Book Reviews 365 : Reviews Book

Controversies

2008-07-27T08:23:00.002-07:00

Insurance insulates too much
By creating a "security blanket" for its insureds, an insurance company may inadvertently find that its insureds may not be as risk-averse as they might otherwise be (since, by definition, the insured has transferred the risk to the insurer). This problem is known to the insurance industry as moral hazard. To reduce their own financial exposure, insurance companies have contractual clauses that mitigate their obligation to provide coverage if the insured engages in behavior that grossly magnifies their risk of loss or liability.

For example, life insurance companies may require higher premiums or deny coverage altogether to people who work in hazardous occupations or engage in dangerous sports. Liability insurance providers do not provide coverage for liability arising from intentional torts committed by the insured. Even if a provider were so irrational as to desire to provide such coverage, it is against the public policy of most countries to allow such insurance to exist, and thus it is usually illegal.

Closed community self-insurance
Some communities prefer to create virtual insurance amongst themselves by other means than contractual risk transfer, which assigns explicit numerical values to risk. A number of religious groups, including the Amish and some Muslim groups, depend on support provided by their communities when disasters strike. The risk presented by any given person is assumed collectively by the community who all bear the cost of rebuilding lost property and supporting people whose needs are suddenly greater after a loss of some kind. In supportive communities where others can be trusted to follow community leaders, this tacit form of insurance can work. In this manner the community can even out the extreme differences in insurability that exist among its members. Some further justification is also provided by invoking the moral hazard of explicit insurance contracts.

In the United Kingdom The Crown (which, for practical purposes, meant the Civil service) did not insure property such as government buildings. If a government building was damaged, the cost of repair would be met from public funds because, in the long run, this was cheaper than paying insurance premiums. Since many UK government buildings have been sold to property companies, and rented back, this arrangement is now less common and may have disappeared altogether.

Complexity of insurance policy contracts
Insurance policies can be complex and some policyholders may not understand all the fees and coverages included in a policy. As a result, people may buy policies on unfavorable terms. In response to these issues, many countries have enacted detailed statutory and regulatory regimes governing every aspect of the insurance business, including minimum standards for policies and the ways in which they may be advertised and sold.

Many institutional insurance purchasers buy insurance through an insurance broker. Brokers represent the buyer (not the insurance company), and typically counsel the buyer on appropriate coverages, policy limitations. A broker generally holds contracts with many insurers, thereby allowing the broker to "shop" the market for the best rates and coverage possible.

Insurance may also be purchased through an agent. Unlike a broker, who represents the policyholder, an agent represents the insurance company from whom the policyholder buys. An agent can represent more than one company.

Redlining
Redlining is the practice of denying insurance coverage in specific geographic areas, purportedly because of a high likelihood of loss, while the alleged motivation is unlawful discrimination. Racial profiling or redlining has a long history in the property insurance industry in the United States. From a review of industry underwriting and marketing materials, court documents, and research by government agencies, industry and community groups, and academics, it is clear that race has long affected and continues to affect the policies and practices of the insurance industry.[11]

In determining premiums and premium rate structures, insurers consider quantifiable factors, including location, credit scores, gender, occupation, marital status, and education level. However, the use of such factors is often considered to be unfair or unlawfully discriminatory, and the reaction against this practice has in some instances led to political disputes about the ways in which insurers determine premiums and regulatory intervention to limit the factors used.

An insurance underwriter's job is to evaluate a given risk as to the likelihood that a loss will occur. Any factor that causes a greater likelihood of loss should theoretically be charged a higher rate. This basic principle of insurance must be followed if insurance companies are to remain solvent. Thus, "discrimination" against (i.e., differential treatment of) potential insureds in the risk evaluation and premium-setting process is a necessary by-product of the fundamentals of insurance underwriting. For instance, insurers charge older people significantly higher premiums than they charge younger people for term life insurance. Older people are thus treated differently than younger people (i.e., a distinction is made, discrimination occurs). The rationale for the differential treatment goes to the heart of the risk a life insurer takes: Old people are likely to die sooner than young people, so the risk of loss (the insured's death) is greater in any given period of time and therefore the risk premium must be higher to cover the greater risk. However, treating insureds differently when there is no actuarially sound reason for doing so is unlawful discrimination.

What is often missing from the debate is that prohibiting the use of legitimate, actuarially sound factors means that an insufficient amount is being charged for a given risk, and there is thus a deficit in the system. The failure to address the deficit may mean insolvency and hardship for all of a company's insureds. The options for addressing the deficit seem to be the following: Charge the deficit to the other policyholders or charge it to the government (i.e., externalize outside of the company to society at large).

Insurance patents
Further information: Insurance patent
New insurance products can now be protected from copying with a business method patent in the United States.

A recent example of a new insurance product that is patented is telematic auto insurance. It was independently invented and patented by a major U.S. auto insurance company, Progressive Auto Insurance (U.S. Patent 5,797,134 ) and a Spanish independent inventor, Salvador Minguijon Perez (EP patent 0700009).

The basic idea of telematic auto insurance is that a driver's behavior is monitored directly while he or she drives and the information is transmitted to the insurance company. The insurance company uses the information to assess the likelihood that a driver will have an accident and adjusts premiums accordingly. A driver who drives great distances at high speeds, for example, might be charged a different rate than a driver who drives short distances at low speeds. The precise effect on charges is not known as it is not clear that a high speed long distance driver incurs greater risk to an insurance pool than the slow around-town driver.[citation needed]

A British auto insurance company, Norwich Union, has obtained a license to both the Progressive patent and Perez patent. They have made investments in infrastructure and developed a commercial offering called "Pay As You Drive" or PAYD.

Recent theoretical economic research on the social welfare effects of Progressive's telematics technology business process patents have questioned whether the business process patents are pareto efficient for society. Preliminary results suggest that they are not, but more work is needed. [12] [13]

Many independent inventors are in favor of patenting new insurance products since it gives them protection from big companies when they bring their new insurance products to market. Independent inventors account for 70 percent of the new U.S. patent applications in this area.

Many insurance executives are opposed to patenting insurance products because it creates a new risk for them. The Hartford insurance company, for example, recently had to pay $80 million to an independent inventor, Bancorp Services, in order to settle a patent infringement and theft of trade secret lawsuit for a type of corporate owned life insurance product invented and patented by Bancorp.

There are currently about 150 new patent applications on insurance inventions filed per year in the United States. The rate at which patents have issued has steadily risen from 15 in 2002 to 44 in 2006. [14]

The insurance industry and rent seeking
Certain insurance products and practices have been described as rent seeking by critics. That is, some insurance products or practices are useful primarily because of legal benefits, such as reducing taxes, as opposed to providing protection against risks of adverse events. Under United States tax law, for example, most owners of variable annuities and variable life insurance can invest their premium payments in the stock market and defer or eliminate paying any taxes on their investments until withdrawals are made. Sometimes this tax deferral is the only reason people use these products. Another example is the legal infrastructure which allows life insurance to be held in an irrevocable trust which is used to pay an estate tax while the proceeds themselves are immune from the estate tax.

Criticism of insurance companies
Some people believe that modern insurance companies are money-making businesses which have little interest in insurance. They argue that the purpose of insurance is to spread risk so the reluctance of insurance companies to take on high-risk cases (e.g. houses in areas subject to flooding, or young drivers) runs counter to the principle of insurance.

Other criticisms include:

Insurance policies contain too many exclusion clauses. For example, some house insurance policies do not cover damage to garden walls.
Many insurance companies now use call centres and staff attempt to answer questions by reading from a script. It is difficult to speak to anybody with expert knowledge.

Global insurance industry

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Global insurance premiums grew by 8.0% in 2006 (or 5% in real terms) to reach $3.7 trillion due to improved profitability and a benign economic environment characterised by solid economic growth, moderate inflation and strong equity markets. Profitability improved in both life and non-life insurance in 2006 compared to the previous year. Life insurance premiums grew by 10.2% in 2006 as demand for annuity and pension products rose. Non-life insurance premiums grew by 5.0% due to growth in premium rates. Over the past decade, global insurance premiums rose by more than a half as annual growth fluctuated between 2% and 11%.

Advanced economies account for the bulk of global insurance. With premium income of $1,485bn, Europe was the most important region, followed by North America ($1,258bn) and Asia ($801bn). The top four countries accounted for nearly two-thirds of premiums in 2006. The US and Japan alone accounted for 43% of world insurance, much higher than their 7% share of the global population. Emerging markets accounted for over 85% of the world’s population but generated only around 10% of premiums. The volume of UK insurance business totalled $418bn in 2006 or 11.2% of global premiums

Insurance companies

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Insurance companies may be classified into two groups:

Life insurance companies, which sell life insurance, annuities and pensions products.
Non-life, General, or Property/Casualty insurance companies, which sell other types of insurance.
General insurance companies can be further divided into these sub categories.

Standard Lines
Excess Lines
In most countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulatory regimes and different tax and accounting rules. The main reason for the distinction between the two types of company is that life, annuity, and pension business is very long-term in nature — coverage for life assurance or a pension can cover risks over many decades. By contrast, non-life insurance cover usually covers a shorter period, such as one year.

In the United States, standard line insurance companies are your "main stream" insurers. These are the companies that typically insure your auto, home or business. They use pattern or "cookie-cutter" policies without variation from one person to the next. They usually have lower premiums than excess lines and can sell directly to individuals. They are regulated by state laws that can restrict the amount they can charge for insurance policies.

Excess line insurance companies (aka Excess and Surplus) typically insure risks not covered by the standard lines market. They are broadly referred as being all insurance placed with non-admitted insurers. Non-admitted insurers are not licensed in the states where the risks are located. These companies have more flexibility and can react faster than standard insurance companies because they are not required to file rates and forms as do the "admitted" carriers do. However, they still have substantial regulatory requirements placed upon them. State laws generally require insurance placed with surplus line agents and brokers to not be available through standard licensed insurers.

Insurance companies are generally classified as either mutual or stock companies. This is more of a traditional distinction as true mutual companies are becoming rare. Mutual companies are owned by the policyholders, while stockholders (who may or may not own policies) own stock insurance companies. Other possible forms for an insurance company include reciprocals, in which policyholders 'reciprocate' in sharing risks, and Lloyds organizations.

Insurance companies are rated by various agencies such as A. M. Best. The ratings include the company's financial strength, which measures its ability to pay claims. It also rates financial instruments issued by the insurance company, such as bonds, notes, and securitization products.

Reinsurance companies are insurance companies that sell policies to other insurance companies, allowing them to reduce their risks and protect themselves from very large losses. The reinsurance market is dominated by a few very large companies, with huge reserves. A reinsurer may also be a direct writer of insurance risks as well.

Captive insurance companies may be defined as limited-purpose insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups. This definition can sometimes be extended to include some of the risks of the parent company's customers. In short, it is an in-house self-insurance vehicle. Captives may take the form of a "pure" entity (which is a 100 percent subsidiary of the self-insured parent company); of a "mutual" captive (which insures the collective risks of members of an industry); and of an "association" captive (which self-insures individual risks of the members of a professional, commercial or industrial association). Captives represent commercial, economic and tax advantages to their sponsors because of the reductions in costs they help create and for the ease of insurance risk management and the flexibility for cash flows they generate. Additionally, they may provide coverage of risks which is neither available nor offered in the traditional insurance market at reasonable prices.

The types of risk that a captive can underwrite for their parents include property damage, public and products liability, professional indemnity, employee benefits, employers liability, motor and medical aid expenses. The captive's exposure to such risks may be limited by the use of reinsurance.

