Customer Reviews:
Wonderful cookbook.......2004-12-18
I've had this cookbook for several years and I think it's terrific. I haven't made a recipe from it that disappointed me.
The recipes are not difficult to make, so anyone should be able to cook from this book. The food turns out a bit sophisticated. You could easily use some of these recipes for a dinner party.
Two of the recipes I really enjoyed from this book were Mustard Ginger Pork Chops and Minestrone. The pork chops were wonderful - you basically add a simple marinade (pretty easy to do!). The minestrone is wonderful! It is probably my favorite soup ever. It uses ham to give it a smoky flavor, then you add a number of veggies and pasta to it, and top it off with cilantro and parmesan cheese. This is a great soup to make at the beginning of the week and have it for lunch every day for the rest of the week. I've made this soup so many times and I've even tried to freeze it (although I wouldn't recommend that). This is also a good soup to fix ahead of time if you're going to have guests. Add a salad and some bread and you have quite a nice lunch.
Besides the recipes, the photography in this book is amazing. It's quite different than other cookbooks. I would have to consider the photos as "art" because they are of the quality of framed photographic art. I keep thinking of taking this book off of my cookbook shelf and using it as a "coffee table book" because it is so beautiful.
Overall, I would recommend this cookbook to almost anyone. The recipes are simple but elegant and the pictures make the book a joy just to look through.
My most marked up cookbook.......2001-12-20
This book will hardly fit back on the shelf: Yellow post-it notes hang from its margins, nearly a pad-ful so far, each marking a high-taste recipe. I've only had the book a year, but it has fast become a favorite.
Above and Beyond Parsley is just that.......1997-10-25
I have prepared many of the recipes from this book and have found all I have tried to be wonderful. They are easy to follow, and the collection of recipes is diverse and appeals to the most discriminating of tastes. This book also provides visuals on the art of artistic meal presentation. Of the cookbooks that I own, I know if a meal is prepared from this book all will be happy, especially me!
Customer Reviews:
Above and Beyond.......2005-11-11
As an ex-SOG CCN recon team leader I can tell you that this book smacks with authenticity. Morris captures the spirit of the recon man, and deals with the duality of emotions felt by those fighting during the Viet Nam War. It's exciting and a page turner. I bought 30 copies to give as Christmas presents to the guys who work with me so they would get a little insight.
Average customer rating:
- Absolutely the Best!!
- Out of date, but still helpful for those who know already
- Best guide book to cycling in Moab
- Thorough technical description of Moab area trails.
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Above & Beyond Slickrock
Todd Campbell
Manufacturer: University of Utah Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0874806275 |
Customer Reviews:
Absolutely the Best!!.......2000-10-04
This book is old school and it's obvious that the author really cares. Great photos, great maps and great writing. It was the first (I believe) guidebook for biking written about Moab area and having bought and subsequently tossed all the others, I think it is still the best. We have made the Moab pilgrimage every year for the last eight and this book is the only one worth lugging along.
Out of date, but still helpful for those who know already.......2000-09-13
I used this book for years and had a love/hate relationship with it. It got me lost lots of times, but also turned me onto some great rides. The real negative is that the book is woefully out of date and some of the rides have changed drastically. If you use it in conjunction with a more recent guidebook like Mountain Bike America:Moab then you will indeed have a powerful tool for deciphering Moab.
Best guide book to cycling in Moab.......2000-07-06
Comprehensive and accurate descriptions of all of the most popular rides in Moab and the surrounding area. Great history, geology and insight into the local area. A must for any Moab cycling trip.
Thorough technical description of Moab area trails........2000-05-16
Todd Campbell wrote this book from experience. His details regarding the trails, how to find them, what to watch for, and what to avoid, are excellent. Although written in as if a technical manual, (the lack of down-to-earth humor such as found in Cosmic Ray's books in Arizona) can be overlooked due to quality content. If you can secure both the Moab East and the Moab West topographical maps with the book, you will find the information infinitely more useful. Book contains details such as type of ride, length, difficulty, best seasons, elevation, land agencies, route summary, options, attractions, riding surface, logistics, trailhead access, and mileage log and route description.
Average customer rating:
- Should've been called Above and Beyond Annoying...
- If you see it, just throw it straight into the trash
- A Classic Love Story?
- LOVE...YOU TAKE MY BREATH AWAY..OOOH WHAT A POWERFUL FORCE!!!
