Book Description
Motivational book. Chapters include: Success and Happiness are for You, Working for One Thing and Expecting Something Else, Expect Great Things of Yourself, Self-Encouragement by Self-Suggestion, Change the Thought - Change the Man, The Paralysis of Fear, Getting in Tune, The Great Within, Training for Longevity, As A Man Thinketh, etc!
Customer Reviews:
A Gold Mine of Ideas For Improving Your Life!.......2007-07-05
I've read hundreds of self-improvement books and I think this is one of the very best. Marden's ideas are simple yet very powerful and easy to apply in one's life. The author does much more than just string a lot of disjoint ideas, suggestions or stories together: he presents a complete philosophy for right thinking. He clearly illustrates both right and wrong thinking, shows the natural consequences of each and then explains exactly how one can correct the wrong thinking that holds so many people back.
This is one of those rare books that has the potential to improve the lives of everyone who reads it and puts the author's ideas to work. It's amazing to come across so many "current" ideas in a book that was written nearly 100 years ago! It's clear that Marden's books and ideas have had a huge influence on many of the more popular authors such as Napoleon Hill, W Clement Stone etc.
Change your life, by changing your thoughts!.......2006-05-28
You can live a life of health and prosperity by learning how your own mind controls your results in life. This book by Marden (written in the early 1900's) and his other books are life changing when the principles are applied. Read it now and act on it!
Awesome!.......2005-10-25
One of the best books I have read that has helped me to understand having "expectations" in the proper spiritual sense. " Your expectations opens or closes the door of your supply; if you expect grand things, and work honestly towards them, they will come to you, your supply will correspond to your expectation." An invaluable work towards helping one to literally 'get their mind right!'
A BOOK TO LIVE BY.......1999-02-05
This book's first copyright date is 1910, and the content of it is just as true today as it was back then. His insight into human nature and what makes people tick is amazing. He tells you to overcome your fears and doubts because they are so life draining. I enjoyed this book because of the way it made me look at myself and not others for the way my life is. It made me realize that if you think negative thoughts, your life will reflect what you think about. This book is a must have for every household. It should be read and explained to children and re-read when they are older. It will change their life as it has changed mine.
A heavy duty, thought provoking book you will review often........1997-10-25
Marden's Miracle of Right Thought is an incredible, deep thought provoking masterpiece. At 28 bucks for a paperback, it has to great. It was well worth the price. Each time I read this book my cost per use has been reduced.
This book is for you if you want to learn how to think right on all decisions we make daily. The topics are wide ranging from expecting the best, taming the blues, the divinity within you and raising your children.
This is not a religious book, although he does mention that there is a creator. One chapter that every parent would want to read is the raising your children chapter. This chapter gave me new goals to strive for in the relationships I am building with my children. The book is worth the price just for that chapter.
Spend the $28, this will be one of your favorites and most often read books. It is difficult to put into words how great this book is. Men of this level of insight and wisdom don't come along often so take advantage of it by checking out The Miracle of Right Thought.
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- A Critical Look at Sexuality
- This is why "Queer Studies" makes me whince.
- The most groundbreaking work on the subject yet
- Challenging and well done
- Well worth the challenge
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The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation (Ideologies of Desire)
Edward Stein
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Forms of Desire: Sexual Orientation and the Social Constructionist Controversy
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Queer Theory/Sociology (Twentieth-Century Social Theory)
ASIN: 0195142446 |
Amazon.com
Is there a "gay gene"? What if there is? And what does "gay" mean, anyway? Philosopher and queer studies instructor Edward Stein asks these questions and far more, delving deeply into our feelings about gender and sexuality in The Mismeasure of Desire, a deep but accessible examination of how we classify and study sexual orientation. Stein is that rare postmodern philosopher who explains his terms simply and strives for clarity in thought and prose; readers scared off by his background in the humanities will find his book as sensible as any science text. He divides his subjects into sections on metaphysics, science, and ethics, each building on the last.