Captives are becoming an increasingly important component of the risk management and risk financing strategy of their parent. This can be understood against the following background:

heavy and increasing premium costs in almost every line of coverage;
difficulties in insuring certain types of fortuitous risk;
differential coverage standards in various parts of the world;
rating structures which reflect market trends rather than individual loss experience;
insufficient credit for deductibles and/or loss control efforts.
There are also companies known as 'insurance consultants'. Like a mortgage broker, these companies are paid a fee by the customer to shop around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. Similar to an insurance consultant, an 'insurance broker' also shops around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. However, with insurance brokers, the fee is usually paid in the form of commission from the insurer that is selected rather than directly from the client.

Neither insurance consultants nor insurance brokers are insurance companies and no risks are transferred to them in insurance transactions. Third party administrators are companies that perform underwriting and sometimes claims handling services for insurance companies. These companies often have special expertise that the insurance companies do not have.

The financial stability and strength of an insurance company should be a major consideration when purchasing an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool or other arrangement with less attractive payouts for losses). A number of independent rating agencies, such as Best's, Fitch, Standard & Poor's, and Moody's Investors Service, provide information and rate the financial viability of insurance companies.

Liability

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Liability insurance is a very broad superset that covers legal claims against the insured. Many types of insurance include an aspect of liability coverage. For example, a homeowner's insurance policy will normally include liability coverage which protects the insured in the event of a claim brought by someone who slips and falls on the property; automobile insurance also includes an aspect of liability insurance that indemnifies against the harm that a crashing car can cause to others' lives, health, or property. The protection offered by a liability insurance policy is twofold: a legal defense in the event of a lawsuit commenced against the policyholder and indemnification (payment on behalf of the insured) with respect to a settlement or court verdict. Liability policies typically cover only the negligence of the insured, and will not apply to results of willful or intentional acts by the insured.

Environmental liability insurance protects the insured from bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs as a result of the dispersal, release or escape of pollutants.
Errors and omissions insurance: See "Professional liability insurance" under "Liability insurance".
Professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance, protects insured professionals such as architectural corporation and medical practice against potential negligence claims made by their patients/clients. Professional liability insurance may take on different names depending on the profession. For example, professional liability insurance in reference to the medical profession may be called malpractice insurance. Notaries public may take out errors and omissions insurance (E&O). Other potential E&O policyholders include, for example, real estate brokers, home inspectors, appraisers, and website developers.
Directors and officers liability insurance protects an organization (usually a corporation) from costs associated with litigation resulting from mistakes incurred by directors and officers for which they are liable. In the industry, it is usually called "D&O" for short.
Prize indemnity insurance protects the insured from giving away a large prize at a specific event. Examples would include offering prizes to contestants who can make a half-court shot at a basketball game, or a hole-in-one at a golf tournament.

Types of insurance

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Any risk that can be quantified can potentially be insured. Specific kinds of risk that may give rise to claims are known as "perils". An insurance policy will set out in detail which perils are covered by the policy and which are not. Below are (non-exhaustive) lists of the many different types of insurance that exist. A single policy may cover risks in one or more of the categories set forth below. For example, auto insurance would typically cover both property risk (covering the risk of theft or damage to the car) and liability risk (covering legal claims from causing an accident). A homeowner's insurance policy in the U.S. typically includes property insurance covering damage to the home and the owner's belongings, liability insurance covering certain legal claims against the owner, and even a small amount of health insurance for medical expenses of guests who are injured on the owner's property.

Business insurance can be any kind of insurance that protects businesses against risks. Some principal subtypes of business insurance are (a) the various kinds of professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance, which are discussed below under that name; and (b) the business owners policy (BOP), which bundles into one policy many of the kinds of coverage that a business owner needs, in a way analogous to how homeowners insurance bundles the coverages that a homeowner needs.[7]

Health
Health insurance policies will often cover the cost of private medical treatments if the National Health Service in the United Kingdom (NHS) or other publicly-funded health programs do not pay for them. It will often result in quicker health care where better facilities are available. Dental insurance, like medical insurance, is coverage for individuals to protect them against dental costs. In the U.S., dental insurance is often part of an employer's benefits package, along with health insurance. Most countries rely on public funding to ensure that all citizens have universal access to health care.

Disability
Disability insurance policies provide financial support in the event the policyholder is unable to work because of disabling illness or injury. It provides monthly support to help pay such obligations as mortgages and credit cards.
Total permanent disability insurance insurance provides benefits when a person is permanently disabled and can no longer work in their profession, often taken as an adjunct to life insurance.
Disability overhead insurance allows business owners to cover the overhead expenses of their business while they are unable to work.
Workers' compensation insurance replaces all or part of a worker's wages lost and accompanying medical expense incurred because of a job-related injury.

Casualty
Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property.

Crime insurance is a form of casualty insurance that covers the policyholder against losses arising from the criminal acts of third parties. For example, a company can obtain crime insurance to cover losses arising from theft or embezzlement.
Political risk insurance is a form of casualty insurance that can be taken out by businesses with operations in countries in which there is a risk that revolution or other political conditions will result in a loss.

Life insurance provides a monetary benefit to a decedent's family or other designated beneficiary, and may specifically provide for income to an insured person's family, burial, funeral and other final expenses. Life insurance policies often allow the option of having the proceeds paid to the beneficiary either in a lump sum cash payment or an annuity.

Annuities provide a stream of payments and are generally classified as insurance because they are issued by insurance companies and regulated as insurance and require the same kinds of actuarial and investment management expertise that life insurance requires. Annuities and pensions that pay a benefit for life are sometimes regarded as insurance against the possibility that a retiree will outlive his or her financial resources. In that sense, they are the complement of life insurance and, from an underwriting perspective, are the mirror image of life insurance.

Certain life insurance contracts accumulate cash values, which may be taken by the insured if the policy is surrendered or which may be borrowed against. Some policies, such as annuities and endowment policies, are financial instruments to accumulate or liquidate wealth when it is needed.

In many countries, such as the U.S. and the UK, the tax law provides that the interest on this cash value is not taxable under certain circumstances. This leads to widespread use of life insurance as a tax-efficient method of saving as well as protection in the event of early death.

In U.S., the tax on interest income on life insurance policies and annuities is generally deferred. However, in some cases the benefit derived from tax deferral may be offset by a low return. This depends upon the insuring company, the type of policy and other variables (mortality, market return, etc.). Moreover, other income tax saving vehicles (e.g., IRAs, 401(k) plans, Roth IRAs) may be better alternatives for value accumulation. A combination of low-cost term life insurance and a higher-return tax-efficient retirement account may achieve better investment return.

Property
Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance.

Automobile insurance, known in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the insured's vehicle itself. Throughout the United States auto insurance policy is required to legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. In some jurisdictions, bodily injury compensation for automobile accident victims has been changed to a no-fault system, which reduces or eliminates the ability to sue for compensation but provides automatic eligibility for benefits. Credit card companies insure against damage on rented cars.
Driving School Insurance insurance provides cover for any authorized driver whilst under going tuition, cover also unlike other motor policies provides cover for instructor liability where both the pupil and driving instructor are both equally liable in the event of a claim.
Aviation insurance insures against hull, spares, deductible, hull wear and liability risks.
Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to equipment or machinery.
Builder's risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder's risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage due to any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded.
Crop insurance "Farmers use crop insurance to reduce or manage various risks associated with growing crops. Such risks include crop loss or damage caused by weather, hail, drought, frost damage, insects, or disease, for instance."[8]
Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage. Most earthquake insurance policies feature a high deductible. Rates depend on location and the probability of an earthquake, as well as the construction of the home.
A fidelity bond is a form of casualty insurance that covers policyholders for losses that they incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees.
Flood insurance protects against property loss due to flooding. Many insurers in the US do not provide flood insurance in some portions of the country. In response to this, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program which serves as the insurer of last resort.
Home insurance or homeowners insurance: See "Property insurance".
Marine insurance and marine cargo insurance cover the loss or damage of ships at sea or on inland waterways, and of the cargo that may be on them. When the owner of the cargo and the carrier are separate corporations, marine cargo insurance typically compensates the owner of cargo for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier or the carrier's insurance. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss.
Surety bond insurance is a three party insurance guaranteeing the performance of the principal.
Terrorism insurance provides protection against any loss or damage caused by terrorist activities.
Volcano insurance is an insurance that covers volcano damage in Hawaii.
Windstorm insurance is an insurance covering the damage that can be caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones.

History of insurance

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In some sense we can say that insurance appears simultaneously with the appearance of human society. We know of two types of economies in human societies: money economies (with markets, money, financial instruments and so on) and non-money or natural economies (without money, markets, financial instruments and so on). The second type is a more ancient form than the first. In such an economy and community, we can see insurance in the form of people helping each other. For example, if a house burns down, the members of the community help build a new one. Should the same thing happen to one's neighbour, the other neighbours must help. Otherwise, neighbours will not receive help in the future. This type of insurance has survived to the present day in some countries where modern money economy with its financial instruments is not widespread (for example countries in the territory of the former Soviet Union).
Turning to insurance in the modern sense (i.e., insurance in a modern money economy, in which insurance is part of the financial sphere), early methods of transferring or distributing risk were practiced by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively. Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practiced by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen.
Achaemenian monarchs were the first to insure their people and made it official by registering the insuring process in governmental notary offices. The insurance tradition was performed each year in Norouz (beginning of the Iranian New Year); the heads of different ethnic groups as well as others willing to take part, presented gifts to the monarch. The most important gift was presented during a special ceremony. When a gift was worth more than 10,000 Derrik (Achaemenian gold coin) the issue was registered in a special office. This was advantageous to those who presented such special gifts. For others, the presents were fairly assessed by the confidants of the court. Then the assessment was registered in special offices.
The purpose of registering was that whenever the person who presented the gift registered by the court was in trouble, the monarch and the court would help him. Jahez, a historian and writer, writes in one of his books on ancient Iran: "[W]henever the owner of the present is in trouble or wants to construct a building, set up a feast, have his children married, etc. the one in charge of this in the court would check the registration. If the registered amount exceeded 10,000 Derrik, he or she would receive an amount of twice as much."[1]
A thousand years later, the inhabitants of Rhodes invented the concept of the 'general average'. Merchants whose goods were being shipped together would pay a proportionally divided premium which would be used to reimburse any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during storm or sinkage.
The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health and life insurance c. 600 AD when they organized guilds called "benevolent societies" which cared for the families and paid funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose. The Talmud deals with several aspects of insuring goods. Before insurance was established in the late 17th century, "friendly societies" existed in England, in which people donated amounts of money to a general sum that could be used for emergencies.
Separate insurance contracts (i.e., insurance policies not bundled with loans or other kinds of contracts) were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, as were insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates. These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance. Insurance became far more sophisticated in post-Renaissance Europe, and specialized varieties developed.
Toward the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a centre for trade increased demand for marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Mr. Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house that became a popular haunt of ship owners, merchants, and ships’ captains, and thereby a reliable source of the latest shipping news. It became the meeting place for parties wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. Today, Lloyd's of London remains the leading market (note that it is not an insurance company) for marine and other specialist types of insurance, but it works rather differently than the more familiar kinds of insurance.
Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, "The Fire Office," to insure brick and frame homes.
The first insurance company in the United States underwrote fire insurance and was formed in Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), South Carolina, in 1732. Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of insurance, particularly against fire in the form of perpetual insurance. In 1752, he founded the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Franklin's company was the first to make contributions toward fire prevention. Not only did his company warn against certain fire hazards, it refused to insure certain buildings where the risk of fire was too great, such as all wooden houses. In the United States, regulation of the insurance industry is highly Balkanized, with primary responsibility assumed by individual state insurance departments. Whereas insurance markets have become centralized nationally and internationally, state insurance commissioners operate individually, though at times in concert through a national insurance commissioners' organization. In recent years, some have called for a dual state and federal regulatory system (commonly referred to as the Optional Federal Charter (OFC)) for insurance similar to that which oversees state banks and national banks.