- STALKER LOVE
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Above And Beyond (Brown, Sandra)
Sandra Brown
Manufacturer: Mira
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Binding: Hardcover
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Led Astray
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The Thrill of Victory
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Devil'S Own
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Demon Rumm
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Hawk O'Toole's Hostage
ASIN: 077832026X |
Book Description
"You know how I've always loved the rain. There's nothing cozier than seeking shelter from the rain with someone you love."
"I would trade all the presents I've ever gotten for one of your kisses. One of those long, slow kisses that fulfills and tantalizes."
"Sometimes I think you aren't real, that you're someone wonderful that I dreamed up. I love you with all my heart . . ."
The letters Kyla sent to her husband, Sergeant Richard Stroud, stationed a world away, spoke of a love that stretched across the ocean and held the young couple together. But when tragedy ended their marriage too soon, Kyla was left a widow with a newborn son. And Richard left behind only a metal box filled with his wife's declarations of love.
Trevor Rule had been Richard's best friend. Returning home from military duty, he carried with him the letters Kyla had sent. And with each one he read, he fell more in love with the gentle, passionate woman who had penned them. Now he needed to convince Kyla of his feelings, and that they both had the right to be happy, to move past the tragedy of Richard's death.
But Trevor was harboring a secret, one with the power to destroy the love he was trying so hard to protect.
Customer Reviews:
Should've been called Above and Beyond Annoying..........2007-01-29
Kyla's behavior through out this whole book came across as irrational. When she wasnt talking to herself about how much she still loved her dead hubby, she was actting selfish and just plain self absorbed. When she finds out about Trav's lies, she then turns into giantic, rightous bitch.
This book would've been half way decent if the heroine could've been more lovable or more reasonable.. her love for her dead hubby came across as unbeliveable.. if she did love him al ALL at any point in her life.
Get ready to spend your afternoon annoyed to all hell, if you do decide to try this book. Not one of her better books, at all...
If you see it, just throw it straight into the trash.......2006-08-17
I picked this book up at the airport to kill time. The book was so bad that I threw it in the trashcan to make sure no one else had a chance to waste their time. Kyla's irrational attachment to her dead husband was increadibly annoying. She needed counseling and it doesn't look like she had any. Someone else mentioned to skip this book and go to another. I will read another Sandra Brown book, but if the next one is as silly as this one, then I'll be through with her.
A Classic Love Story?.......2006-07-20
Don't be fooled by the inscription on the cover. This book is classic only in the Harlequin Romance sense. The premise could have been interesting if the story itself wasn't so annoying. The main characters are a man driven by an obsession and a compulsively grieving widow. I felt like handing out referrals to a good psychologist. The language is stilted and slightly off-putting. There are a few moments in the book which could be touching, but were handled ineptly by the writer.
LOVE...YOU TAKE MY BREATH AWAY..OOOH WHAT A POWERFUL FORCE!!!.......2006-01-03
FROM BEGINNING TO END...."Above And Beyond"*AUDIO book
* PROVES ..LULY'S ,SOOTHES "you".FOR LOVE &HAPPY EVER AFTERS CAN certainly WIN!
THIS READ IS TO BE SAVOR!!!
THROUGHOUT THIS LOVE STORY'S PAGES THE POWER OF LOVE WAS SHOWN LIKE A SLOW LOVING CARESS,TENDER TEDIOUSLY BUT WELL PLEASINGLY!! OOOOH HOW FASCINATING THIS READ IS!
L@@K WITHIN THIS READ FOR YOU CAN VISUALIZE,IMAGE,FEEL A SOFT TOUCH& THE BEAUTY OF A SWEET LOVE SHARED.
KAYLA(Heroine)PROJECTED ON PAPER(abundant of love)THE GIFT OF SHARING & CHERISHING A LOVE THAT WAS SO WONDERFUL,SO SPECIAL&TRUE WITH HER HUSBAND WHO DIED.
I'M TOTALLY AWED HOW "Ms. Brown" demonstrates THAT LOVE IS MEANT TO BE SHARED & NOT BOTTLED UP EVEN AFTER A SPOUSE DIES.
THIS IS WHAT I LOVE READING ABOUT...LOVE.
THE UNIMAGINABLE WAYS IT'S POWERS WORK AND THROUGH THAT LOVE TELLS & WRITES IT'S OWN STORY!
WOW...THIS POWERFUL FORCE CALLED "Love" POWER CAN CHANGE LIVES, PENETRATE HEARTS,GIVES HOPE FOR A BRIGHTER LIFE,HOPE TO..LIVE HAPPILY& LOVE AGAIN!