First turning his attention to the construction of gender and desire, Stein takes great pains to define his terms so that they satisfy our intuitions yet maintain the rigor required of them by his philosophical operations. This territory has been explored fairly well over the last 30 years, but he finds new paths well worth further pursuit. Next he examines the social and biological research pertaining to sexual orientation; not surprisingly, he finds much fault therein, as much (if not all) of it rests on thoroughly disreputable and homophobic foundations. These assumptions are brought out of the closet and don't stand up well to scrutiny, lending power to Stein's concluding ethical arguments that we should at the very least demand more of researchers looking into sexual orientation, and perhaps curtail such research altogether. The powerful, heady ideas in The Mismeasure of Desire will keep you thinking for years to come. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
In recent years scientific research and popular opinion have favored the idea that sexual orientations are determined at birth. In this book, philosopher and legal theorist Edward Stein investigates scientific research on sexual orientation and shows that it is deeply flawed. He argues that this research assumes a picture of sexual desire that reflects unquestioned cultural stereotypes rather than cross-cultural scientific facts, and that it suffers from serious methodological problems. He then asks whether sexual orientation is amenable to empirical study and if it is useful for our understanding of human nature to categorize people based on their sexual desires. Perhaps most importantly, Stein examines some of the ethical issues surrounding such research, including gay and lesbian civil rights and the implications of parents trying to select or change the sexual orientation of their children.
Customer Reviews:
A Critical Look at Sexuality.......2007-07-08
Stein's examination of how we define sexuality, deal with desire and how we examine and study human sexuality all come under the microscope of this amazing, smart and well-written book. I often recommend it to anyone who is questioning their sexuality, their desires or confused by why the taxonomy at times seems so ridiculous.
Many people can avoid a lot of pain and anguish by looking at Stein's work. Any discussion on sexuality must include this book. Although it is scholarly, it is not a difficult read, but some thoughts can be very eye-opening and deserve some time to simmer.
Excellent Book!
This is why "Queer Studies" makes me whince........2003-08-07
It's not that only fellow biomedical researchers are allowed to express an opinion on work such as Hammer and Levay's, but it's quite clear that Stein doesn't even understand the fundamentals of scientific reasoning and questioning. Paranoia under the guise of academia-even when accompanied by reviews that read "accessible to even you"-is a dangerous thing.
Hammer goes out of his way (or at least he did, you don't see much of him anymore-was he perhaps scared away by pseudo-intelligencia criticism?) to ensure that the public, and readers, understand that IF there is a genetic component to male sexuality, it is only one piece of the pie. That clarification alone should have stopped a book like Stein's, and similar literary criticisms, from becoming bound and for sale. I guess I blame the publishers as much as I do Stein.
The most groundbreaking work on the subject yet.......2002-03-17
I recommend this book to everyone I talk to. It's simply outstanding.
Scientists will always seek to order the chaos, and philosophers will always seek to say that chaos can never be fully ordered. One may trim a hedge and box it into a container, but it is always alive, ever changing and growing. The best scientists can hope for is to catalog the waypoints.
I wrote an essay on this subject for a lesbian and gay studies class back in 1997, knowing nothing of postmodernism, and knowing only that I was bi, and didn't seem to fit gender categories either, and was continually frustrated by people's attempts to label me. At the time, I was considered a radical, and my professor sought to discredit all of my anecdotal evidence by saying I was too young to know what I "really" was yet.
That this book exists vindicates me on both a personal and professional level, and I hope will help all the rest of us "freaks" who exist outside the boxes come to terms with the idea that our chaos is the way things are meant to be, and that we should always refuse attempts at being ordered.
Challenging and well done.......2000-12-28
THE MISMEASURE OF DESIRE is a scholarly work examining the current trends in research on the origins of sexual orientation and the ethics of using the information we glean from such research. Edward Stein, a professor of philosophy, tackles the complicated issues of what is homosexuality, how we study it and research it, and the underlying assumptions and desires of science and the public in the search for causes. His discussions and the parallels to gender and religious freedom are described clearly. You don't need a Ph.D. in philosophy to read this book! His emphasis on respect for differences and a call for being aware of the limits of our current knowledge are refreshing and hopeful. I especially liked his questioning our whole concept of "homosexuality" as a natural or social kind.