Insurer’s business model

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Profit = earned premium + investment income - incurred loss - underwriting expenses.
Insurers make money in two ways: (1) through underwriting, the process by which insurers select the risks to insure and decide how much in premiums to charge for accepting those risks and (2) by investing the premiums they collect from insureds.
The most complicated aspect of the insurance business is the underwriting of policies. Using a wide assortment of data, insurers predict the likelihood that a claim will be made against their policies and price products accordingly. To this end, insurers use actuarial science to quantify the risks they are willing to assume and the premium they will charge to assume them. Data is analyzed to fairly accurately project the rate of future claims based on a given risk. Actuarial science uses statistics and probability to analyze the risks associated with the range of perils covered, and these scientific principles are used to determine an insurer's overall exposure. Upon termination of a given policy, the amount of premium collected and the investment gains thereon minus the amount paid out in claims is the insurer's underwriting profit on that policy. Of course, from the insurer's perspective, some policies are winners (i.e., the insurer pays out less in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income) and some are losers (i.e., the insurer pays out more in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income).
An insurer's underwriting performance is measured in its combined ratio. The loss ratio (incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses divided by net earned premium) is added to the expense ratio (underwriting expenses divided by net premium written) to determine the company's combined ratio. The combined ratio is a reflection of the company's overall underwriting profitability. A combined ratio of less than 100 percent indicates underwriting profitability, while anything over 100 indicates an underwriting loss.
Insurance companies also earn investment profits on “float”. “Float” or available reserve is the amount of money, at hand at any given moment, that an insurer has collected in insurance premiums but has not been paid out in claims. Insurers start investing insurance premiums as soon as they are collected and continue to earn interest on them until claims are paid out.
In the United States, the underwriting loss of property and casualty insurance companies was $142.3 billion in the five years ending 2003. But overall profit for the same period was $68.4 billion, as the result of float. Some insurance industry insiders, most notably Hank Greenberg, do not believe that it is forever possible to sustain a profit from float without an underwriting profit as well, but this opinion is not universally held. Naturally, the “float” method is difficult to carry out in an economically depressed period. Bear markets do cause insurers to shift away from investments and to toughen up their underwriting standards. So a poor economy generally means high insurance premiums. This tendency to swing between profitable and unprofitable periods over time is commonly known as the "underwriting" or insurance cycle. [6]
Property and casualty insurers currently make the most money from their auto insurance line of business. Generally better statistics are available on auto losses and underwriting on this line of business has benefited greatly from advances in computing. Additionally, property losses in the US, due to natural catastrophes, have exacerbated this trend.
Finally, claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance. In managing the claims-handling function, insurers seek to balance the elements of customer satisfaction, administrative handling expenses, and claims overpayment leakages. As part of this balancing act, fraudulent insurance practices are a major business risk that must be managed and overcome.

Indemnification

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The technical definition of "indemnity" means to make whole again. There are two types of insurance contracts; 1) an "indemnity" policy and 2) a "pay on behalf" or "on behalf of"[3] policy. The difference is significant on paper, but rarely material in practice.
An "indemnity" policy will never pay claims until the insured has paid out of pocket to some third party; i.e. a visitor to your home slips on a floor that you left wet and sues you for $10,000 and wins. Under an "indemnity" policy the homeowner would have to come up with the $10,000 to pay for the visitor's fall and then would be "indemnified" by the insurance carrier for the out of pocket costs (the $10,000)[4].
Under the same situation, a "pay on behalf" policy, the insurance carrier would pay the claim and the insured (the homeowner) would not be out of pocket for anything. Most modern liability insurance is written on the basis of "pay on behalf" language[5].
An entity seeking to transfer risk (an individual, corporation, or association of any type, etc.) becomes the 'insured' party once risk is assumed by an 'insurer', the insuring party, by means of a contract, called an insurance 'policy'. Generally, an insurance contract includes, at a minimum, the following elements: the parties (the insurer, the insured, the beneficiaries), the premium, the period of coverage, the particular loss event covered, the amount of coverage (i.e., the amount to be paid to the insured or beneficiary in the event of a loss), and exclusions (events not covered). An insured is thus said to be "indemnified" against the loss events covered in the policy.
When insured parties experience a loss for a specified peril, the coverage entitles the policyholder to make a 'claim' against the insurer for the covered amount of loss as specified by the policy. The fee paid by the insured to the insurer for assuming the risk is called the 'premium'. Insurance premiums from many insureds are used to fund accounts reserved for later payment of claims—in theory for a relatively few claimants—and for overhead costs. So long as an insurer maintains adequate funds set aside for anticipated losses (i.e., reserves), the remaining margin is an insurer's profit.

Principles of insurance

2008-07-27T08:18:00.003-07:00

Commercially insurable risks typically share seven common characteristics.[1]

A large number of homogeneous exposure units. The vast majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of very large classes. Automobile insurance, for example, covered about 175 million automobiles in the United States in 2004.[2] The existence of a large number of homogeneous exposure units allows insurers to benefit from the so-called “law of large numbers,” which in effect states that as the number of exposure units increases, the actual results are increasingly likely to become close to expected results. There are exceptions to this criterion. Lloyd's of London is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, actresses and sports figures. Satellite Launch insurance covers events that are infrequent. Large commercial property policies may insure exceptional properties for which there are no ‘homogeneous’ exposure units. Despite failing on this criterion, many exposures like these are generally considered to be insurable.
Definite Loss. The event that gives rise to the loss that is subject to insurance should, at least in principle, take place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious conditions where no specific time, place or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could objectively verify all three elements.
Accidental Loss. The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be ‘pure,’ in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements, such as ordinary business risks, are generally not considered insurable.
Large Loss. The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is little point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer.
Affordable Premium. If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, it is not likely that anyone will buy insurance, even if on offer. Further, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards, the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance. (See the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board standard number 113)
Calculable Loss. There are two elements that must be at least estimable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and objective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim.
Limited risk of catastrophically large losses. The essential risk is often aggregation. If the same event can cause losses to numerous policyholders of the same insurer, the ability of that insurer to issue policies becomes constrained, not by factors surrounding the individual characteristics of a given policyholder, but by the factors surrounding the sum of all policyholders so exposed. Typically, insurers prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base, on the order of 5 percent. Where the loss can be aggregated, or an individual policy could produce exceptionally large claims, the capital constraint will restrict an insurers appetite for additional policyholders. The classic example is earthquake insurance, where the ability of an underwriter to issue a new policy depends on the number and size of the policies that it has already underwritten. Wind insurance in hurricane zones, particularly along coast lines, is another example of this phenomenon. In extreme cases, the aggregation can affect the entire industry, since the combined capital of insurers and reinsurers can be small compared to the needs of potential policyholders in areas exposed to aggregation risk. In commercial fire insurance it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurer’s capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market.

Principles of insurance

2008-07-27T08:18:00.002-07:00

Insurance

2008-07-27T08:18:00.001-07:00

Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium. An insurer is a company selling the insurance. The insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.

What It Is

2008-05-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

“Deliciously drawn (with fragments of collage worked into each page), insightful and bubbling with delight in the process of artistic creation. A+” —Salon
How do objects summon memories? What do real images feel like? For decades, these types of questions have permeated the pages of Lynda Barry’s compositions, with words attracting pictures and conjuring places through a pen that first and foremost keeps on moving. What It Is demonstrates a tried-and-true creative method that is playful, powerful, and accessible to anyone with an inquisitive wish to write or to remember. Composed of completely new material, each page of Barry’s first Drawn & Quarterly book is a full-color collage that is not only a gentle guide to this process but an invigorating example of exactly what it is: “The ordinary is extraordinary.”

Kirby: King of Comics

2008-05-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work. “I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid

2008-05-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

Product Description

Boys dont keep diariesor do they?The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate toIts a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before youre ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary. In book one of this debut series, Greg is happy to have Rowley, his sidekick, along for the ride. But when Rowleys star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friends newfound popularity to his own advantage, kicking off a chain of events that will test their friendship in hilarious fashion. Author/illustrator Jeff Kinney recalls the growing pains of school life and introduces a new kind of hero who epitomizes the challenges of being a kid. As Greg says in his diary, Just dont expect me to be all Dear Diary this and Dear Diary that. Luckily for us, what Greg Heffley says he wont do and what he actually does are two very different things. Since its launch in May 2004 on Funbrain.com, the Web version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been viewed by 20 million unique online readers. This year, it is averaging 70,000 readers a day.

Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

2008-05-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #6 in Books
Published on: 2008-08-02
Released on: 2008-08-02
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
768 pages

Editorial Reviews
About the Author Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English Literature, and she lives with her husband and three young sons in Arizona. Stephenie is the author of Twilight,New Moon, and Eclipse.