LOVE IS THE SURE..HEALING CURE FOR WHAT ALE'S YA!!!
STALKER LOVE.......2005-08-21
This is a reprint of a story from a former era when it was not only apparently acceptible, but actually romantic for a man to become obsessed with a woman he doesn't know, repeatedly watch her from a distance without her knowledge, and then lie to her about knowing who she is when circumstance causes them to meet (he's watching her again when she is finally made aware of his presence). I found this to be far more creepy than romantic. It's interesting that this title was determined worthy of reprint at this time. It's worth reading only by someone interested in the idea that this could have been considered the beginning of a healthy relationship a generation ago.
Book Description
'Above Beyond Basics' provides a wealth of time-saving, step-by-step instructions with over 140 pages featuring 22 color photographs to help you complete your projects quickly! Professional quilting instructor Karen Kay Buckley provides instructional chapters that teach you methods for quick cutting fabrics and take you through a variety of techniques for completing 13 new projects. 'Above Beyond Basics' is a perfect companion to Karen's first AQS book: 'From Basics to Binding: A Complete Guide to Making Quilts' offering you detailed instructions on quilting from start to finish. Start a new quilting project today! AUTHORBIO: Karen Kay Buckley resides in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with her husband and pets. Karen graduated from Lock Haven University with a degree in Education. She has been quilting for nineteen years and teaching quilting for fifteen years. Her quilts have graced the covers of many magazines. She has over 250 quilts to her credit and her quilts have won numerous national and regional awards including six Best of Show awards. She has four books published with AQS. REVIEW: Planet Patchwork Quilting Bookbriefs says this book "contains a well-done primer in foundation techniques, and dozens of creative border designs, both traditional and contemporary. Perhaps most important, the authors provide a series of questions to ponder as you decide what kind of border you want."
Customer Reviews:
well done.......2000-04-29
This book is a very nice compliment to "From Basics to Binding". The directions are easy to follow and the illustrations are done quite well. This book could be easily enjoyed by beginners and advanced quilters alike.
Average customer rating:
- Exceptional Book
- Real stories, real marines and real success
- inspirational stories; very easy read
- Above& Beyond: Former Marines Conquer the Civilian World
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Above & Beyond: Former Marines Conquer The Civilian World
Rudy Socha , and
Carolyn Darrow
Manufacturer: Turner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Leadership
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
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ASIN: 159652040X |
Customer Reviews:
Exceptional Book.......2006-11-17
This book profiles a number of Marines, officer and enlisted alike, and tracks their success during and after their active-duty experience. It becomes clear that the self-discipline, team-work and USMC ethos (honor, courage, commitment) instilled from boot camp onward "hard-wires" these men and women for success in virtually any endeavor.
While military service isn't necessarily everyone's "cup of tea", most Americans would be well-served to devote a few years in military service. There, they learn self-mastery, meet people from all walks of life and ethnic groups, learn team over self, learn to take an order and to execute...regardless of personal opinion, and more.
If military preparedness and national defense are national priorities, they need to be equally tasked to all Americans, wealthy to impoverished. It is about higher duty for the overall good...not an individual's "choice".
Real stories, real marines and real success.......2005-02-16
This book has profiles of 88 successful former marines in a variety of industries with their bios and comments on what they learned in the corps that made them successful in life.
Fred Smith, CEO and Founder, Fedex; James Baker, Secretary of State; Charles Krulak, CEO MBNA Europe; Gary Cooper, CEO Commonwealth National Bank; Walter Boomer, CEO Rogers Corporation; Mike Kelly, CEO, TMP/Higland Partners; Jack Hawkins; Chancellor, Troy State; Patrick Taylor, Chairman Taylor Energy; Richard Simon, CEO United Service Industries; Drew Carey, actor; and the list goes on.
It is a good read for business people who want insight into real life examples of marine corps leadership principles. The book is different than pure management books like the Marine Corps Way, but has something that those books do not, a set of real life stories and comments from the people who made it happen.
It is also a good read for military personnel who want to understand how their traning can be applied and who has applied it in life.
Overall a substantive and inspirational book.
inspirational stories; very easy read.......2005-02-16
I LOVED this book. It is truly inspirational for anyone---whether you're a Marine or not. This book proves that with hard work and dedication, even the simplest of ideas can catapult one into stardom, wealth and the good life. Need a lift? This book can help.