~~Joan Mazza, author of Dream Back Your Life; Dreaming Your Real Self; Things That Tick Me Off; and Exploring Your Sexual Self.
Well worth the challenge.......2000-03-31
How ironic that I finished this book on the same day that a new study came out linking finger length to sexual orientation.
This book is one of the most challenging I have ever read ... not only was it slow going at times while I struggled to grasp new ideas and concepts, but challenging in terms of getting me to look at my preconceived notions about sexual orientation in completely new ways.
I admit there were times when I almost gave up on The Mismeasure of Desire. First because of the dry, academic style in which it is written. Later I grew frustrated with Mr. Stein taking up pages to explain a concept only to watch him "tear down" that concept in the next chapter. Now that I've finished The Mismeasure of Desire, I'm happy I stuck with the task of reading it. I find myself initiating conversations with friends about the ideas that are presented in the book and I find that I'm thinking about being gay in much different ways than when I first started this book.
On the whole, this is a fascinating overview of the issue of sexual orientation and the research to study and define our "desires." My only major complaint with the book is the final section on the ethics of sexual orientation research. The issues raised in the chapters in this section could easily be expanded into an entire book. As it is, it feels like Mr. Stein breezes through some of these issues that could stand more in-depth study.
Average customer rating:
- The Rights of Revenge.
- Brings me back home to South Africa
- A delight all the way.
- This book is deceptively about South Africa
- Compulsively readable, thematically complex.
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The Rights of Desire
Andre Brink
Manufacturer: Harcourt
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0151006547 |
Book Description
Ruben Olivier leads an isolated existence in a Cape Town suburb. His wife has died, one of his sons has settled in Australia, and the other wants to emigrate to Canada. The only constants in Ruben's life are the old family home, the ghost of a seventeenth-century slave girl who haunts it, and Magrieta, the elderly housekeeper who comes in to look after him. When Ruben's neighbor and best friend is brutally murdered by marauding gangs, the subtle yet pervasive threat of violence hovering over life in Cape Town becomes frighteningly real.
All agree that taking in a boarder might be a good idea, and Ruben is pleasantly surprised when young Tessa Butler walks in out of the rain one Saturday night. She restores passion and intrigue to his life, but he has little time to enjoy the infatuation, for soon Ruben finds himself in a web of deceptions, manipulations, disappearances, and lies.
This extraordinary novel is at once a rich story of enigmatic characters and a boldly disquieting meditation on the attempt to build a future of hope and promise from the legacy of the past.
Customer Reviews:
The Rights of Revenge........2005-06-11
This is the first book I read for Andrea Brink and probably the 1st ever book for a South African writer, if my memory is still intact( Alan Paton being the exception).
This is probably one of the most complex and daunting novels that have been written between 2000 and 2005, and its complexity lies deep within the ethos of the issues and subjects tackled. It is not merely a novel about post apartheid south Africa, but constitutes a conscience and often bloody account of not only South Africa from 1930, but of human nature in general. It's a narration of fanatical Christianity, of the despair and hope of many Boers, of the often harsh daily realities that are often ignored or merely trespassed in modern historical narration of that historic epoch. The story centers around two main characters Ruben and Tesse; the former is a retired librarian, who has witnessed the rise and decline of various South African generations and political ploys, while the later is a young 30sh old bohemian, who for better or worse is living the turbulences of a changing world and society. Their lives intertwine and are linked for a short period of time, yet despite the brevity of their relation, they both share an intenseness that renders returning to a state of normalcy quite unbearable or unachievable. The energy and youth of Tesse forces the main male protagonist to confront not only his present old age, but also to soar back in time to his lonely childhood, on a desolate farm, his initiation into adulthood, his melancholy and often hypocritical marriage, that was marred by dismay and deception, to his current status as an old man, living in an empty house, surrounded by notes never to be completed and articles never to be written, with the sole presence of an ancient ghost murdered 200 hundred years ago. Perhaps this ghost is only a reflection of all the occupants miseries, and phantoms of sadness. Anjtee even though witnessed by various generations of passers by in the house, is merely a reflection of the conflict between human desire, sin, a need to reconcile differences and simply move on.