Obama Camp Faces Major Obstacles In Plan To Help Clinton Pay Off Debt

2008-05-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

Top officials of the Barack Obama campaign are privately exploring ways to help Hillary Clinton discharge her debts and pay back the $11.43 million she has loaned her organization, but they are running into two major stumbling blocks.
The first is obvious: the deep and growing animosity of Obama supporters towards Clinton, whom they see as raising issues of race and 'elitism' that will hurt the Illinois Senator in November.
In an interview with USA Today for example, Clinton declared: "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," citing an AP article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
The second is less obvious: Mark Penn.
For many Obama backers, Penn, the former chief strategist for Clinton and head of one of the biggest PR-lobbying conglomerates in the nation's capital, is the quintessential Washington insider, capitalizing on political connections to become a multi-millionaire.
The immediate problem with Penn -- whose conflicts of interest plagued the Clinton campaign and ultimately led to his being publicly, if not privately, repudiated -- is that if Obama helps Clinton pay off her debts, a big chunk of those debts -- an estimated $10 million or more -- is owed to Penn.
Penn is the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, which has "a global network of 94 offices and 1600 employees that brings world-class public relations to companies around the world."
Burson-Marsteller is one of the 246 companies owned by WPP, a leading global advertising and marketing services group. WPP controls a powerful array of public relations, advertising and lobbying companies, including Hill and Knowlton; Dewey Square; Ogilvy and Mather; Public Strategies Inc.; AGB Nielsen Media Research; Quinn Gillespie and Associates; Timmons andCompany; Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates; Young and Rubicam Brands.
Penn, who remains a top adviser to Clinton, was forced to step down as the face of the Clinton strategy team after disclosures that he was meeting privately with the government of Colombia to promote congressional approval of a trade agreement which Clinton - and her most loyal voters -- oppose.
Consideration by the Obama camp of providing financial help to Clinton would be part of a peace-making process in the event that she withdraws from the presidential nominating contest.
Under federal campaign finance law, the Obama campaign cannot directly pay off Clinton's debts, or the $11.43 million she has loaned the campaign, because that would violate campaign contribution limits. But if Obama is the nominee, he and his donor base could provide invaluable help to her in raising money through signed appeals, joint fundraisers and by othermethods.
The Obama campaign does not want to be identified as having discussions about Clinton's finances. Obama aides used the term "chit-chat" to dismiss any such discussions.
Many of Obama's grassroots and netroots backers appear to be outraged at the thought that the Obama campaign might step in to lend a hand to get Clinton out of a financial hole -- and out of the race -- as was reportedWednesday.
The Huff Post web site was flooded with more than 1,200 complaints on this score:
"No! No! No!" wrote a commenter using the web name 'Realbluesky'. "The Clintons have proven what kind of scum they are." 'Dbrockx' wrote: "Why is she being rewarded for disrupting the Democratic party and trying to sabotage Obama?" 'Amber09' pulled no punches: "The Clintons would never help Obama if this was reversed! They would be laughing they asses off that ablack man could dare to think he could beat the Clinton machine! The Clintons created the mud pond, let them now stay in the mud they created!"
Both Obama and Clinton have broken all Democratic fundraising records. Through the first quarter of this year, Obama raised $234.7 million, and Clinton $189.1 million. As of March 31, the date of the most recent FEC filing, Obama had $51.1 million in the bank and just $662,784 in debt, for a net cash position of $50.4 million; while Clinton had $31.7 million in the bank, debts of $15.2 million, and had loaned the campaign $6.4 million. (The FEC lists debts and loans separately.) More recently, Clinton disclosed that she had made her campaign additional loans, bringing the total amount she has loaned to her effort to $11.4 million. At the same time, her campaign was running close to broke for much of last month. Details of fundraising andspending for the month of April do not have to be filed until May 15.
Money is a central issue in the delicate negotiations that many expect to lead to a Clinton withdrawal. A winning candidate often offers to do whatever is legal to help a loser pay down debts. In this case, there is exceptional animosity between the two camps. Furthermore, Penn's interest in any negotiations are sure to be pressed very aggressively by the Clinton campaign's new Chief Operating Officer, Howard Paster. Paster was brought in immediately upon Penn's retreat, and, as it happens, Paster is Penn's boss. Paster is the executive vice president for public relations and public affairs at Burson-Marsteller's parent company, WPP.
In his new capacity as COO of the Clinton campaign, Paster is almost certain to be central in deciding how much of any money Obama might help raise for Clinton is used to pay off the debt to Penn. This set of relationships will undoubtedly impact the enthusiasm of Obama donors for aClinton-Obama pact.
Thomas B. Edsall
The Huffington Post

Flawed Messengers and Wooden Soldiers: Why Obama Beat Clinton -- and Why He'll Beat McCain, Too

2008-05-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Despite the endless pontificating on TV, in the end it didn't come down to sideshow jive like the Reverend Wright Imbroglio or the Great Sniper Fire Lie. It didn't come down to micro-demographics, or gas prices, or the war in Iraq. Incredibly enough, it didn't even come down to the issues of race and gender. No -- in the end, I believe, it all came down to a hard-to-pinpoint, rarely discussed, but desperately important matter: the personal authenticity of two human beings.
Let me digress for a second, though it's not really digressing. The impetus for this piece actually came this morning, as I tried to keep my eyes open watching John McCain on TV. I do not recommend this as a morning regimen. Try it. You'll feel an overwhelming desire to crawl back under the covers. To the degree that you can force yourself to watch him sleepwalking around the dais and spouting empty syllables, you'll find yourself wondering about peripheral issues. Like: why does a man who seems to be simmering with rage use the phrase "my friends" so compulsively? What's the real skinny on that lacquered blond lobbyist? And how did they finesse the payoff he got from the Keating Five? Somehow, the man himself is just...not there.
He's a Wooden Soldier.
But that's the thing about McCain. It's not just that his so-called "straight talk" is obviously badly-bent nonsense. Stylistically as well as politically, he's everything wrong, everything wooden, everything false. Like Clinton, he seems to be missing a core, and that lack of authenticity makes every word he says immediately forgettable (unless it's so dumb as to lodge sideways in the mind, like the Hundred Years War threat or his Bomb Iran joke.)
Unfortunately for Clinton, she campaigned as a Wooden Soldier, too.
By the seventeenth time she claimed to have found, or re-found, or re-re-found her true "voice" -- first she was the Imperious and Inevitable One, then she was the nice-nice I'm-So-Honored One, followed (a day later!) by the Hateful Vicious Shame-On-You One, and still later the Weirdly Sarcastic The Skies-Will-Open One, and then the Shot-and-a-Beer Working-Class One, so dang down-home that you expected the next photo-op to show her smoking crystal meth in a trailer park -- until finally, with the Gas-Tax-Holiday Fake Populist One, she exhausted all the possibilities -- and exhausted the patience of America, too.
Meanwhile, Obama remained Obama. Quiet when called for, inspiring when given the chance, and once in a while a little obnoxious (remember when he told Hillary "you're likable enough?" I mean, admittedly she kind of asked for it, but it was pretty gratuitous.) In short: a human being. For me, a pivotal moment--unremarked-on by the robotic pundits on TV -- came in Obama's second Reverend Wright speech. I'm paraphrasing here, but he said it was crucial to remember the core meaning of his campaign, "even if the messenger is flawed."
Even if the messenger is flawed.
Here's a game that's zany fun for the whole family: try to imagine Senator Clinton saying such a thing.
That's right: never happen -- unless...
Unless Mark Penn told her that polling showed there was some kind of Flawed-Messenger Demographic out there yet to be milked for votes.
And here's zany family game #2: try to imagine Obama getting in front of the TV cameras on a night that gutted his entire campaign, pasting a transparently phony smile on his face, and crowing "it's on to the White House!" as Michelle and the kids fought off tears on the podium behind him...
Never.
I think people relate deeply to the concept of The Flawed Messenger, because who among us is not one--in our family-life, our work, our spiritual pursuits? Being a Flawed Messenger is innately heroic (the Messenger part) but also deeply humbling (the Flawed part) -- all in all, a perfectly respectable thing to be. And I believe that on some psychic level, people torn between Clinton and Obama felt more comfortable voting for a man who confessed to being a Flawed Messenger -- not just in the speech, but in the way he carried himself.
Clinton's ultimate gift, among many, to Obama was obviously the Gas Tax Holiday. It nailed down her credentials as a Wooden Soldier -- the epitome of the old-fashioned, say-anything, 20th-century politician. She went once too often to the voters-are-dullards well, and it finally pissed them off.
It's a mistake McCain will make, too, because like Clinton he just can't help it. Part of it is generational. Clinton and McCain came of age in a Nixonian universe -- and there has never been a more Wooden Soldier than Nixon. (In my own personal dictionary, when you look up Wooden Soldier, there's a photo of Nixon doing his ghoulish two-handed V-For-Victory salute.) And part of it is a choice, based on an outmoded belief that voters want an Impregnable Persona instead of a genuine human being.
But, in the early part of the 21st Century, that choice is dead wrong. The Democratic runoff proved it -- and (you heard it here, folks!) it will be proved once again, thank God, in November, when Obama defeats John McCain and becomes our next president.
NOTE: An earlier version of this piece contained a description of McCain's unique microphone-style that a few readers took as a reference to his war-related injuries. While obviously that was not my intent, and I would never do such a thing, I've removed it anyway--Flawed-Messenger style--because I don't want to derail the real conversation. Some remaining comments below may refer to the earlier version.

John Eskow

Great Speeches by African Americans

2008-04-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Great Speeches by African Americans: Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, and Others (Thrift Edition)

By James Daley

This anthology comprises speeches by influential figures in the history of African-American culture and politics. Contents include the famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech by Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass' immortal "What, to the Slave, Is the Fourth of July?" Martin Luther King, Jr.,'s "I Have a Dream," Barack Obama, and many others.

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The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

2008-04-17T20:59:00.001-07:00

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

By Barack Obama

A government that truly represents these Americans–that truly serves these Americans–will require a different kind of politics. That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived. It won’t be pre-packaged, ready to pull off the shelf. It will have to be constructed from the best of our traditions and will have to account for the darker aspects of our past. We will need to understand just how we got to this place, this land of warring factions and tribal hatreds. And we’ll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break.”–from The Audacity of Hope

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Senator Obama called “the audacity of hope.”

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Bringing Down the House

2008-04-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

Bringing Down the House

By Ben Mezrich

It's Friday night and you're on a red-eye to the city of sin. Strapped to your chest is half a million dollars; in your overnight bag is another twenty-five thousand in blackjack chips; and your wallet holds ten fake IDs. As soon as you land in Las Vegas, you are positive you are being investigated and followed. To top it all off, the IRS is auditing you, someone has been going through your mail -- and you have a multivariable calculus exam on Monday morning. Welcome to the world of an exclusive group of audacious MIT math geniuses who legally took the casinos for over three million dollars -- while still finding time for college keg parties, football games, and final exams. In the midst of the go-go eighties and nineties, a group of overachieving, anarchistic MIT students joined a decades-old underground blackjack club dedicated to counting cards and beating the system at major casinos around the world. While their classmates were working long hours in labs and libraries, the blackjack team traveled weekly to Las Vegas and other glamorous gambling locales, with hundreds of thousands of dollars duct-taped to their bodies. Underwritten by shady investors they would never meet, these kids bet fifty thousand dollars a hand, enjoyed VIP suites and other upscale treats, and partied with showgirls and celebrities. Handpicked by an eccentric mastermind --

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BOOK REVIEWS : Browse by Category

2008-04-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

BOOK REVIEWS

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The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

2008-04-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

By Eckhart Tolle

It's no wonder that The Power of Now has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 30 foreign languages. Much more than simple principles and platitudes, the book takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being, "the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death." Featuring a new preface by the author, this paperback shows that only after regaining awareness of Being, liberated from Mind and intensely in the Now, is there Enlightenment.

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Compulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel (Alex Delaware Novels)

2008-04-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

Compulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel (Alex Delaware Novels)

By Jonathan Kellerman

Once again, the depths of the criminal mind and the darkest side of a glittering city fuel #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s brilliant storytelling. And no one conducts a more harrowing and suspenseful manhunt than the modern Sherlock Holmes of the psyche, Dr. Alex Delaware.

A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. These and other bizarre acts of cruelty and psychopathology are linked only by the killer’s use of luxury vehicles and a baffling lack of motive. The ultimate whodunits, these crimes demand the attention of LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his collaborator on the crime beat, psychologist Alex Delaware.

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Killer Heat

2008-04-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

Killer Heat

By Linda Fairstein

It’s August in New York, and the only thing that’s hotter than the pavement is Manhattan D.A. Alex Cooper’s professional and personal life. Just as she’s claiming an especially gratifying victory in a rape case, she gets the call: the body of a young woman has been found in an abandoned building. The brutality of the murder is disturbing enough, but when a second body, beaten and disposed of in exactly same manner, is found off the Belt Parkway, the city’s top brass want the killer found fast, before the tabloids can start churning out ghoulish serial killer headlines.

Novel without a Name

2008-04-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

Novel without a Name

By Duong Thu Huong

Vietnamese novelist Huong, who has been imprisoned for her political beliefs, presents the story of a disillusioned soldier in a book that was banned in her native country.