Above& Beyond: Former Marines Conquer the Civilian World.......2004-06-05
A portion of all proceeds will support Marine Corps charities.
The United States Marine Corps is the smallest unit of the four branches that make up the U.S. Armed Forces. In spite of the relatively small number of people passing through its ranks, the Marine Corps produce a disproportionate share of this country's leaders. It is because Marines are different from the rest of the population. They have a different mindset and have been taught to handle problems in a different manner. They are taught to find a way to solve the problem, regardless of extenuating circumstances. They do not make excuses or try to determine why it can't be done. Marine Corps training instill the self-control, discipline, self-assurance, and leadership skills that lead to high achievement later in life. Above & Beyond, Former Marines Conquer the Civilian World profiles 88 former Marines who took that winning attitude and applied it to the civilian sector. This book introduces a mix of former Marines who are very successful in the civilian fields they have chosen; some of these former Marines you already know, and many you don't know. You will meet reservists, "one-termers" and "lifers", as well as a former Marine Commandant who is very successful in the private sector. You will find out a little bit about each person profiled, but as you read the stories collectively, you will see a camaraderie of many races, ages, and personalities that make up the U.S. Marine Corps. Above & Beyond is a must for former, current and future Marines and their families.
Average customer rating:
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Avengers: Above and Beyond
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Avengers: Galactic Storm, Vol. 1
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ASIN: 0785118454 |
Book Description
The Avengers learn what too much of a bad thing can be when they face a city of robots and a village of Hulks! And in other international news, Blood Wraith has a big problem with Ultron's extermination of Slorenia! Meanwhile, Silverclaw shines and Triathlon triumphs in Kurt Busiek's penultimate Avengers saga! Featuring the villainy of Ultron, Diablo and Kang the Conqueror! Collects Avengers #36-40, 56, Avengers: Ultron Imperative, and Avengers Annual 2001.
Customer Reviews:
Great Cover Art!.......2007-10-01
And a couple of the stories collected here are ok, but the bulk here is mostly disappointing. Look elsewhere for your Avengers fix.
Book Description
Above and Beyond takes an aerial view to conclusively demonstrate how suburban sprawl is forever changing the look of America--and how that can be avoided. Alex MacLean's photographs--many of them combined with computer simulations to illustrate how landscapes are transformed over time--show how traditional development patterns produce more compact cities and towns. In conjunction, the authors introduce communities that have successfully fought sprawl, invigorated their town areas, and overcome the car-culture mentality of sprawl development. The case they make, and the examples they offer, will inspire planners, officials, and concerned citizens everywhere.
Product Description
Integrated curriculum approach based on in-depth study of Newbery Award-winning book Hitty: Her First Hundred Years. Unlike others in the Five in a Row series, this volume is geared for independent study by students ages 12 and older--teacher participation is not required.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting if overly academic book
- As uncritical of Kinsey as the Jones book is critical
- Kinsey's Life & Work Expertly and Thoroughly Summarized
- All You Wanted To Know Abourt Kinsey?
- Kinsey movie
|
Sex the Measure of All Things: A Life of Alfred C. Kinsey
Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
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ASIN: 0253337348 |
Customer Reviews:
Interesting if overly academic book.......2006-08-17
As a Bloomington resident and a long-time admirer of Kinsey's work, I decided it was time to learn more about the man beyond what the Liam Neeson film taught me. What I found in Gathorne-Hardy's bio was a solid portrait of a man who opened the world's eyes to sexuality. The book is well-researched and interesting, but at times it can get bogged down with a bit too much analysis of Kinsey's motives and correspondence, especially as it pertains to his own sexuality.
Still, the book is an easy read and well sourced, and it certainly provides an informative biography of Kinsey while acknowledging some of the man's flaws.
As uncritical of Kinsey as the Jones book is critical.......2005-07-27
I chose to read this book because I wanted a balanced account of Kinsey's life and science, unfortunately, this book does not satisfy the requirement. Where the Jones book turns Kinsey into a demon, Gathorne-Hardy seems to want to turn him into a god. Gathorne-Hardy has a well researched account of Kinsey's life and activities, however he constantly tries to justify Kinsey's methods and continually comments on how no one has been able to do better sex research since, a patently untrue and scientifically unsupported statement. It would be difficult to cover both the biographical research on Kinsey and do an indepth study of current sex research, and I don't believe that Gathorne-Hardy even tried to do much research into current sex literature, that is why it is irritating when he tries to justify most of Kinsey's ideas. Overall, if you want a book that details the activities of Kinsey's life, this is an acceptable book, but if you are interested in his science, it is woefully lacking.