This is quite a complex novel, multiply layered and quite extravagant in both style and manner, nevertheless, it surely needs some careful reading and contemplation.
Brings me back home to South Africa.......2004-03-15
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, because it brings me back to my home country, South Africa. It's interesting to read about the post-apartheid situation, and the obsession that Ruben had for a much younger, carefree woman.
I recently read a memoir about a Chinese South African girl growing up in the apartheid era of South Africa (Locked Passion of a Free Spirit). It's interesting to see how she was the one who became obsessed with older men.
It's great to read the different perspectives of South African authors.
A delight all the way........2001-10-06
I recently read Coetzee's Disgrace, and while I do think it well written and worthwhile, I found it to be a cold, harsh book, with the protagonist quite disagreeable to the bitter end.
In The Rights of Desire, Brink weaves a world I loved to be part of, despite the violence. The house and its people -- the three living and the one a ghost -- became my welcome hangout as well. Despite all the hearbreak and the pervasive sense of unease, I also felt cradled by a world of sensuality, deep connection between human beings, and lust undivorced from loving.
Coetzee ends with love refused. Brink ends with love affirmed. I am filled with gratitude for having been there.
This book is deceptively about South Africa.......2001-07-15
and while I may be accused of missing the point, I found the relationship between Ruben and Tessa extremely annoying. I bought the book thinking it would deal more with the South Africa of today, but even that was trite, with violence and corruption the two prevalent elements. As I read on, Ruben became a joke of an old man and Tessa a sadistic tease. I did enjoy A Dry White Season and why this author has decided to sink into the musings of an old man rather than explore more about South Africa and the myriad layers of its society after apartheid is a mystery to me. I must admit that I did read through it avidly and with some anticipation, assuming there would be some deeper meaning. If there is, I will have to have it explained to me because I didn't find it. It is well written and easy to read but certainly no more than that. One would be advised to read Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee instead.
Compulsively readable, thematically complex........2001-03-25
It is a measure of Brink's genius that this compulsively readable novel seems so straightforward, at least at first, when one is deeply engrossed in the twists and turns of the main characters' changing relationship. Primarily a love story, it chronicles the complex, sometimes masochistic, interaction between Ruben Olivier, a lonely former librarian in his sixties, and Tessa Butler, an attractive free spirit, almost thirty, whom he has taken into his home and who claims to have deep feelings for him. But while Tessa enlivens his days with her attentions and conversations, she also toys with him, flaunting her numerous relationships with other men at night. As Tessa settles in, Ruben finds his once-orderly and peaceful world shattered, the memories with which he has consoled himself after his wife's death destroyed, and his view of himself and the world permanently changed.
The book is deceptively many-layered, for while Brink is exploring rights and desires in the relationship of Ruben and Tessa, he is also simultaneously exploring rights and desires in a political sense. In the newly independent South Africa, the formerly oppressed black majority is now in power and asserting itself. In the confusion of the power transfer, many young men, apparently feeling that "might makes right," have formed marauding gangs, attacking, raping, killing, and essentially doing whatever they desire, their only motivation being revenge for past injustices. No one is safe, and Ruben and Tessa, who had hitherto ignored the danger even when it struck close to home, find that they are not immune as they face a defining moment of terror.
The atmosphere of the novel is dark, the mood of violence is palpable, and a sense of foreboding lies heavily over all. The relationship of Ruben and Tessa is unsettling, strange, perhaps even clinically sick, but it is powerfully seductive in a Nabokovian way. The ghost of a slave, Antje of Bengal, 300-years-old, walks the house, haunts the inhabitants, and keeps them and the reader constantly on edge. Throughout the action, Brink's language is so fluid, his first-person narrative so smooth, and his sense of timing so keen that his style achieves an elegance few others could achieve, given the sometimes bizarre subject matter. This is a thematically complex tale of many interconnected relationships, and it's fascinating.