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

2008-04-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

By Barack Obama

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Flying Changes: A Novel

2008-04-16T05:44:00.000-07:00

Flying Changes: A Novel

By Sara Gruen

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Adios, Havana: A Memoir

2008-04-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Adios, Havana: A Memoir

By Andrew J. Rodriguez

Havana . . . lilting rumbas, café con leche, sultry sea breezes. Sparkling white beaches by day, scintillating nightclubs after dark. This sophisticated, international capital was the crown jewel of an island paradise-until the idealism that fed the Cuban Revolution yielded a nightmare of soul-crushing dictatorship. Adios, Havana is a true account of romance and peril, adventure and patriotism. Fueled by love-love of family, of country, and of each other-a young couple must face the most wrenching of choices: remain in the country they cherish, lose the wealth and position their families strove for generations to attain, and watch their children grow up impoverished under a terrifying regime; or risk escaping with no money or possessions and leave behind all they have ever known to begin a new life in a strange land. A legacy to future generations, this memoir is intended to remind readers of the fragility of freedom . . . to describe the disintegration of a prosperous civilized society and offer counsel on how to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening in America . . . and to show how and why penniless refugees flourish in the land of the free-why anyone who resists oppression would be driven to tell his beloved homeland, Adios.

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Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers Only (For Only)

2008-04-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers Only (For Only)

By Michael Meadhra, Charlotte K. Lowrie

Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers only reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher, Olathe, KS: (dreric1kansas@aol.com)

Authors: Michael Meadhra and Charlotte K. Lowrie Strengths: Brilliant photographs highlight the tutorials and techniques. Nicely written and easy to understand. Good helpful Q&A tips (questions and answers) at end of each chapter. Easy to read and understand. Weaknesses: I would prefer to see the chapter numbers at the top of the page as are the titles for section/ parts.

Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

Rating: 5/5

Introduction

When most people used film cameras, it was essential to use the basics to attain good photographs. Since automation has arrived, this has become less a factor if you want just take photographs. But to produce better photos, one needs to use the elements of the camera in ways that will produce better results. Working with the lighting, exposure and more are part of the process to upgrade your skills. A great book that helps you improve your skills in a variety of ways is Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers only.

The focus of the books starts with the authors and have written a book that has breadth and depth to the main topic. Michael Meadhra is commercial artist focusing on creative light effects. Charlotte K. Lowrie is a professional photographer, publisher of camera and photography books and former manager for MSN Photos. They have melded their efforts into producing a very readable and authoritative book dealing with two essential variables for photography: exposure and lighting.

wiley stuff in some books The book is divided into four parts and 15 chapters. A multitude of nice photographs help illustrate points outlined by the authors. The authors also employ a series of highlighted noted which are highlighted throughout the chapters. These are entitled: Pro Tip (learning about photography) ; Note (terms, vocabulary and related insights) ; X-ref (points to other areas of the book to find further information). Q & A (questions and answers), at the end of each chapter, target specific techniques that can be utilized. Finding information within the chapters is aided by numbers (in green) on the outside of the left page, in the the very nice index and the glossary. The "normal eye" naturally looks at the top of the pages, first, and then works their way down. With the chapter in the middle takes extra time and is a little bit of distraction. I would prefer to see these numbers at the top as are the titles for section/ parts of the book which are outside top of the right hand page ( would have liked to see the number of the section there too). A little ideas for the next version of the book perhaps?

Part 1, "Painting With Light" addresses nature of light. Learning about color of light and humans perceptions helps the understanding of the science of light. White balance is also covered.

"What's Your Exposure", Part 2, main focus is the other part of the title, exposure. The intricacies of balancing exposure are noted along with how to obtain the best photo. Measuring light with your camera and other exposure devices are explained. The authors explain about the Zone System and how to use it integrate with digital photography. I really like the photo examples in this chapter. The note (p.50) entitled "The Digital Image Sensor is like a Sponge" is well done

Part 3, "Put A Little Light On The Subject" keys on tool and utility use. Light systems and controlling the light intensity influence the tutorials here.

Part 4, "Lighting and Exposure for Specific Subjects", has information about the different types of lighting and how to deal with them. Portraits, natural-light and also less known lighting terms (loop, butterfly, rembrant) are nicely introduced and explained.

Conclusions

There is a lot to "chew on" in this book. Novice,new to digital photography, may also find this book useful but they will have to learn about their camera first. This is a guide and tutorial for exposure and lighting and does not explain how to use your camera. Not only do you gain an understanding about light and exposure's intricacies but the authors nicely communicate and assist you along the way. This book is best for the intermediate photographer but the advanced user may also enjoy it by learning some new tricks. Since I am in these categories, this book will be used in my photography library now and in the future.

If want to buy this book or see other book CLICK HERE

Landscape Painting Inside and Out: Capture the Vitality of Outdoor Painting in Your Studio With Oils

2008-04-16T05:15:00.000-07:00

Landscape Painting Inside and Out: Capture the Vitality of Outdoor Painting in Your Studio With Oils

By Kevin D. Macpherson

*****Very Good Book

Very Good Book - landscape painting inside and out is quite inspirational, as are all of her books. I particularly enjoyed the reproductions. Barbara Barrick

*****This is well worth it, loads of inspiring information

Kevin has done a classic, and I am sure that is will be used by artists for years to come. Loads of useful information, great examples and good instructions. I have been a professional painter for 30 years, and am always looking to learn more, this one really hit home for me on many areas. Beautiful color with strong draftmanship.

Want to buy Click HERE

The Birds in My Life

2008-04-09T08:03:00.001-07:00

The Birds in My Life (Hardcover)

by The Supreme Master Ching Hai (Author), Gary (Illustrator), Annie (Illustrator), Nadia (Illustrator), Pearl (Illustrator), Kim Jung Eun (Illustrator), An So Soun (Illustrator), Sofia (Illustrator), Jackie (Illustrator)

Birds in My Life is truly an eye opener to the modern readers. It unveils the secrete of bird's inner world and sees them as soulful beings, with raw emotions and divine dignity. It helps bridge the connection humans and feathered friends like the Native Americans or our ancestors used to have. It's truly a precious gift from an enlightened being to this world.Marvels! Read More

The Dogs in My Life, Vol. 1

2008-04-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

The Dogs in My Life, Vol. 1

by The Supreme Master Ching Hai (Author), Annie Yu (Illustrator), Nadia Yen (Illustrator), Chien Wei Ba-Li (Illustrator), Kim (Illustrator), Jackie (Illustrator)

I originally bought this book for myself and I liked it so much that I bought one as a gift for my four-year-old niece in the U.S. to help her overcome her fear of dogs. I am sure that when her parents read her this book her heart will melt. This book reveals how loving and devoted these noble beings can be. When I first saw this book I was captivated by the colorful pictures but as I read the stories I discovered that it magically takes us into the minds of these precious animals. Seldom are we permitted to experience life from an animal's perspective. The stories told by these three dogs offer us a touching glimpse into the wonderful world of dogs, "humankind's best friend." Read More

The Dogs in My Life, Vol. 2

2008-04-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

The Dogs in My Life, Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

by The Supreme Master Ching Hai (Author), Annie Yu (Illustrator), Nadia Yen (Illustrator), Chien Wei Ba-Li (Illustrator), Kim (Illustrator), Jackie (Illustrator)

This color picture book takes a look at The Supreme Master Ching Hai and the dogs she has rescued. It is heartwarming and touching stories about each beautiful dog who had a hard life and nows enjoys the very good life with The Master Ching Hai. This book really shares hope and compassion for all dogs and life. Read More

The Last Lecture (Hardcover)

2008-04-08T03:21:00.000-07:00

The Last Lecture (Hardcover) by Randy Pausch (Author)

Editorial Reviews
Book Description"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."--Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Read More

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

2008-04-08T03:09:00.000-07:00

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
(Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61) (Paperback)

by Eckhart Tolle

I was somewhat unfamiliar with Eckhart Tolle before initially reading this book a few months ago. I had heard of his book "The Power of Now," and I had listened to a bit of it on CD in a friend's car. However, I didn't feel that I thoroughly understood the subject he was discussing. At this point though, I did know his name and a little about his life's work.

I was in the airport in Los Angeles and I had a few moments before making my way to the gate to catch a flight. I always take a book and a magazine or two with me whenever I fly, as I find it's a great opportunity for me to catch up on the infinite pile that's always within arm's reach of my bed. I don't recall exactly what I was reading at the moment, but I do recall that I was thoroughly engaged in reading something that I was at the time, enjoying. Since I had these few minutes before making my way to the gate, I went to the bookstore in the terminal and browsed through all of the latest editions to come on the market.

As I was browsing, I noticed a rather striking orange cover with a large "Eckhart Tolle" on it. Since I had recently become familiar with his previous book, I decided to pick it up and read a few pages. At once, I was thoroughly engrossed.
I put the book back on the shelf, and decided since I had a book with me to finish reading, when I got home I would get on Amazon.com and order Eckhart's latest book to read at some point in the future. Read More

Unaccustomed Earth

2008-04-08T02:49:00.000-07:00

Unaccustomed Earth (Hardcover)

by Jhumpa Lahiri (Author)

Accustomed to Success - A Fine Collection of Eight Short Stories,

With UNACCUSTOMED EARTH, Jhumpa Lahiri can lay claim with good reason to being the finest short story writer in America today. This book, her second collection of short stories with the full-length novel THE NAMESAKE sandwiched between, is a masterful collection of affecting tales about family life and individual self-discovery. While Lahiri's focus is relentlessly drawn toward what might be termed the "Bengali-American experience," her stories express rich underlying elements of universality, allowing them to transcend the mere "new American immigrant" genre. She shows yet again that she is a marvelous craftswoman of the short story art form and its language (words, imagery, and symbolism).

UNACCUSTOMED EARTH is eight stories, divided into two sections. The first section contains five distinct short stories, beginning with the near-novella length title story that is certainly the collection's finest. In that piece, a daughter of Indian descent, Ruma, welcomes her unexpectedly widowered father with trepidation to her new home in Seattle. Ruma is married to a Caucasian named Adam, and they have a young son named Akash. In every respect the young family is a model of mixed marriage and, in Ruma's case, full cultural assimilation. Nevertheless, her father's visit promises to force Ruma to confront the inevitable fissures that appear between first and second generation immigrant families. Travel to new countries or settling into new lands, postcards of foreign places, the soil in gardening, and measurement of distances all serve in symbolic support to the story's title, but it is a simple misplaced and unmailed postcard that pulls everything together into a poignant ending.

Lahiri's other four stories in the first section have similar themes. In "Hell-Heaven," a young woman recalls her childhood when a fellow Bengali became a family friend and part of her (and, surprisingly, her mother's) life. In "A Choice of Accommodation," (another title laden with multiple meanings), a middle-aged, mixed marriage couple (Amit and Megan) rediscover themselves and a bit of their previously unstated history during a friend's wedding held at Amit's old boarding school. In "Only Goodness," a model Bengali daughter named Sudha, married and a new mother, tries to cope with her younger brother Rahul's alcoholic failings and her likely role in making him what he has become. Of all the characters in this book, it is Rahul who comes across most powerfully.

The second part of the book contains three intertwined stories involving two characters, one female and one male, at different stages of their lives. Hema and Kaushik are first thrown together by circumstances of the latter's parents having relocated to India and then returned to the Boston area. Hema's family agrees to put Kaushik's family up until they can find a new house of their own, turning Hema's life upside down and even tossing her from her bedroom (now occupied by the three-year-older Kaushik) and onto a cot in her parents room. Tragedy looms behind these events, but it is one which Hema's family is not aware. The first story is told from Hema's viewpoint, the second about three years later from Kaushik's, and the third about twenty years later from both viewpoints. As with her opening story "Unaccustomed Earth," Lahiri finds an ending that, while somewhat contrived, is nonetheless touching.

