Making Competition Work in Electricity

Book Description

An expert's perspective on how competition can make this industry work. There has never been a coherent plan to restructure the electricity industry in the USâuntil now. Power expert Sally Hunt gets down to the critical lessons learned from the California power crisis and other deregulated markets, in which competition has been introduced properly and successfully.

Hunt presents sensible solutions to power market reform that have been cultivated over her twenty years of professional work in the industry. Sally Hunt (New York, NY) spent twenty years at National Economic Research Associates, where she was head of NERA's U.S. energy practice and a member of the board. Coauthor of Competition and Choice in Electricity with Graham Shuttleworth (0471957828), she has served as Corporate Economist at Con Edison, Deputy Director of the New York City Energy Office, and Assistant Administrator of the New York City Environmental Protection Administration. Over the years, financial professionals around the world have looked to the Wiley Finance series and its wide array of bestselling books for the knowledge, insights, and techniques that are essential to success in financial markets. As the pace of change in financial markets and instruments quickens, Wiley Finance continues to respond. With critically acclaimed books by leading thinkers on value investing, risk management,asset allocation, and many other critical subjects, the Wiley Finance series provides the financial community with information they want. Written to provide professionals and individuals with the most current thinking from the best minds in the industry, it is no wonder that the Wiley Finance series is the first and last stop for financial professionals looking to increase their financial expertise.

Customer Reviews:

thanks to the outhor.......2003-03-01

The outhor did very good job explaning and making some complex detailles easy to be understood in a basic way.It is helpfull for any one to know the competititon structure in electrircity markets either trade participant in the energy sector or anybody in education period.

Great book for anyone wanting to learn about the industry.......2002-10-25

This book was suggested by the CEO of my company for every new MBA recruits. I found this book really helpful in learning a lot about the industry.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part explains what are the components, who are the players, what an ideal industry would look like, etc of an electric industry. The second part is dedicated to the US electric industry.

The author does a wonderful job of explaining the basic fundamentals of the industry. At times some concepts get hard to comprehend because the concepts are unusually complicated. For someone new to this industry, it might require more than one reading and I can bet that it is worth their time.

This is a great book for anyone interested in learning about the industry.

OK for the jargon averse person........2002-10-19

In this book all technical terms are defined and the prose is more or less similar to that of the Wall Street Jounal. The book increased my understanding from incredulity that deregulation of energy can be done to a comfortable sense of the system operating components and a few of the possible foul-ups. One book didn't make me an expert but I don' blame the author. Also it was a pleasant if not simple read.
A technical expert is needed to comment on the balance and depth of the presentation; sounded OK to me though.

Book Description

In this book, the authors provide up-to-date thinking and research on the broad range of emotional experience in working environments with particular attention to the causes of emotional change, the consequences of emotional experience for individuals and their organisations, and the implications for effective strategies for managing individuals (including oneself) and organisations.

Offers systematic coverage of the latest concepts of emotion and methods for research in organisations
Includes scientific understanding and critique of the field as well as implications for organisational practice.

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Emotions at Work is a comprehensive review of the whole spectrum of emotions, both negative and positive, as they impinge upon organizations and their workforces. Roy Payne and Cary Cooper have enlisted the expertise of an international star cast to convey the importance and magnitude of this topic to the academic and the business world today. Arranged in five sections, this important reference includes definitions, measurement and assessment, biological correlates, the influence of organizations on emotion, how to manage emotions and what future influences there may be on the area, including discussion of emotional intelligence. Whatever the individual topic under discussion, authors relate their findings to the workplace and practical applications for management.

Customer Reviews:

how do you achieve the balance?.......2001-12-04

This book brings up the interesting issue of emotions and the workplace, a tricky balancing act. However, the unique approach to this issue presented here makes this a standout from "touchy-feely" HR/OB books. Scientific and sociological analysis plays a large role here, so this is recommended for those who prefer objectivity over subjectivity.