Average customer rating:
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The Sexual Politics of Disability: Untold Desires (Sexual Politics)
Tom Shakespeare ,
Kath Gillespie-Sells , and
Dominic Davies
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0304333298 |
Customer Reviews:
A great read.......2000-07-18
This book discusses an area that is usually not seen and not heard - disability and sexuality. So often disabled people are assumed to be asexual. But this book helps to show that disabled people can have a diverse range of sexual experiences, just like non-disabled people.
The book is easy to read and well written.
Being a disabled person myself, I know how hard it can be to come to terms with your identity. This book can help a lot in that regard.
I recommend it highly.
Customer Reviews:
From Back Cover.......2005-11-25
UNDERCOVER...
Protecting people was Ryan Fitzpatrick's business - but being Clea Mason's bodyguard was going to be pure pleasure. After all, ever since he'd first laid eyes on the cool, classy business executive, he hadn't been able to think about anything except her body...
And - if Ryan Fitzpatrick gets his way under the covers, too...
Of course, she didn't think she needed protection. But he knew better, and pretending he was her husband was the only way to keep her safe. And if that meant getting close and personal with the lady, well...it was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it...
[3rd in The Right Bride, Wrong Groom series]
I still don't know why........2000-02-04
There's this bridesmaid, and a guy (who becomes her bodyguard) sees her across a room, talks to her and is in love. Why? He's so in love that he'll aggravate his family, lie to them, suspect them and use them. But why? She's cool and uninterested in him, and it seems an over-reaction when we finally (far too late) find out why. He's given her a nickname. What has she done to deserve it? There are too many emotions built on a hint, without susbstance backing it up. Despite all of this, I got through the book. I just really had to be willing to suspend my disbelief and accept that these characters have something special for each other. Ms. Hingle gets the 3 stars for building suspense, (though I knew who the bad guy was as soon as he was introduced), creating a hero who knows how to care for his woman, and for nice love scenes.
Product Description
this booklet the effect of prayer, principles of scientific prayer, different types of prayers, and topic related to prayers.
Product Description
CHANGING COURTS: How could she tell her fiance that his best friend and client had once been her lover? Melissa Edwards had accompanied the man she meant to marry to Joel Robertson's posh California resort, but once she arrived, her purpose was singular: to see ex-tennis pro Joel again and have her vengeance at last. She tried to hate him, to hurt him as he'd hurt her nearly two years before. But Joel's slightest touch aroused hungers she thought she'd conquered forever. Now she was trapped in a love match playing for keeps, with only her heart-and senses-as guide
Average customer rating:
- this one time? At a ren faire?
- Fantastic Urban Fantasy Novel
- Real Life History
- Not as good as the SERRAted Edge series
- Knight of Ghosts and Shadows
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Knight of Ghosts & Shadows (Bedlam's Bard, Bk. 1)
Mercedes Lackey , and
Ellen Guon
Manufacturer: Baen
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0671698850 |
Customer Reviews:
this one time? At a ren faire?.......2007-02-07
If I'd written this review as a teen, I probably would have given the book four stars. As it is, I've gotten older and more cynical. The book has three main characters: Korendil, a "young" elf of 200 years or so, Beth, a musician and witch; and Eric, a flautist who discovers that he has magic powers and is the only one who can save L.A. (and the world) from the forces of evil. Through music. There are good elves, but also bad elves with their own agenda. As other reviewers have pointed out, there could definitely be more character development, but all in all, it's an entertaining read.
Fantastic Urban Fantasy Novel.......2004-12-03
One of my most favored memories and my introduction into the genre of Urban Fantasy. Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon weave a wonderful web of Elves in the modern day world. The character development is extremely well done, but the plot is left a littl thread-bare in places. Not to worry though, as it seems that this novel is more about exploring the characters than it is about exploring a setting in a story. The characters of Eric, Beth, and Kory are well worked, and their feelings on all sorts of subjects is explored in great detail. This is one of my favorite all-time books. Give it a whirl!