It is only in this final piece, "Going Ashore" (again a title with multiple meanings), that Lahiri brings her narratives into the present day. The earlier stories appear to take place mostly in about the 1980's, with references to VCR's and record players and telephones with long extension cords. They seem oddly removed from everyday reality, as if they represented a sort of wistful backward stare at a different era, to a time when America was still a shining light on a hill and India was a place to escape before the Internet age and globalization changed some of the balance in their relationship. By the time of "Going Ashore," both Hema and Kaushik are adrift in global waters, world citizens who travel freely, lack strong personal attachments, and exist without the roots of family and place and culture that those of the prior generation clearly demonstrated in the earlier stories. Read More

The Noble Wilds (Paperback)

2008-04-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

The Noble Wilds (Paperback)

by The Supreme Master Ching Hai (Author)

Editorial Reviews
Product Description

With a rhythmic, meditative tone, the words of The Noble Wilds flow gracefully along the pages, complemented by the luminous photos of God s creations in nature. Turning the pages, one is transported to Amoura, the place where the lady lives and is visited by cherished beings of the wild. The lady is none other than Supreme Master Ching Hai, and The Noble Wilds is yet another of Her simple but deeply touching gifts. Written, photographed and compiled personally by Master, this precious gem opens the door to a world of unique beauty. Here, the reader can witness firsthand the noble spirit and dedication of our co-inhabitants whose homes are under the open sky the swan, the goose, the squirrel, the beaver and even a tiny garden snail. Although generally shy of humans, these animals allow themselves to be photographed, and indeed can even be seen eagerly approaching the lady s gentle offering of favorite foods. The love conveyed is unlike any other full of dignity and grace, yet as deep and enduring as the eternal. All books are printed by ''Soy Ink for Environmental protection''. Such ink is not only nontoxic but also very helpful for environment of the mother earth which is an good example of ''time to act''....

About the AuthorThe Supreme Master Ching Hai was born in Central Au Lac (Vietnam). At the age of eighteen, Master Ching Hai moved to England to study, and then later to France and then Germany, where She worked for the Red Cross and married a German physician. After two years of happy marriage, with Her husband's blessings, She left Her marriage in pursuit of enlightenment, thus fulfilling an ideal that had been with Her since Her childhood. This began a time of arduous pilgrimages to many different countries that ended only when She met a perfect living Master in the Himalayas. Master Ching Hai received the divine transmission of the inner Light and Sound, which She later called the Quan Yin Method. After a period of diligent practice, She attained Perfect Enlightenment. To satisfy the longing of sincere Truth seekers, the Supreme Master Ching Hai offers the Quan Yin Method of meditation to people of all nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds. Her message of love and peace brings spiritual liberation and hope to people throughout the world, reminding all to uphold Truth, Virtue, and Beauty in life.

a miracle for all
By Sonya Gusson
After reading The Noble Wilds, I can truly see how Incredible God is in his purpose of sending us such wonderful animals to inspire us to treat one another with love and dignity. This book is written with such immense love and inspires me to incredible heights of compassion that I will never ever for the rest of my life take for granted the beauty that God created for us to enjoy and to bring us such joy to us! I beseech all of humankind please, become vegan so that all our animal friends may live without fear of us humans. yours truly from South Africa, Sonya Gusson.

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Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next Novels)

2008-04-07T04:24:00.000-07:00

Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next Novels)

By Jasper Fforde

The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Ffordes magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfictionthe police force inside books. She is apprenticed to the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickenss Great Expectations, who grudgingly shows Thursday the ropes. And she gains just enough skill to get herself in a real mess entering the pages of Poes The Raven. What she really wants is to get Landen back. But this latest mission is not without further complications. Along with jumping into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potters The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth.

Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-In an alternate 1980s England, woolly mammoths migrate through the countryside, Tunbridge Wells has been given to Imperial Russia as Crimean War reparation, and the prevailing culture is based on literature. Due to her adventures in The Eyre Affair (Viking, 2002), newly married Thursday Next has become a media darling, but when an unknown work by Shakespeare surfaces, she is happy to be back to work. However, the megacorporation Goliath hasn't finished bedeviling her: Thursday's husband has been "time-slipped" and exists only in her memory. Further complicating matters, her Uncle Mycroft gives her an entroposcope-a jar of lentils and rice-revealing that the chaos in her life is rapidly escalating. So once again, Thursday jumps into a surreal literary world. This time, she has joined the "Jurisfiction" division and is paired with Charles Dickens's Miss Havesham, who has a penchant for leather jackets and driving recklessly. Absurd and amusing scenes take readers through discussions on theoretical physics, geometry, literature, art, and philosophy. Fforde not only tilts at ideological and insipid corporate windmills and human foibles, but can also make the naming of minor characters hilarious, as in the two unfortunate members of the dangerous SO-5 division, Phodder and Kannon. Reading this novel is like being at a fabulous party of phenomenally funny and wickedly profound guests. Teens will delight in the satire and wit.Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, ILCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Thursday Next, who literally jumps into books to do her detective work, must locate a surprise enemy in Poe's "The Raven" to save her beloved. The Eyre Affair, Thursday's first outing, was a surprise best seller. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile

As in THE EYRE AFFAIR, Jasper Fforde's second satire is set in an alternate 1980s Britain. Computers haven't been invented, but time-travel and slipping into works of literature are run-of-the-mill, and male chauvinists have been cloned out of existence. SpecOps LiteraryDetective Thursday Next must restore her husband who has been "eradicated" by an enemy multinational corporation and save the planet from devolving into pink ooze. Elizabeth Sastre's performance is top-notch. Her characterization of Thursday is plucky, high-spirited, and ready for all challenges. When Thursday enters the works of Kafka, Poe, Beatrix Potter, and Lewis Carroll, Sastre is as believable portraying Flopsy Bunny as she is delivering Fforde's wicked double entendres. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Sometimes Nothing is as it Appears, Or is Supposed To ( 4/5 star )

One of the few failings of Jasper Fforde is that he has a tendency to be way to cute sometimes (ok, lots of the time). And though most of the time this works, when it doesn't, it's like, uh! you've got to be kidding. There is no reason (is this understated) that everything has to be a pun, metaphor or a take off on some one or something. Eating chocolate is fun, but once in a while, you want a hamburger or a piece of pizza.

In this sequel, Fforde throws out so many ideas left and right and right and left, that they get lost in the pile-up. If he would take a little more time to flesh out the political structure of the era that Thursday lives in and then give a little more explanation as to how SpecOps relates to the government (and the governed), not to mention how the octopus Goliath controls everyone -thing -time, it would make the books more enjoyable. Well at least for me and since I'm writing the review whose opinion could be more important!

Loved getting Lost ( 5/5 star )

The second book of the Thursday Next Series is a delight! Jasper Fforde writes for people who are creative, people who are well read, and people who like a good mystery. The more read you are, the more inside jokes you will understand.

This books carries on from the end of the first in the series, nicely builds more depth inthe characters by going a bit farther into the history of some, while still leading you through a mystery, laughing along the way.

Lost plotlines ( 4/5 star )

I really enjoyed the first one, "The Eyre Affair", and mostly enjoyed this one. It wasn't as tight a story, and there were too many introductions of new characters (and too many dropped ones) to truly be called a sequel, but it was well done and interesting.

I'd have liked to know a little more about Aornis Hades, and her seemingly tossed in for good measure and as an afterthought plot. I hope that in the next book her character is developed more, though Acheron as the villain will be hard to top. He was fantastic.

I thought the introduction of Miss Haversham was fun and appealing. However, she seemed to completely take over each scene she was in, and pushed out characters from the first book I found much more interesting. I didn't feel Thursday's reaction to Miss Haversham all that realistic, based on the first book, and again, she was overwhelmed by the secondary character.

I like Thursday's ability to jump into fiction books, but couldn't quite connect the first one with this one - I'm not sure we were meant to, actually. Where's the larger-than-life (and horribly cliched) Goliath? What about her father's severely diminished role? And Spec Ops? They're reduced to nothing more than caricatures of their caricatures. And poor Landon, will he ever have a continuous storyline? Or a jumbled mess of a forgotten one?

Over all, this was a good sequel but I have to agree with previous reviewers: without reading book one, it's mind-bogglingly difficult to follow. Still, it won't stop me from reading "Well of Lost Plots".

Thursday Next: First Among Sequels

2008-04-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday Next: First Among Sequels
Jasper Fforde

Literary sleuth Thursday Next is out to save literature in the fifth installment of Jasper Ffordes wildly popular series

Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter. With two successful books of the Nursery Crime series under his belt, Fforde takes up once again the brilliant adventures of his signature creation in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Thursday Next series. And its better than ever.

Its been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursdays got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes whats going onthere is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And thats not allThe Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds.

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursdays return is sure to be celebrated by Jaspers fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly

Full of bizarre subplots, many of which don't go anywhere, bestseller Fforde's fifth novel to feature intrepid literary detective Thursday Next (after 2004's Something Rotten) blends elements of mystery, campy science fiction and screwball fantasy Ã la Terry Pratchett's Discworld. With the Stupidity Surplus reaching dangerously high levels all over England, Acme Carpets employee and undercover SpecOps investigator Next has her hands full trying to persuade her 16-year-old slacker son, Friday, to join the ChronoGuard, which deals with temporal stability; if Friday continues to sleep away his future, the end is nearâfor everyone. To complicate matters, a malicious apprentice begins making classic works of literature into reality book shows (Pride and Prejudice becomes The Bennets), a ruthless corporation tries to turn the Bookworld into a tourist trap, and the Cheese Enforcement Agency tries to bust Next for smuggling killer curd. The fate of the world may lie in a Longfellow poem. Fans of satiric literary humor are in for a treat. (July) Copyright Â© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Set in a world where books are more fun than television, more serious than the CIA, and more important than proper diet and exercise, the Thursday Next novels continue to grow in popularity-which is a good sign. In the fifth novel of the series (after Something Rotten, ***1/2 Nov/Dec 2004), Jasper Fforde again shows off his delicious British wit (and occasionally heavy-handed use of puns) in another zany romp. If you're already a fan, First Among Sequels is sure to thrill. If you're new to the series, you might as well dive right in. Either way, you'll soon have a new appreciation of Henry Longfellow.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From AudioFile
Adult Harry Potter fans can find refuge in Jasper Ffordes Thursday Next series. Fforde brings to life the world inside books. Literary detective Ms. Next continues her work for Jurisfiction, the police force in the Bookworld. While she tries to persuade her slacker teenaged son to go to work for the ChronoGuard, who is responsible for temporal stability, she discovers that someone is turning literary works into reality TV shows and that others want to turn the Bookworld into a tourist trap. Emily Gray returns as narrator a second time, and her matter-of-fact delivery, especially regarding the National Stupidity Surplus, enhances the delightful lunacy of Ffordes tales. One annoying element to the presentation is a longer than usual lapse at the end of each track, which proves distracting. R.E.F. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Jaser Fforde does it again

I think all the Thursday Next novels are amazing. The literary allusion that plagues these novels inspire me to read some of the classics I haven't.

The concepts and writing style require the reader to stretch their imagination to grasp these alien words and alternate realities. I have read all the Thrusday Next novels and eagerly await the next (no punn intended) in the series.

A Fulfilling Follow-through For Thursday

After reading Something Rotten: A Thursday Next Mystery I was eagerly awaiting the next adventure of Thursday Next, and "First Among Sequels" did not disappoint.