Kinsey's Life & Work Expertly and Thoroughly Summarized.......2005-05-02
This book is so professionally researched, well documented and written with flowing, easy to follow prose, that it almost over-shadows the subject matter which is, of course, the fascinating life and work of Alfred C. Kinsey, and culminating with his most absorbing research work of all: the sexual habits of primarily, the American public.
But don't worry, the study of sex prevails as the intriguing winner of our primary attention for it is spelled out clearly, sometimes more than one is ready for but can't turn away from and do not honestly want to. And a word of warning to the sexually squeamish- this IS sex, all about sex and sexual habits, many of which, one might not have ever thought of, but necessary for an exacting, broad-spectrum all inclusive study of the human animal.
J. Gathorne-Hardy is British and that shows up in his grammar, so don't think the book is full of typos, that's the way they spell on the other side of the Pond and it lends some flavor to the American subject matter. As can be seen in his detailed research, he is a well qualified researcher, and this work is now considered by many as the de facto authority on all things Kinsey. And fortunately so because there are a tremendous amount of books about Kinsey in print, but rest assured and good as many may be, none can hold a candle to this work.
Kinsey's research was as clinically studied as any highly disciplined research should be, but it is no secret that Kinsey and his fellow researchers did a tremendous amount of, ahem, shall we say, "hands-on", direct involvement work which raised scholarly eyebrows, but as Gathorne-Hardy points out, it was done with the most scientific detachment possible. Yes, well, it certainly made for some scandalous reactions for which Kinsey was acutely trying to avoid, but had an uncanny ability to dismiss and side-step.
For those who have been interested in Kinsey's life and work, but were put-off by the voluminous original works, will certainly appreciate this study, because it not only summarizes Kinsey's work in great detail, it also edits down the laborious writing style of Kinsey, without loosing any important details and most importantly, it includes Kinsey's personal life from early childhood and on to his later research work- something that is missing and/or not accurately portrayed in too many other studies. It also covers many of the people who worked with Kinsey and who graciously lent their personal observations to the author for much of the critical data found here-in.
This book is truly, an outstanding accomplishment and honors the deeply important work of Kinsey and his research team, notorious as many saw it, but whose dogged dedication to the subject of sex studies opened-up a more mature approach for the average citizen's awareness of what most now conclude, is step "A" in knowing oneself and the biological world we live in. I highly commend Jonathon Gathorne-Hardy for this monument to that awareness.
All You Wanted To Know Abourt Kinsey?.......2005-01-13
In this scholarly, well-documented biography of nearly 500 pages, Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy tells you probably all you ever wanted to know about Alfred Kinsey; and he does it in a most reader-friendly fashion. From Kinsey's early life, growing up in the confines of a narrow Methodist family, to his marriage and tenure at Indiana University, to his studies of the gall wasp and his studies of the sexual behavior of males and females that changed forever the way we look at sex-- it's all here. Since Gathorne-Hardy has written the most recent biography of Kinsey (1999) he had the benefit of the research of previous biographers. He thus attempts to set the record straight concerning the 1997 Kinsey biography by James H. Jones, ALFRED KINSEY - A PUBLIC/PRIVATE LIFE. He maintains -- and goes to considerable lengths to prove it-- that Jones ceased to be an "objective researcher" but rather attacked Kinsey's private sexual behavior. He, in Gathorne-Hardy's words, "belongs to what one might call the Kenneth Starr school of biography." Enough said.
Kinsey, an extremely complicated individual, was an atheist (he rebelled vigorously against the strict religion of his father), a brilliant professor and scientist, mesmerizing lecturer, intolerant of what he considered shoddy work of other scientists, a loving husband and father, a "benevolent despot", a bisexual, a compassionate and humane person. (For years he corresponded with both prisoners and their families and often gave and/or lent them money.)
Gathorne-Hardy maintains-- and offers considerable proof-- that while some of Kinsey's conclusions may have been erroneous, that no one since him has done the client interview, the heart of Kinsey's research, better than he and his staff did. For instance, he used a face-to-face interview with an elaborately coded chart he devised and did not ask the first question about sex until 20 minutes into the history. Interviewers never said, "have you ever" but rather "when did you first?" He abhorred random sampling and attempted whenever possible to take the histories of 100% of the members of a group so as to decrease the chances of error. Just as he went everywhere looking for new varieties of gall wasps, he and his group interviewed everyone they could: prostitutes, prisoners, castrates, the Yale Divinity School, amputees, rapists, lobotomy patients, professors, colleagues, students.