Real Life History.......2004-02-02
Anyone who performed or vended at either "Big Faire", which is what Californians call the two nine week long every summer Rennaisance Faires, one Northern, one Southern, will recognize this book as a fantasy utilizing what happened when Southern Faire's site for years was bulldozed and the Faire had to move. Not surprising as Lackey herself has connections to the Faire folk.
Other than that, the book itself is interesting, not the least because it broke Lackey's invariable pattern of doing trilogies. Knight of Ghosts and Shadows is actually the second book in a "trilogy", if you want to call it that, book one being bowery Boyz I beleiv, about a healer witch in a modern day city slum who does not return until the second half of book three, summoned to tourney....and of course Lackety then continued on with a second "trilogy" on bard eric's life alone after she managed to get rid of the other two main characters in Knight of Ghosts and Shadows. Rather funny, it was...first, a tripod was the strongest thing in nature, and then POOF, the beginning of the first book in the second "trilogy" disposes thoroughly of the idea.
It could be read as an object lesson in ignoring conditions you yourself set up in writing, I suppose, as well as a historical reference.
The book itself is decent, as is its antecendent and sequel, I'd just advice not to read these three and the second three after Lackey breaks up her threesome. Pick one or the other, instead.
Not as good as the SERRAted Edge series.......2001-01-27
I'm a fan of Mercedes Lackey from a long time back so when I saw this book at the bookstore, I immediately snatched it up. It's the story of a melancholy street-busker, Eric Banyon, and how his talents with the flute earn him the love of the warrior elf Korendil and the witch/rockstar Beth, and also the eternal gratitude of the elves in California for creating a new home for them after their's is bulldozed. That's it. It's a pretty good story but it's definitely got some flaws.
First of all, Korendil is an extremely flat character. He just stands there in his armor and smiles. Throughout the book, Mercedes lackey flips from person to person to tell the story from several points of view but Kory hardly speaks at all.
As for the flipping view points, I did like that we got to hear the opinions of the main bad girl, Ria, but all that flipping around got confusing. I found myself flipping around more than once trying to find out what was happening.
One final caveat: there is a very small, miniscule amount of homosexuality in this book. In fact, compared to Ms. Lackey's Magic's Price, Promise, Pawn series this is nothing. But, if this kind of thing offends you, don't read the book.
The thing I loved most was the magical music, literally. Anyone with a passion for music should read this book. Hearing the sounds she matched the music to made me want to go downstairs and play the piano.
If you love the idea of magic and music together, buy this book. Those parts made my heart soar!
If you liked this book, the SERRAted Edge series is ten times better. It is very similar to this book but the characters are more interesting, in my opinion. It is also by Mercedes Lackey and she recently re-released the four books of the series into two volumes.
Mercedes Lackey rocks!
Knight of Ghosts and Shadows.......2000-06-11
This book was very enjoyable, another well-done work of Mercedes Lackey's. The characters were all very interesting and well developed. Sometimes Banyon's tendency to run away from problems got annoying, but this "flaw" in his character only made him seem more real to me. Beth and Korendil were great additions to the story as well, though I coudn't exactly call the latter realistic. The classic story of hope lost, found, lost and found a couple more times, then, triumph over the ultimate evil. This book has definitely gone on my favorite's list.
Book Description
Raconteur, bon vivant, troubleshooter for the decaying Terran Empire, Dominic Falndry doesn't crave further danger in the service of galactic unity.
But duty calls, so it's back to the spaceways for the most elegant Special Agent is a hundred star systems--straight into the well-laid plans of his lifelong enemy Aycharaych.
Win or lose, though, the long night of human civilization is coming and Flandry knows it. How many more battles can he stand to win in a losing cause? And how many planets will die meanwhile?
Customer Reviews:
Maybe this will help.......2006-01-06
from the back cover of the 1975 Signet edition
The Terran Empire was crumbling -
And it required the remarkable talents of Sir Dominic Flandry, bon vivant and universal troubleshooter, to put the pieces back together. A hint of trouble and the purchase of an aristocratic slave girl sent Flandry on a quick flight to Diomedes aboard his well-equipped spacer, Hooligan. As he suspected, there was a deadly plan for galaxy-wide insurrection and civil war that could blast the tottering Empire into its component planets. Time was running out, and only Dominic Flandry, half a universe away, had the knowledge to prevent an explosion which could spark the beginning of the end for Terran civilization...