Thursday's son Friday has grown up (well to a teenager at least) but has not yet joined the Chronoguard -- though his "alternate relaity version had -- and needs to do so before time "ends" in 3 days since time travel hasn't been discovered yet (though it has been used extensively). Meanwhile Thursday is dealing with her dead Uncle Microft, plummeting readership, fictional clones of herselves, an army of Mrs. Danvers, and other riotous things that Jasper Fforde can conjure up out of his mind. Fforde is a wonderful author. I've recommended this series to others and will continue to do so.

An outstanding piece of work
Thursday Next has fallen on hard times now that Special Ops, particularly her Literary Crimes Division, has been dismantled and shelved. She is constantly pestered by fans of the unauthorized novels of her adventures. Her 16-year-old son, Friday, is a shiftless layabout who seems determined to wallow in a pool of morose morbidity. Her pet dodo is having problems. She has been relegated to the menial task of installing carpets to make ends meet. And she has also resorted to selling black market cheese.

At least that's what she'd like everyone to believe.

Instead, Acme Carpets is nothing more than a front for the underground continuation of Special Ops. The Literary Crimes Division, however, has not been seeing any work. People just don't read anymore. The world at large is more interested in movies, video games, the Internet and reality television. As the reading interest falls, England has found itself in the grip of a growing Stupidity Surplus. Through it all, she has been able to keep her secret under wraps.

That all changes when a killer begins to target famous literary giants. Sherlock Holmes is murdered and Miss Marple is likewise slain. And the assailant also sets his sights on Thursday. Or is he targeting alternate Thursdays who exist in the Bookworld? As the dreaded Goliath Corporation prepares for mass book tourism, allowing visitors to enter and tour the worlds of Jane Austen, Thursday has to team up with the one person she really can't stand in order to prevent calamitous results: her book self.

Jasper Fforde once again hits a home run with FIRST AMONG SEQUELS. The fifth book in this series can stand proudly on its own, but it does provide a much better experience if you've gone through Thursday's previous trials and tribulations with her. Like his others in the line, this installment is a completely satisfying and page-turning read, one you feel compelled to continue even as the hours drift by.

It's not just his sense of humor, the fun plot, or the intriguing characters that pull you along. It's the very thought that books are valuable and important, and that they are being besieged in the better-faster-quicker generation by all forms of entertainment that gratify now-now-now. This is a menace that Fforde seems to understand and believe is very real.

"In these days of junk TV, short attention spans and easy-to-digest sound bites, it seemed that the book, the noble device to which both Bowden and I had devoted much of our lives, was being marginalized into just another human storytelling experience also ran..." So laments Thursday, echoing a concern of her world that is also one much discussed here in ours.

"Besides, no one's reading books much anymore, so I'm fairly redundant," she confesses.

With this outstanding piece of work, it would be an absolute travesty if that were true. Fforde once again proves that books are valuable entertainment that need not go the way of the dodo.

--- Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard

http://astore.amazon.com/harry_potter_and_the_deathly_hallows-20/

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)

2008-04-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)

By J.K. Rowling

.......In one of the most hotly anticipated sequels in memory, J.K. Rowling takes up where she left with Harry's second year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Old friends and new torments abound, including a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girl's bathroom, an outrageously conceited professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, and a mysterious force that turns Hogwarts students to stone.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com

It's hard to fall in love with an earnest, appealing young hero like Harry Potter and then to watch helplessly as he steps into terrible danger! And in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the much anticipated sequel to the award-winning Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, he is in terrible danger indeed. As if it's not bad enough that after a long summer with the horrid Dursleys he is thwarted in his attempts to hop the train to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his second year. But when his only transportation option is a magical flying car, it is just his luck to crash into a valuable (but clearly vexed) Whomping Willow. Still, all this seems like a day in the park compared to what happens that fall within the haunted halls of Hogwarts.

Chilling, malevolent voices whisper from the walls only to Harry, and it seems certain that his classmate Draco Malfoy is out to get him. Soon it's not just Harry who is worried about survival, as dreadful things begin to happen at Hogwarts. The mysteriously gleaming, foot-high words on the wall proclaim, "The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware." But what exactly does it mean? Harry, Hermione, and Ron do everything that is wizardly possible--including risking their own lives--to solve this 50-year-old, seemingly deadly mystery. This deliciously suspenseful novel is every bit as gripping, imaginative, and creepy as the first; familiar student concerns--fierce rivalry, blush-inducing crushes, pedantic professors--seamlessly intertwine with the bizarre, horrific, fantastical, or just plain funny. Once again, Rowling writes with a combination of wit, whimsy, and a touch of the macabre that will leave readers young and old desperate for the next installment. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

What makes the Harry Potter series so successful? Maybe it's the fact that J.K. Rowling doesn't write children's books, she writes children's stories, more in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm than Dr. Seuss. The exploits of Harry and his friends captivate even the shortest attention spans by engaging the imagination with vivid characters and fast-moving action, instead of trying to merely catch the eye with colorful pictures or pop-up effects. Not surprisingly, the Potter tales sound wonderful read aloud, and adapt to the audiobook format extremely well. Broadway actor Jim Dale's impressive vocal range gives each character in the book its own distinctive voice--a considerable task, given the pantheon of witches, warlocks, ghosts, ghouls, dwarves, and elves that Harry encounters in his second outing. And thankfully, since the book is read unabridged, no one's favorite character is omitted. Engaging for children without being childish, the audio version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is worthy addition to the deservedly popular series. (Running time: 9 hours, 6 cassettes) --Andrew Nieland

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-8-Fans of the phenomenally popular Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Scholastic, 1998) won't be disappointed when they rejoin Harry, now on break after finishing his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Reluctantly spending the summer with the Dursleys, his mean relatives who fear and detest magic, Harry is soon whisked away by his friends Ron, Fred, and George Weasley, who appear at his window in a flying Ford Anglia to take him away to enjoy the rest of the holidays with their very wizardly family. Things don't go as well, though, when the school term begins. Someone, or something, is (literally) petrifying Hogwarts' residents one by one and leaving threatening messages referring to a Chamber of Secrets and an heir of Slytherin. Somehow, Harry is often around when the attacks happen and he is soon suspected of being the perpetrator. The climax has Harry looking very much like Indiana Jones, battling a giant serpent in the depths of the awesome and terrible Chamber of Secrets. Along with most of the teachers and students introduced in the previous book, Draco Malfoy has returned for his second year and is more despicable than ever. The novel is marked throughout by the same sly and sophisticated humor found in the first book, along with inventive, new, matter-of-fact uses of magic that will once again have readers longing to emulate Harry and his wizard friends.Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

2008-04-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin takes you into the chambers of the most important—and secret—legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, and reveals the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land.

Just in time for the 2008 presidential election—where the future of the Court will be at stake—Toobin reveals an institution at a moment of transition, when decades of conservative disgust with the Court have finally produced a conservative majority, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, presidential power, and church-state relations.

Based on exclusive interviews with justices themselves, The Nine tells the story of the Court through personalities—from Anthony Kennedy's overwhelming sense of self-importance to Clarence Thomas's well-tended grievances against his critics to David Souter's odd nineteenth-century lifestyle. There is also, for the first time, the full behind-the-scenes story of Bush v. Gore—and Sandra Day O'Connor's fateful breach with George W. Bush, the president she helped place in office.

The Nine is the book bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin was born to write. A CNN senior legal analyst and New Yorker staff writer, no one is more superbly qualified to profile the nine justices.

Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming

2008-04-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming

By Fred Krupp, Miriam Horn

How to harness the great forces of capitalism to save the world from catastrophe.

The forecasts are grim and time is running out, but that's not the end of the story. In this book, Fred Krupp, longtime president of Environmental Defense Fund, brings a stirring and hopeful call to arms: We can solve global warming. And in doing so we will build the new industries, jobs, and fortunes of the twenty-first century.

In these pages the reader will encounter the bold innovators and investors who are reinventing energy and the ways we use it. Among them: a frontier impresario who keeps his ice hotel frozen all summer long with the energy of hot springs; a utility engineer who feeds smokestack gases from coal-fired plants to voracious algae, then turns them into fuel; and a tribe of Native Americans, for two thousand years fishermen in the roughest Pacific waters, who are now harvesting the fierce power of the waves themselves.

These entrepreneurs are poised to remake the world's biggest business and save the planet—if America's political leaders give them a fair chance to compete.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Environmental Defense Fund president Krupp and journalist Horn proffer a business-centric prescription for alleviating climate change, coupling the market force of capitalism with technological innovation and entrepreneurial inventiveness. The authors argue in favor of strict federal carbon caps, which would induce innovators to explore new ways to control carbon dioxide emissions. The book notes the global and historical successes of cap and trade mechanisms, such as the Clean Air Act of 1990. Designed specifically to control sulfur dioxide (which causes acid rain), the Clean Air Act cut emissions 30% more than the law required by providing coal plant operators with a financial incentive to modernize. New technologies that would benefit from such a logical, elegant, market-based approach include one as basic as an Arizona natural gas power plant that vents its smokestack waste into a vast greenhouse, where it nourishes algae used for manufacturing biodiesel, and one as a radical as harnessing the kinetic energy of molecules as a power source. This optimistic book brims with similar ideas, balancing jargon-heavy science with engaging profiles of individuals who are blending business and science in an attempt to save the planet. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Big Dreams Brought Down to Earth

Before I read this book I knew very little about things like renewable energy, carbon trading, and cap-and-trade. Miriam is able to take tough subject matter and bring it down to earth where we can all understand it. I would love to see the ideas and stories, in this book, written so that children could make sense of them.

Important
A powerful book, well written and informative. Everyone should read. Timely, especially in this season of presidential elections.

Informed, Upbeat, Inspirational Earth: The Sequel is a fascinating portrayal of state of the art advances in alternative energy production. The sun, the wind, the oceans, geothermal, biothermal - there are a host of ways that we can replace fossil fuels, and many highly creative people are working hard to make it happen. It becomes clear, through reading this extraordinary book, that we can do it, that the economy will thrive as we make this transition, and that the earth can be saved from global warming as we do this. This book portrays the nuts and bolts of the incredible effort that mankind must now make to save the earth from destruction.

The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories

2008-04-04T20:51:00.001-07:00

From the editor of the widely praised The Landmark Thucydides, a new Landmark Edition of The Histories by Herodotus, the greatest classical work of history ever written.

Herodotus was a Greek historian living in Ionia during the fifth century BCE. He traveled extensively through the lands of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and collected stories, and then recounted his experiences with the varied people and cultures he encountered. Cicero called him “the father of history,” and his only work, The Histories, is considered the first true piece of historical writing in Western literature. With lucid prose that harks back to the time of oral tradition, Herodotus set a standard for narrative nonfiction that continues to this day.

In The Histories, Herodotus chronicles the rise of the Persian Empire and its dramatic war with the Greek city-states. Within that story he includes rich veins of anthropology, ethnography, geology, and geography, pioneering these fields of study, and explores such universal themes as the nature of freedom, the role of religion, the human costs of war, and the dangers of absolute power.

Ten years in the making, The Landmark Herodotus gives us a new, dazzling translation by Andrea L. Purvis that makes this remarkable work of literature more accessible than ever before. Illustrated, annotated, and filled with maps, this edition also includes an introduction by Rosalind Thomas and twenty-one appendices written by scholars at the top of their fields, covering such topics as Athenian government, Egypt, Scythia, Persian arms and tactics, the Spartan state, oracles, religion, tyranny, and women.