Although Mr. Kinsey was denounced by many church leaders including Billy Graham-- after all Kinsey did most of his sex research in the 1940's-- he was revered and praised by many, and was a life line to many persons troubled about their sexuality. He received thousands of letters throughout his career from people hungry for advice and answers and attempted to respond to them all himself. He was incensed and saddened by most of the prisoners he interiewed serving sentences for "sex" crimes, since he believed that they should never have been in prison in the first place. After all, they were just doing what many other people were doing, or as he put it, everyone's sin is no one's sin. His statistics on the incidences of homosexuality in the general population, though often challenged, have never been successfully refuted even though his numbers may have been slightly exaggerated.
Finally, while for the most part, Gathorne-Hardy tells the reader nothing without documentation, occasionally he makes a statement he cannot prove. For example, on page 32, he writes that Kinsey had difficulty expressing intimate personal feelings in public, but that "as often with people who have difficulty here, Kinsey loved small children nd was extremely good with them." I'm not convinced that is an accurate statement and Mr. Gathorne-Hardy makes no attempt to offer up proof. Since this book was first published in England, the author offers explanations and illuminations to his British reader about some of the "Americanisms" here. He, for example, explains the semester system in American universities, defines our corn crop as "maize," tells the reader what "tea room" means and comments often on the "ghastly" weather, meaning of course our 100 degree-in-the-shade summers. They would be a far cry indeed from England's dark, damp Decembers.
You may love Kinsey or you may hate him; but when you finish this biography, you'll feel that you've got at least a glimpse as to what the man was all about and what he accomplished-- no small feat for any biographer.
Kinsey movie.......2005-01-02
I just saw the new movie, "Kinsey," this evening and now am especially intrigued to read more about him. If the movie is telling of the book, this will be a good read. Thanks!
Book Description
The definitive biography of Alfred C. Kinsey—the man who inspired the major new motion picture starring Liam Neeson.
More than twenty-five years in the making, this groundbreaking biography caused great controversy when it was first published. Drawing on tens of thousands of letters gleaned from more than a dozen archives and scores of personal interviews (ranging from members of sexual subcultures who demanded anonymity to congressmen, university presidents, prize-winning scientists, and heads of foundations), James H. Jones shows that the image of disinterested biologist cultivated by Kinsey was in fact a carefully crafted public persona. The Alfred C. Kinsey who emerges in these pages was a social reformer and a zealot, who devoted his every waking hour to the destruction of sexual repression. 31 b/w photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Kinsey As Lucifer -- Well Worth The Effort.......2004-12-13
Alfred Kinsey is a hero to everyone who believes in what Kinsey called sexual variation -- the notion that sexuality is deep, broad, somewhat ungovernable, highly individualized, difficult to judge and a fundamental expression of one's self. For these folks, Kinsey outed all of us (and high time, too), opening a healthy and necessary global discussion on sexual preference, choice and predilection.
Equally, Kinsey is a demon to everyone who believes that the phrase "sexual deviant" means something, and who subscribes to the notion that, somewhere in the 1950s, US culture lost its way in a maze of permissiveness and perversion. For thse folks, that maze was designed in large measure by Kinsey.
Kinsey's devotees will find this biography unsettling. Jones gives us a wonderfully rich and detailed view of just how deeply Kinsey's own needs (and blindnesses) informed his work and the work of his team, and how (consciously or otherwise) Kinsey's quest for self-validation led him to concoct (no other word will do, it seems to me) validation for all those like him who could not find their sexual self-images in the rather poverty-stricken catalog available in the 1950s and before.
Kinsey-haters, while clapping gleefully at all that Jones reveals about the flaws behind Kinsey's path-breaking work (Mister Y in particular), will also be disturbed by this book. Jones doesn't demonize Kinsey, or, if he does, he makes of Kinsey a Lucifer: a bringer of light, an arrogant, fallen angel, a friend of humankind. It is impossible, it seems to me, to read this truly great book and not conclude that, flawed and conflicted as he was, Kinsey was doing the work of the angels -- that his research did open, in an unforecloseable way, the facticity of sexual variation in the human species.
For historians and sociologists of science, this book is a must-read: a wonderful case study about the open boundary between the psyche of the investigator and the subject of investigation.
