 'em! Love and Peace, Brian
Great teaching tool!.......2000-07-19
This book is wonderful for teachers who want to teach non-piano musicians how to play. Also useful for teaching oneself how to play. Easy to follow, which makes the piano easy to play! Great book!
Book Description
Midi recordings included with the Instructor?s Edition provide an aural representation of the repertoire.
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Pdm I: Piano for the Developing Musician
Martha Hilley , and
Lynn Freeman Olson
Manufacturer: West Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0314012605 |
Book Description
A group piano text for music majors, PDM II expands on the knowledge and skills developed in PDM I. Text uses a highly-structured approach. Recap units in every fourth unit ensure understanding of the material before moving on. Features a variety of music selections, including original compositions by Lynn Freeman Olson.
Product Description
MUSIC-EASY LEVEL FOR FLUTE.
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- Great Visual Critique of American Culture
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TUNED IN: Television in American Life. Photographs.
Lloyd Degrane
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0252062221 |
Customer Reviews:
Great Visual Critique of American Culture.......2000-02-29
This book presents the viewer (it is photo-documentary) with a wonderful, and slightly disturbing look at America's culture of watching television. From the llama watching tv with its owners, to the children watching tv with no heat (but who do apparently have cable) the concept of what it is to be a tv viewer is uniquely examined.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from U.S. Catholic, published by Thomson Gale on December 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1021 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Stay tuned? Americans ought to spend as much time catching up on real-life cliffhangers as they do on their favorite TV shows.
Author: Patrick McCormick
Publication:
U.S. Catholic (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 71
Issue: 12
Page: 42(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
- Strong introduction to the subject
- Finally BGP4 without Cisco Configurations
- What can I say, great book!
- Great primer for BGP but to general for practical use
- Best book on BGP
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BGP4: Inter-Domain Routing in the Internet (The Networking Basics Series)
John W. Stewart
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
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OSPF: Anatomy of an Internet Routing Protocol
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OSPF and IS-IS: Choosing an IGP for Large-Scale Networks
ASIN: 0201379511 |
Amazon.com
Since its introduction in 1993, the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) has been used extensively to allow network routers to optimize the transmission of Internet Protocol (IP) packets across the Internet. As Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and corporations seek to make their network infrastructures faster and more reliable, more administrators need to get acquainted with BGP (now in version 4). John Stewart's BGP4: Inter-Domain Routing on the Internet provides a short, authoritative guide to how Internet routing works generally, along with the specifics of the BGP4 protocol.
Early sections introduce the IP protocol, the foundation of the Internet, including a concise description of IP header structure. Routing basics are also discussed, including External Gateway Protocols (EGPs) and Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs). The book presents protocols used to determine routing efficiency, including distance-vector and linking-state routing protocols.
Next, Stewart covers the Bridging Control Protocol (BGP) itself and includes discussion of BCP sessions and the message types used to send routing information between routers in BGP. A particular strength of this text is that it explains networking infrastructure with clear examples of hypothetical configurations for your ISP or organization, all using BGP. The author explains both single homing and multihoming (both with a single ISP and multiple ISPs) and explains the strategies that BGP uses to filter routing information efficiently. The book closes with new extensions to BGP, including the notion of BGP communities.
This handy introduction to one of the most important--and slightly mysterious--Internet protocols is a must for any networking professional who deals with Internet routing. --Richard Dragan
Customer Reviews:
Strong introduction to the subject.......2006-10-06
As many reviews attest to, this book is short, clearly and logically presented, and covers the majority of bgp4 attributes, without going into specific implementations. Even though it does not go into vendor-specific implementations, each attribute of the protocol discussed is explained through highly simpified network topologies, supported by diagrams. The author gives clear descriptions for each of these example networks, and then goes on to explain a certain routing policy problem and its solution using bgp4. I believe the intro/refresher on IP in the beginning of the book is good because you get the authors terms and understanding of IP before hearing his application of it to bgp in the following sections. Includes a brief introduction to load-sharing via bgp (although does not mention bgp multipath or multihop by name, it does reference the basic concept, and the concept of using loopbacks as bgp next-hops in order to achieve) and also provides a brief introduction to the capability of multi-protocol bgp, which I believe contemporary readers may be looking for information on - specifically, regarding vpnv4. The text does not mention this specific multi-protocol extension, but the general intro to mp bgp is enough to serve as an introduction to the subject. I would recommend this to anyone with a basic understanding of IP, seeking to understand, or increase their understanding of how routing is done on a global scale over the internet, or how the bgp protocol itself is designed and functions. 4 stars because on the end of page 86, the text simply cuts off mid-sentence, and begins with a new sentenced on page 87, with seemingly no obvious explanation.
Finally BGP4 without Cisco Configurations.......2003-02-22
This book was a pleasure to read because it focussed on the technology issues regarding BGP4. There was enough TCP/IP to serve as a review and then discussion on the topic of the book. Whereas how to configure a router is important, it is refreshing to read a book that talks about the technical aspects and leaves configuration to other books (especially Cisco configurations)
What can I say, great book!.......2002-11-26
Great BGP book, sure wish it was longer.
Great primer for BGP but to general for practical use.......2002-08-04
A great general discussion that boils the RFC down to something readable. If this is your first journey into BGP then this book does an excellent job of giving a broad overview of the protocol without burying the reader in the details.
The first 30 (or 116) pages gives IMHO redundant background on IP addressing, CIDR, Distance Vector protocols, and other information I believe anyone learning BGP should already know.
The book gives an excellent treament on the different message types and what they look like, but I would have preferred more details on how IBGP and EBGP differ i.e. resetting MEDs or local-pref, appending local AS, modifying NEXT_HOP attribute, etc.
The route selection process (one of my personal favorite parts of BGP) only deals with a subset (6) of the 10 or 11 options Cisco or Juniper will use. There is no mention of comparing Cisco's weight, prefix origin, MEDs between AS, cluster-list, or comparing IGP metric. To be fair though, weights are vendor specific and some of these options may have been introduced after the 1999 publication date.
My biggest frustration with the book is that being vendor agnsotic there are no details as to configuration or how one would actually implelement any of the information given. There is also no discussion on troubleshooting BGP, what typical configurations would look like, best practices in filtering or installation.
For those who already have an understanding of BGP or who have used the protocol in the field, I would recommend the Complete Reference Juniper Network Routers chapter 12 on Interdomain routing Theory or as a fall-back the much more dry and difficult to get through, Internet Routing Architectures by Halabi.
This book is best for the BGP beginner or someone who needs a refresher on what BGP is trying to accomplish and is willing to read other books on how to configure their actual routers.
Best book on BGP.......2002-03-16
This is an awesome introduction to BGP. I highly recommend it for anyone just learning BGP and also as a review for those who already know it. Good luck.
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