Book Description

Chris Fox and Elise Moss return with an Intermediate textbook on Autodesk's Architectural Desktop. The text assumes familiarity with the basic tools within the software and takes you to the next level, with tutorials on layer standards, creation of custom window assemblies and curtain walls, roof slabs, roof miter tools, managing a multi-story commercial structure, using mass elements for conceptual modeling, and more. Practice quizzes are included at the end of each chapter to help focus the student on key points. The book answers common technical support questions, such as: how to add a handle to a door style; how to add an elevator; and how to make the pivot point of a slab invisible.

Each tutorial comes with simple step by step instructions, pictures and diagrams; lots of tips and tricks to help you boost your productivity. For users who want to get more out of their software, this book will become a welcome desktop companion and guide.

Book Description

Solar-type activity over the whole range of the electromagnetic spectrum is a phenomenon inherent in the majority of low- and moderate-mass main sequence stars. In this monograph observational results are summarized in a systematic and comprehensive fashion. The analysis of the various manifestations of such stellar activity leads to the identification of these phenomena with macroscopic non-linear processes in a magnetized plasma. Comparative study of flare stars and the Sun has become increasingly fruitful and is presently an active field of research involving stellar and solar physicists, experts in plasma physics and high-energy astrophysicists. This book will provide them with both an introduction and overview of observational results from the first optical photometry and spectroscopy, from the satellite telescopes International Ultraviolet Explorer to Hubble Space Telescope, XMM-Newton and Chandra, as well as with the present physical interpretation of solar-type activity in main sequence stars. Gershberg's 40-year career studying UV Cet type stars and related objects enables him to provide readers with expert insight into the characteristics of such stars in both the quiescent state and during flares and the reliability of the data over the electromagnetic spectrum and wide temporal scales.

Magnetodynamic Phenomena in the Solar Atmosphere - Prototypes of Stellar Magnetic Activity

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Magnetodynamic Phenomena in the Solar Atmosphere - Prototypes of Stellar Magnetic Activity

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792341767

Book Description

This volume presents the papers from a major international conference aimed at cross-linking research in the fields of solar and stellar activity. The Yohkoh satellite, with its spectacular views of solar coronal structures seen via their X-ray emission, provided the immediate motivation for the conference. How do these solar structures transcribe into their stellar counterparts; what insights can the more extreme stellar activity provide to guide the analysis of solar data? Coming four years after the launch of Yohkoh, this conference provided a good platform for displaying its discoveries. Longer-term variation associated with the 11-year solar cycle can also be seen clearly in the data presented. The new data strongly support many earlier interpretations of such magnetodynamic activity, but also provide some new and perplexing mismatches now stimulating new theoretical work.

Solar and Stellar Activity Cycles (Cambridge Astrophysics)

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Solar and Stellar Activity Cycles (Cambridge Astrophysics)
Peter R. Wilson
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

How do you predict the parameters of future solar cycles? What is the role of dynamo theory in the cyclic activity of the Sun and similar stars? And what are the implications of chaos theory for stellar cycles? This book answers these questions and offers a timely review of studies in the cyclic activity of the Sun and other stars. This authoritative reference shows the importance of reliable predictions of the parameters of future solar cycles, and carefully explains the methods currently used to determine these (with special reference to the maximum of cycle 22). Some of the latest research into solar cycles is clearly presented; this includes helioseismology, observations of the extended activity cycle and the polar fields reversal, and contributions from dynamo theory and chaos theory. For graduate students and researchers, this monograph provides a much-needed synthesis of our understanding of activity cycles in the Sun and other stars.