For the rest of us, this is the biography of a man, in full: a big, brilliant [...], dead-on and dead-broken at the same moment. It's nice -- in these days of perpetu-spin, Fox News and reality TV -- to see something whole, to see it clearly, and to see it without the annoying drone of (leftist or rightist) commentary.
All kudos to Jones for his fairness, his scholarship and his reach, which does not exceed his grasp.
Amazon.com
This astonishing biography of Alfred Kinsey, the man who launched the sexual revolution, is graphically frank about his decidedly out-of-the-mainstream sexual practices (including masochism and voyeurism), yet historian James Jones doesn't exploit the material for titillation. Instead, Jones argues compassionately and persuasively that Kinsey's personal sexual demons sparked his campaign to demolish Victorian taboos about sex by gathering the scientific data eventually published in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). Jones reveals that the data were hardly as unbiased as Kinsey claimed, but it was world-shaking nonetheless. Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life is a magnificent work of cultural history as well as a sensitive study of a troubled individual.
Book Description
The hidden life of Alfred C. Kinsey, the principal architect of the sexual revolution. In this brilliant, groundbreaking biography, twenty years in the making, James H. Jones presents a moving and even shocking portrait of the man who pierced the veil of reticence surrounding human sexuality. Jones shows that the public image Alfred Kinsey cultivated of disinterested biologist was in fact a carefully crafted public persona. By any measure he was an extraordinary man--and a man with secrets. Drawing upon never before disclosed facts about Kinsey's childhood, Jones traces the roots of Kinsey's scholarly interest in human sexuality to his tortured upbringing. Between the sexual tensions of the culture and Kinsey's devoutly religious family, Jones depicts Kinsey emerging from childhood with psychological trauma but determined to rescue humanity from the emotional and sexual repression he had suffered. New facts about his marriage, family life, and relationships with students and colleagues enrich this portrait of the complicated, troubled man who transformed the state of public discourse on human sexuality.
Customer Reviews:
Mean Book.......2004-05-14
Jones certainly did his homework, but the work comes across as mean, even vindictive. He shows Kinsey is the harshest light and he comes across as excessively judgmental. A more recent book, Sex - the Measure of All Things by Jonathan Gathorne Hardy is a kindler and more balanced look at Kinsey and his work. I recommend starting with that. Kinsey was a great pioneer -- not perfect -- but a true giant in opening up to the doors to our sexuality. The Christian right has spent the last thirty years trying to discredit Kinsey's work and take us back to the 19th Century.
Great Story, Terrible Book.......1999-10-24
"Awkward" and "provincial" wrote the NY Times reviewer, and I can't disagree. To get an idea of the biographer's perspective on Kinsey, consider that he refers to an interest in S/M as "peculiar," and closes by predicting that had the atheistic Kinsey lived to see the age of AIDS, he would have seen AIDS as the work of a "wrathful God."
Thorough, biassed and both scientifically and sexually naive.......1999-05-20
James Jones's biography of Alfred c Kinsey is a valuable antidote to the hagiographies and demonologies published so far. Jones presents the nastier sides of his subject's personality and exposes his strategically concealed sexual practices. However, Jones presents Kinsey as a pervert and charlatan, failing to understand the moral and scientific rationales for Kinsey's approach to sex research and thus totally misrepresents both the man and his achievement. Jones's last-page sop to Kinsey's greatness seems to be a cowardly after-thought to a bilious, splenetic and angry book.
A better choice.......1998-09-17
I would recomend reading Judith Reismman's new book: Kinsey: Crimes and Consequences.
The Kinsey Institute revealed that Kinsey used pedophiles to document orgasms in hundreds of boys and girls as young a 5 months old. One of his favorites reported abusing at least 800 children. These
Kinsey reclassified prostitutes as married woman when he could not find enough woman willing to submit to his questionnaire. He used child molesters, rapists, homosexuals, prostitutes,sadists, masochists, etc. to represent the average American.
Kinsey would not allow anyone, even a janitor to work for him unless they submitted to a sexual history questionnaire. When applicants did not agree that adultery, pre-marital sex, and sex with animals was normal, he told them they would not fit in with his staff.
The Rockafeller Foundation's records reveal that Kinsey's associates were unqualified. Not only were the histories unscientifically administered but the statistics were proven unreliable and inacurate.