Dominic Flandry grows up.......2003-06-23
In "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows," Poul Anderson did the nearly impossible and unthinkable before this book. He managed to get Dominic Flandry to grow up.
Before this book, Flandry, while a brilliant secret agent for the Terran Empire, always was a bit juvenile, and reveled in it. He figured that if he was going to die soon anyway (as secret agents rarely live long lives), why not make the best of it? So, he slept with many lissome women, ate lots of good food, and drank lots of great liquor along the way.
His other attributes, of loyalty, self-sacrifice, intelligence, a certain type of shifty honesty unusual in a secret agent -- well, they always were underplayed, partly because Flandry was an interstellar James Bond and that might not have been "sexy," and partly because Flandry looked at them as bad qualities.
Well, no wonder. The Terran Empire was in decay, and only people like him were holding it together, before the advent of this book. At the start of this book, Hans Molitor has seized the throne -- with Flandry's blessing, as at least he was a strong military man, and as he was better than any of the other contenders for the throne. And trouble's brewing all over the Empire . . . .
Without the trouble, there's no way Flandry would have been able to go off on his own. He's now in his 40s, and although he's still an international bon vivant, he's not the same man he used to be. He's found out he has a son, Dominic Hazeltine, by Persis D'Io (the dancer in "Ensign Flandry), and he's starting to perhaps slow down a bit in his travels.
But his mind is as keen as ever, so when an exotic, aristocratic slave girl from Dennitza shows up, his interest is piqued. The more he finds out, the more upset he gets. Then, he flits off with her, to find out the truth -- which is more shattering than he ever expected.
He does run into Aycharaych again, but it's almost more of an afterthought. Because before this book is done, his life stands in ruin, and about all he has left is his honor, pride, and a job well done -- rather than the life he'd briefly glimpsed in the eyes of Kossara, the Dennitzan slave girl (who never should have been sold for slavery).
As he destroys Aycharaych, he realizes that nothing, but nothing, can bring back love -- and wonders what's next for him. These are astonishingly adult thoughts for Flandry, and extremely moving.
This book deserves over five stars because of how moving and heart-wrenching it is for Flandry to go through all this. I truly believed in his pain, while enjoying his witty repartee with Chives (his Shalmuan body-servant/cook/batman/everything), Kossara, and son Dominic. Flandry is no intellectual lightweight, and he really does have a heart. Excellent book; truly one of Anderson's best (and I've read most of his output).
Btw, "A Stone in Heaven" is also another great book about Flandry in his age -- I recommend that one, too, extremely highly.
Flandry faces his final betrayal, and his greatest foe........1996-09-12
Anderson's recurring hero, Dominic Flandry, is like Horatio Hornblower, shown at different points of his career. In this, he is middle-aged, with a grown son...and in his final battle with a mind-reading foe from an elder race he has fought many times before. It is their final battle, and in it Flandry is not only betrayed, but goes through a self-betrayal of many of the principles he believes in. In this one, Flandry ceases to be a pleasure-loving, decadent Simon Templer, and instead shows true depth of character, and indeed, true tragedy, on several fronts. Easily the best of all the Flandry books, which is high praise indeed
Books:
- The Moon Over Lake Elmo
- The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006 (Prize Stories (O Henry Awards))
- The Quick and the Dead: Artists and Anatomy
- The Real Deadwood: True Life Histories of Will Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Outlaw Towns, and Other Characters of the Lawless West
- The Reduced Shakespeare Company Christmas
- The Right Attitude to Rain: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries)
- The Tin Can Tree: A Novel (1st Ballantine Books Trade ed)
- The Trolley: A Novel
- The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism
- The Usual Rules: A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
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- DRUMS OF MEMORY: The Autobiography of Sir Stephen Hastings MC
He Who Thinks He Can
Every Man A King
Be Good To Yourself
Prosperity: How to Attract It
An Iron Will