Solar and Stellar Magnetic Activity (Cambridge Astrophysics)

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Solar and Stellar Magnetic Activity (Cambridge Astrophysics)
C. J. Schrijver , and C. Zwaan
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521582865

Book Description

Magnetic activity in the sun and similar stars results in a wealth of phenomena--including starspots, nonradiatively heated outer atmospheres, activity cycles, deceleration of rotation rates, and even, in close binaries, stellar cannibalism. This volume uniquely combines studies of the sun with those of other stars to provide a comprehensive picture of stellar magnetic activity. Coverage brings together recent results in solar and stellar studies to provide an illuminating, new view of the subject. Key topics include radiative transfer, convective simulations, dynamo theory, outer-atmospheric heating, stellar winds and angular momentum loss. Researchers are provided with a state-of-the-art review of this exciting field. Graduate students in astrophysics and plasma physics will find the volume an ideal introduction to the subject. The book will also interest researchers studying the connection of solar Sctivity with the Earth's climate change, such as geologists, planetary scientists and atmospheric scientists.

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This timely volume provides the first comprehensive review and synthesis of current understanding of magnetic fields in the Sun and similar stars. Magnetic activity results in a wealth of phenomena - including starspots, non-radiatively heated outer atmospheres, activity cycles, deceleration of rotation rates, and even, in close binaries, stellar cannibalism - all of which are covered clearly and authoritatively. This book brings together for the first time recent results in solar studies and stellar studies. The result is an illuminating new view of stellar magnetic activity. Key topics include radiative transfer, convective simulations, dynamo theory, outer-atmospheric heating, stellar winds and angular momentum loss. Researchers are provided with a state-of-the-art review of this exciting field, and the pedagogical style and introductory material make the book an ideal and welcome introduction for graduate students.

EUVE observations atmospheres of cool binaries : NASA grant NAG5-2330, annual report no. 2, for the period 1 August 1995 through 31 July 1996 (SuDoc NAS 1.26:202659)

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EUVE observations atmospheres of cool binaries : NASA grant NAG5-2330, annual report no. 2, for the period 1 August 1995 through 31 July 1996 (SuDoc NAS 1.26:202659)
Andrea K. Dupree
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution, Astrophysical Observatory National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Technical Information Service, distributor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000110BUW

Exploration of the solar-stellar connection at high specral resolution with the ultraviolet spectrometer and polarimeter and studies of thermal bifurcation at the (SuDoc NAS 1.26:181295)

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Exploration of the solar-stellar connection at high specral resolution with the ultraviolet spectrometer and polarimeter and studies of thermal bifurcation at the (SuDoc NAS 1.26:181295)
Thomas R. Ayres
Manufacturer: University of Colorado at Boulder National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Technical Information Service, distributor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00010OD4S

An Investigation of atmospheric turbulence by stellar observations (NASA technical report)

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An Investigation of atmospheric turbulence by stellar observations (NASA technical report)
Jack Lytle Bufton
Manufacturer: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Numerical modeling of coronal mass ejections based on various pre-event model atmospheres (SuDoc NAS 1.26:202195)

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Numerical modeling of coronal mass ejections based on various pre-event model atmospheres (SuDoc NAS 1.26:202195)
NASA
Manufacturer: National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Technical Information Service, distributor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00010WSL8

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Solar and Stellar Activity
F. Praderie , and Hugh S. Hudson
Manufacturer: Pergamon Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Paperback.

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Solar and Stellar Activity Cycles
Peter R. Wilson
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7GE7I

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Contemporary Asia, published by Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers on May 1, 1999. The length of the article is 2754 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: Japanese images of nature: cultural perspectives.(Review)
Author: Brendan Luyt
Publication: Journal of Contemporary Asia (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 1999
Publisher: Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers
Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Page: 248

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

He's got 61 PGA Tour victories to his credit, is a highly sought-after spokesperson, has authored several books and designed a few golf courses in his day, not to mention he pilots his own plane, but to millions of fans he's not Mr. Palmer, not even Arnold. He's simply Arnie-the world-famous guy next door. His achievements on the green may have made him a celebrated athlete, but it's his approachability and down-home humility that have secured his status as one of the most admired people in and out of sports. In this, his first illustrated, autobiographical book, he shares the adventures of his extraordinary life in the same accessible, entertaining voice that's already made him such a familiar figure.