If you want to know the full truth of the Kinsey deception -- buy Reisman's well documented book.
highly readable biography of a complex individual.......1998-04-11
i had not known too much about kinsey until i read this book . . . now i know perhaps even more than i watnted to know (the book is nearly 1,000 pages). . . however, it was never dull . . . and would be of interest to readers interested in books about higher education, the mdeia, public rleations, statistics, politics, and yes, sex also! . . . i recommend the book!
Average customer rating:
- An important perspective that historians usually miss
- Pauly gives biologists too much credit.
- An overambitious yet impressive accomplishment ...
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Biologists and the Promise of American Life: From Meriwether Lewis to Alfred Kinsey
Philip J. Pauly
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0691092869 |
Book Description
Explorers, evolutionists, eugenicists, sexologists, and high school biology teachers--all have contributed to the prominence of the biological sciences in American life. In this book, Philip Pauly weaves their stories together into a fascinating history of biology in America over the last two hundred years.
Beginning with the return of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806, botanists and zoologists identified science with national culture, linking their work to continental imperialism and the creation of an industrial republic. Pauly examines this nineteenth-century movement in local scientific communities with national reach: the partnership of Asa Gray and Louis Agassiz at Harvard University, the excitement of work at the Smithsonian Institution and the Geological Survey, and disputes at the Agriculture Department over the continent's future. He then describes the establishment of biology as an academic discipline in the late nineteenth century, and the retreat of life scientists from the problems of American nature. The early twentieth century, however, witnessed a new burst of public-oriented activity among biologists. Here Pauly chronicles such topics as the introduction of biology into high school curricula, the efforts of eugenicists to alter the "breeding" of Americans, and the influence of sexual biology on Americans' most private lives.
Throughout much of American history, Pauly argues, life scientists linked their study of nature with a desire to culture--to use intelligence and craft to improve American plants, animals, and humans. They often disagreed and frequently overreached, but they sought to build a nation whose people would be prosperous, humane, secular, and liberal. Life scientists were significant participants in efforts to realize what Progressive Era oracle Herbert Croly called "the promise of American life." Pauly tells their story in its entirety and explains why now, in a society that is rapidly returning to a complex ethnic mix similar to the one that existed for a hundred years prior to the Cold War, it is important to reconnect with the progressive creators of American secular culture.
Customer Reviews:
An important perspective that historians usually miss.......2005-09-05
This book is a terrific addition to the history of American modernity. It does assume a solid grasp of the basic narrative of the times, and is therefore suitable for upper-level college classes and graduate students rather than general readers. What is crucial about this book is Pauly's description of how scientists operate on paths that do not always converge with mainstream American life, but who nonetheless have a disproportionate impact of how we see the world. One example of this is Pauly's brilliant observation that all the attention to the Scopes Trial is missing a key point--the "question" of evolution was already decided by those who wrote the science textbooks of the day. Considering how science is being undermined by political forces today, Pauly's book is quite relevant in understanding how science shapes--and is shaped--by society.
Pauly gives biologists too much credit........2001-04-21
Pauly tries to assign an historical importance to American biologists that simply doesn't exists. He claims that they have significantly influenced American culture, but his examples are narrow in scope and unconvincing. Pauly is a champion of biologists, as you would expect from a historian of biology, but he goes too far. Biologists have largely been a tool in shaping American culture, rather than a motive force as Pauly claims.
(The above review was written in 2000. Four years later, I have revised my judgement on Pauly's thesis; biologists have been a force in some significant ways, though perhaps not to the extent Pauly argues. However, this book is too broad to be convincing in its examples, unless the reader already has a moderate grasp of the history of biology in America.)
An overambitious yet impressive accomplishment ..........2001-04-17
This book, with its great scope and complicated objectives, could not help but fall short in some aspects. Some of his historical analogies (the Grey/Agassiz conflict and the civil war) are a bit of a stretch, and the information on nearly all the scientists leaves the reader wanting. Nonetheless, this book covers an extremely broad range of topics, people...the type above the title says it all--"From Meriwether Lewis to Alfred Kinsey". This is obviously not going to be extremely in depth on many subjects. The chapter on biology's integration into the high schools is by far the best section of the book. A book that fulfills a specific niche admirably if not terribly enthrallingly.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Human Biology, published by Wayne State University Press on October 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1222 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: Biologists and the Promise of American Life from Meriwether Lewis to Alfred Kinsey.(Book Review)
Author: C. Loring Brace
Publication:
Human Biology (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 2003
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Volume: 75
Issue: 5
Page: 777(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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