Arnold Palmer: Memories, Stories, and Memorabilia from a Life On and Off the Course gives readers the opportunity to spend some time with Arnie and enjoy firsthand his fascinating anecdotes both personal and professional. These tales alone would be enough to entice any golf fan, but the book features not only rare photos from Arnie's private collection but also removable facsimiles of 12 collectibles from his archives: golf souvenirs, letters, and pictures, all displayed in glassine envelopes. The next best thing to a scrapbook handcrafted by the man himself, for fans of the legendary golfer it's the gift equivalent of a hole in one. AUTHOR BIO: ARNOLD PALMER is commander-in-chief of "Arnie's Army," the world's largest noncombative force. Among his 61 PGA Tour victories, Palmer won the Masters four times, the U.S. Open once, and the British Open twice. A gifted athlete, Palmer is also an accomplished entrepreneur, a skilled aviator, a prominent advertising spokesperson, a talented golf course designer, and the author of four books about the game. He resides in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

Customer Reviews:

An awesome book that any Palmer fan will love.......2005-02-11

This is another type of book that any Arnold Palmer fan will love to read. This edition not only had my interest from Palmer's written words, but the clever inserts of about a dozen or so Palmer collectibles made it all the more intriguing. It was a book that once I picked it up could not put down. The story of his career and family life that was extremely interesting and insightful, yet entertaining. From a personal perspective I liked 'A Personal Journey' but was even more impressed with this one !

Wat a Gift for a Golfer.......2004-11-27

Before there was Governator Arnie there was Arnie the golfer. It seems like golf has always had a shining star or two that go beyond the game to making a lasting impression on the world at large. And Arnie certainly fit that. He generated an image for a generation of people, inspiring to do better in their work, in their life. Not the world's best golfer, he's simply Arnie, the world famous guy next door. His approachability and down-home humility have secured his status as one of the most admired people in and out of sports.

This book could almost be his scrapbook. It combines stories, both personal and professional, rare photos from his private collection and removable facsimilies of twelve collectibles from his archives.

This is a fascinating book with which to curl up during the long winter months. A good Christmas present for the golfer in the family.

ARNOLD PALMER MEMORIES, STORIES, AND MEMORABILIA: FROM A LIFE ON AND OFF THE COURSE

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ARNOLD PALMER MEMORIES, STORIES, AND MEMORABILIA: FROM A LIFE ON AND OFF THE COURSE
Arnold Palmer
Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000O8G7J6

Arnold Palmer: Memories, Stories and Memorabilia From a Life On and Off the Course (AUTOGRAPHED Deluxe Collector's Edition)

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Arnold Palmer: Memories, Stories and Memorabilia From a Life On and Off the Course (AUTOGRAPHED Deluxe Collector's Edition)

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000I89RJE

Product Description

A beautifully hand-crafted book including rare photographs from Palmer's personal collection, here is his fully illustrated autobiography. Includes removable facsimiles of 12 rare collectibles from Arnie's archives, golf souvenirs, letters, and photographs, in glassine envelopes. An exceptional Easton legacy edition personally AUTOGRAPHED by the great Arnold Palmer.

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Arnold Palmer: Memories, Stories, and Memorabilia from a Life On and Off the Course
Arnold Palmer
Manufacturer: Stewart Tabori & Chang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V2KX86

Average customer rating:

Excellent Resource

It does the trick

OK-but buy the book too!

great resource

dsst drug and alcohol abuse

DSST Drug and Alcohol Abuse (DANTES series)
Jack Rudman
Manufacturer: National Learning Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Plastic Comb

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DSST Here's to Your Health (DANTES Series)

DSST Success

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DSST Ethics in America (Dantes Series) (Dantes Series : No. 58)

DSST Introduction to World Religions (DANTES series, # 74) (Dantes Ser No 24)

ASIN: 083736678X

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource.......2007-09-09

I purchased this book after reading a Dantes guide which was very much like a high school text book. If I had not used this study guide I would have been shocked when I saw the test. Most of the test items came from this book. Don't know my score yet, but do know that this book was very helpful in taking the test.

It does the trick .......2007-07-13

Don't let the haggard appearance of this study aid fool you. While it might not have been compiled and constructed by the finest craftspeople around, it's what's inside that counts the most. This is now the second time that I have used one of these packets to prepare for and pass the DSST exam. With regard to this specific packet, I believed that it was far more beneficial in terms of content than the last one that I purchased. The bottom line is that I am now batting a hundred using nothing other than these guides to prepare for the test. They have my vote of confidence.

OK-but buy the book too!.......2007-05-30

After getting a shock from studying the Civil War and Reconstruction guide, I bought both the study guide and the recommended reading (Drugs and Society) for this test, and passed with an A. Not an easy test, but made much better by reading the accompanying material.

great resource.......2006-08-18

The book didn't cover everything on the test but it did enough to prepare me for the type and style of questions that were asked. The other recommended text, Drugs and Society, covered the rest of the material.

dsst drug and alcohol abuse.......2006-03-10

i cannot really rate this book, since i never received this book. however amazon refunded my money, i needed this book to take a test. oh well....

Drug and Alcohol Abuse DANTES DSST Test Study Guide

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Drug and Alcohol Abuse DANTES DSST Test Study Guide

Manufacturer: Breely Crush & Associates LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000C53M4O

Product Description

The Drug and Alcohol Abuse DANTES / DSST covers the major theories and concepts behind drug use and abuse. You will learn about different drug types and classifications. We also include flashcards to help you memorize the material. This guide will help you ace the test.

Average customer rating:

A fine collection

Gasp, Literature?!

Brimming With Form and Substance

Headline: "Solid Gold Found in Mixed Bag"

How we are hungry

How We Are Hungry
Dave Eggers
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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You Shall Know Our Velocity

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category

What Is the What (Vintage)

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005

ASIN: 1400095565
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Book Description

"Another"
"What It Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust"
"The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water"
"On Wanting to Have Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home"
"Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance"
"She Waits, Seething, Blooming"
"Quiet"
"Your Mother and I"
"Naveed"
"Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone"
"About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her"
"Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly"
"After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned"

Customer Reviews:

A fine collection.......2007-08-17

I have been reading a lot of what I think is undue criticism about Dave Eggers How We Are Hungry. Though I can agree with many points, the fact still remains that Eggers is an exciting and wildly talented writer. The stories "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" and "After I was Thrown in the River but Before I Drowned" are both masterful and prove that Eggers can turn just about anything into an engaging, funny, and (often) heartbreaking narrative. However, the overall quality of this book is ultimately detracted by some of the weaker stories ("The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water," "Quiet," and several of the shorter ones), yet this is not to suggest that this book isn't worth reading, or rewarding. It is. Yet, not unlike AHWOSG, this collection struggles through large sections that feel half-baked, and could do well to be edited out ("Real World" self interview, anyone?) Recommended.

Gasp, Literature?!.......2007-05-10

Dave eggers is easily one of the most approachable authors alive today. Filled with wit and humor, it is likely any infrequent reader would fall in love with him. However, underneath this vail of seducing the illiterate, is an author who crafts stories so original and beautiful and full of meaning, that I'm convinced everyone would love his work, and this book specifically. That said, "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned" is, to me, one of the best short stories I have ever come across. It has everyhting a good story needs, and though maybe not ALL the stories in here are for everyone, surely people will find a story they love and identify so strongly with, as I have.

Brimming With Form and Substance.......2007-03-27

This short story collection by Dave Eggers was hit or miss for me. Never a traditionalist, Eggers makes sure that each and every one of his stories is original and unusual in some facet or another. At times, this method works brilliantly; however, sometimes it also gets irksome.

Don't mistake me, I'm all for experimental writing. It's just that story after story of it got old. I don't blame the author for this. I was largely unfamiliar with Eggers' work and wanted to give him a try. In my mind, he simply isn't a writer to curl up with in order to relax, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

There were a few stories in this collection that I truly enjoyed and found masterful. "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" was one such story. Practically a novella, this story makes up the bulk of the collection and the price of the entire book is worth this one story alone.

All in all, if you're looking for a page-turner to get lost in, this isn't for you. But, if you're looking to study the form and substance of a work of original literature, Eggers will please.

Headline: "Solid Gold Found in Mixed Bag" .......2006-10-28

I can honestly understand the desire to 'pan' this entire collection after slogging through the first couple of stories. I think with better editing, a re-arrangement of stories would have turned these 2 star ratings to 4's. Just as in day to day life, you must not get bogged down in your initial opinion of this book.. If you breathe new life into each story, clensing your untrusting palate, you'll find yourself half way through this book when you finally say "YES" ....... and after re-reading the first stories, I have been converted completely.

However, if you haven't enjoyed 'staggering genius' and 'velocity' I wouldn't suggest it. If you were helplessly converted by his infectious style of writing, then jump right in... the water is fine..

How we are hungry.......2006-03-30

I happen to think that this book is excellent and the Dave Eggers has a wonderful style. My bad rating of this book is due to the poor condition I received it in ...What a shame.

How We Are Hungry: Stories by Dave Eggers

Average customer rating:

Left "Hungry"

How We Are Hungry: Stories by Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Manufacturer: Vintage Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0676977804
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Book Description

How We Are Hungry is a gripping, lyrical and soulful collection of stories from the acclaimed author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Ranging from a doomed Irish setter’s tales of running and jumping (“After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned”) to a bitterly comic meditation on suicide and friendship (“Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance”), and from the Egyptian desert to the asphalt of Interstate 5, these stories are Eggers at his finest. By turns devastating, clear-eyed and funn – incredibly funny – this collection is a marvel.

Customer Reviews:

Left "Hungry".......2005-07-03

Dave Eggers first caught the world's attention with the semi-autobiographical "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." With the release of "How We Are Hungry," we get to see Eggers in a slightly new light -- these stories possess his usual postmodern skill and pensive intelligence, but lack the gentle humor and wit.

In this collection, Eggers examines various people who try to escape their difficulties, whether climbing mountains or roaming through rural Scotland. These people may be searching for love, for glory, for release, a burst of adrenaline in the desert, or for just a fling by the beach -- however, their problems and pasts will not go away.

Eggers does occasionally dip into gimmickry, such as "There Are Some Things He Should Keep to Himself." Don't expect much -- it's a few blank pages, which made me smile. But I feel a little cheated. He's at his best when he's unconsciously quirky, such as a cute conversation between God and the ocean in one short story.

Eggers has done well in his past novel and memoir, but some of the themes of "How We Are Hungry" feel worn -- this man has a unique writing talent, but writers have to grow, and this writing doesn't show his mind or soul growing. The themes have not changed, and that lack of movement and growth makes it feel like he's just... stuck.

That said, Eggers' writing is genuinely compelling and rich; in his rambly way, he's incredibly eloquent. His descriptions have a raw energy that can take your breath away, such as riding a horse in the desert. At the same time, he can wrap his characters in so much finely-drawn misery that it is difficult to not be moved by them. It's also the one area where Eggers stumbles -- despite the whimsy of the occasional "gimmick" story, the writing is dark and rather depressed. I'm not asking for sunshine and butterflies, but it lacks quips, wit and human insight.

Those characters tend to feel like reflections of Eggers himself -- rather world-wear and melancholy. One woman, who climbs a legendary mountain in search of a purpose, is perhaps the richest character -- her inner thoughts are so real that they fly off the page. And she, like all the other characters, is hungry. Not for food, but to fill some emptiness inside that can't be named.

Perhaps it's that inner hole that preoccupies Eggers' work, and the endless search is what keeps it from exploring the world. Despite a hint of stagnation, "How We Are Hungry" is a rich and engaging collection of stories. It leaves me wondering where -- if anywhere -- Eggers will go as a writer.

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