Like The Landmark Thucydides before it, The Landmark Herodotus is destined to be the most readable and comprehensively useful edition of The Histories available.

Customer Reviews

Is Your Figure Less Than Greek?

Excuse the old song, but I could not help but to use it for this splendid book. Let me start by the quality of the production and material. The paper is of high quality, especially important in a book of this size. There is but little bleed from the reverse of each page. The paper is smooth and displays the fonts crisply. The binding is superb. You may lay it open nearly at any page and it splays for your waiting eyes.

All the old cob webs are swept away by this clean prose. Yet there is no edgy try at the avant-guard or hyper-modern. Something of a voice manages to come through, but never in a self-conscious manner. We hear the stories with their deep meanings, but not troubling over the facticity of any moment.

The Histories are laid bare without attempt to count the number of ships or match events to dates. Strassler eases you into the panorama of this great work to read and to see it on its own terms. The great assistance of the format: the maps, the notes and the gloss -- all make this work accessible as it has never been.

Only because I had a highly skilled Classics professor, and he an expert in comparative Ancient Greek, was I able to have a tour through this work at a tender age. Now you can have quite a bit in your reading chair.

You will be captive as the text reveals Solon at the palace of Croesus. How the great law giver and traveler lays out his argument that no one can be judged as while alive. And you will pause. You are reading this tome, not so much as one wanting the history, but as one who seeks the paideia, the Greek way.

The page layout has everything you can ask for; and then are all the appendices. Just enough photographs.

Another Excellent Landmark Edition

Like the Landmark Thucydides, the Landmark Herodotus is an excellent edition, with a good introduction, copious notes, 127 maps, 21 appendices, a glossary, bibliography, dated timeline, and index. Being a huge fan of the Thucydides edition, I was hoping for a Landmark Herodotus, and am overall very impressed with the book. The only criticism I have is in the translation. The Thucydides edition used Richard Crawley's fine and well established translation, but a new translation by Andrea Purvis was used for Herodotus. Hers is not a bad translation, in fact I think it is probably very true to the original Greek, but it is simply not as elegantly done as George Rawlinson's The Histories (Everyman's Library). For example, here is how Purvis translated the Proem:

Herodotus of Halicarassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time. May the great and wonderful deeds - some brought forth by the Hellenes, others by the barbarians - not go unsung; as well as the causes that led them to make war on each other.

And Rawlinson's rendition of the same:

These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory; and withal to put on record what were their grounds of feud.

Readers unfamiliar with other translations will probably not miss anything, but I must admit I found the translation a bit hard going at times. I would personally prefer a slightly less literal and more literary translation than a precise modern version that reads a bit tediously in places. But overall, this is a wonderful edition. Hope we get more Landmark editions, as Strassler seems to hint in his preface.

The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

2008-04-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

By Brian Fagan

How the earth’s previous global warming phase, from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries, reshaped human societies from the Arctic to the Sahara—a wide-ranging history with sobering lessons for our own time.

From the tenth to the fifteenth centuries the earth experienced a rise in surface temperature that changed climate worldwide—a preview of today’s global warming. In some areas, including Western Europe, longer summers brought bountiful harvests and population growth that led to cultural flowering. In the Arctic, Inuit and Norse sailors made cultural connections across thousands of miles as they traded precious iron goods. Polynesian sailors, riding new wind patterns, were able to settle the remotest islands on earth. But in many parts of the world, the warm centuries brought drought and famine. Elaborate societies in western and central America collapsed, and the vast building complexes of Chaco Canyon and the Mayan Yucatan were left empty.

As he did in his bestselling The Little Ice Age, anthropologist and historian Brian Fagan reveals how subtle changes in the environment had far-reaching effects on human life, in a narrative that sweeps from the Arctic ice cap to the Sahara to the Indian Ocean. The history of the Great Warming of a half millennium ago suggests that we may yet be underestimating the power of climate change to disrupt our lives today—and our vulnerability to drought, writes Fagan, is the “silent elephant in the room.”

http://astore.amazon.com/book-2008-20

The Age of American Unreason

2008-04-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Product Description
Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon--one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, she surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media, triumphalist religious fundamentalism, mediocre public education, a dearth of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and the left, and, above all, a lazy and credulous public.

Jacoby offers an unsparing indictment of the American addiction to infotainment--from television to the Web--and cites this toxic dependency as the major element distinguishing our current age of unreason from earlier outbreaks of American anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism. With reading on the decline and scientific and historical illiteracy on the rise, an increasingly ignorant public square is dominated by debased media-driven language and received opinion.

At this critical political juncture, nothing could be more important than recognizing the "overarching crisis of memory and knowledge" described in this impassioned, tough-minded book, which challenges Americans to face the painful truth about what the flights from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #141 in Books
Published on: 2008-02-12
Released on: 2008-02-12
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
384 pages

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly Inspired by Richard Hofstadter's trenchant 1963 cultural analysis Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, Jacoby (Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism) has produced an engaging, updated and meticulously thought-out continuation of her academic idol's research. Dismayed by the average U.S. citizen's political and social apathy and the overall crisis of memory and knowledge involving everything about the way we learn and think, Jacoby passionately argues that the nation's current cult of unreason has deadly and destructive consequences (the war in Iraq, for one) and traces the seeds of current anti-intellectualism (and its partner in crime, antirationalism) back to post-WWII society. Unafraid of pointing fingers, she singles out mass media and the resurgence of fundamentalist religion as the primary vectors of anti-intellectualism, while also having harsh words for pseudoscientists. Through historical research, Jacoby breaks down popular beliefs that the 1950s were a cultural wasteland and the 1960s were solely a breeding ground for liberals. Though sometimes partial to inflated prose (America's endemic anti-intellectual tendencies have been grievously exacerbated by a new species of semiconscious anti-rationalism), Jacoby has assembled an erudite mix of personal anecdotes, cultural history and social commentary to decry America's retreat into junk thought. (Feb. 12) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker Identifying herself as a "cultural conservationist" (but by no means a cultural conservative), Jacoby laments the decline of middlebrow American culture and presents a cogent defense of intellectualism. America, she believes, faces a "crisis of memory and knowledge," in which anti-intellectualism is not only tolerated but celebrated by those in politics and the media to whom we are all "just folks." The Internet, for all its promise, is too often "a highway to the far-flung regions of junk thought." Meanwhile, twenty-five per cent of high-school biology teachers believe that human beings and dinosaurs shared the earth, and more than a third of Americans can't name a single First Amendment right. In such an environment, Jacoby argues, the secular left and the religious right can have no fruitful dialogue on issues like the separation of church and state. She offers little hope that the situation will improve, opining that, despite increasing levels of education, "Americans seem to know less and less." Copyright © 2008 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker

Review
“Jacoby’s is a moderate, sensible, well-founded position, shared by many Americans, yet it somehow rarely got voiced amid the raging hyperbole of the culture wars. “–Salon

“Jacoby deploys sharp insight on our present straits”–Los Angeles Times

“Trenchant …One hopes her incisive book, just in time for the 2008 elections, will find an audience among the unconverted who will take her warnings seriously.”–San Francisco Chronicle

“A surprising and uncommonly sophisticated treatment of a familiar topic.”–New York Observer

"The Age of American Unreason picks up where Richard Hofstadter left off. With analytic verve and deep historical knowledge, Susan Jacoby documents the dumbing down of our culture like a maestro. make no mistake about it, this is an important book."--Douglas Brinkley, residential historian and author of The Great Deluge

"This is one of the most eye-opening books I've read in a long time. Jacoby charts the intellectual and cultural currents that have characterized the United States since its founding and explains just how and why Americans have recently become so, well, dumb. Anyone who cares about the future of our country will want to read it."--Marcia Angell, editor in chief emerita, New England Journal of Medicine

"Jacoby has written a brilliant, sad story of the anti-intellectualism and lack of reasonable thought that has put this country in one of the sorriest states in its history."--Helen Thomas, author of Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public

"Jacoby's fearless jeremiad, at once passionate, witty, and solidly grounded in facts, aries at a propitious moment, when many Americans are perceiving that ignorance conjoined to arrogance can be deadly. This book deserves to be widely read, and especially by concerned parents. As Jacoby insists, it is only within families that some immunity to mind-numbing 'infotainment' can now be acquired. First, however, there must be a will to resist--and if this stirring book can't rally it, nothing can."--Frederick Crews, author of Follies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays

"To a country of underachievers and proud of it, this book delivers a magnificent, occasionally hilarious kick in the pants. Snap out of it, Jacoby says: Getting it right matters. Tough talk and wicked wit in the tradition of Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life and Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death."--Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography

The Children of Húrin

2008-04-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

The Children of Húrin

By J.R.R. Tolkien

Description

"There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but that were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.

"In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of TÃºrin and his sister NiÃ«nor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves.

"Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of HÃºrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of TÃºrin and NiÃ«nor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.

"The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterward, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book I have endeavored to construct, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention." â Christopher Tolkien

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #1246 in Books
Published on: 2007-04-17
Released on: 2007-04-17
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
320 pages

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com The first complete book by J.R.R. Tolkien in three decades--since the publication of The Silmarillion in 1977--The Children of Húrin reunites fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, Eagles and Orcs. Presented for the first time as a complete, standalone story, this stirring narrative will appeal to casual fans and expert readers alike, returning them to the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien.

Adam Tolkien on The Children of Húrin

How did a lifetime of stories become The Children of Húrin? In an essay on the making of the book, Adam Tolkien, grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien (and French translator of his History of Middle-earth), explains that the Húrin legends made up the third "Great Tale" of his grandfather's Middle-earth writing, and he describes how his father, Christopher Tolkien, painstakingly collected the pieces of the legend into a complete story told only in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien. "For anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings," he writes, The Children of Húrin "allows them to take a step back into a larger world, an ancient land of heroes and vagabonds, honour and jeopardy, hope and tragedy."

A Look Inside the Book
This first edition of The Children of Húrin is illustrated by Alan Lee, who was already well-known for his Tolkien illustrations in previous editions (see our Tolkien Store for more) as well as his classic collaboration with Brian Froud, Faeries, and his Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Black Ships Before Troy, before his Oscar-winning work as conceptual designer for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy brought him even greater acclaim. Here's a quick glimpse of two of Lee's interior illustrations for The Children of Húrin.

Questions for Alan Lee : We had the chance to ask Alan Lee a few questions about his illustrative collaboration with the world imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien:

Amazon.com: How much of a treat was it to get first crack at depicting entirely new characters rather than ones who had been interpreted many times before? Was there one who particularly captured your imagination?

Lee: Although it was a great honor to illustrate The Children of Húrin, the characters and the main elements of the story line are familiar to those who have read The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, and these narratives have inspired quite a few illustrators. Ted Nasmith has illustrated The Silmarillion and touched on some of the same characters and landscapes. This was the first time that I ventured into the First Age; while working on The Lord of the Rings books and films--and The Hobbit--I've had to refer back to events in Middle-earth history but not really depict them.

I'm drawn to characters who bear similarities to the protagonists in myths and legends; these correspondences add layers and shades of meaning, and most of the characters in this story have those archetypal qualities. However, I prefer not to get too close to the characters because the author is delineating them much more carefully than I can, and I'm wary of interfering with the pictures that the text is creating in the reader's mind.

Amazon.com: The Húrin story has been described as darker than some of Tolkien's other work. What mood did you try to set with your illustrations?

Lee: It is a tragic story, but the darkness is offset by the light and beauty of Tolkien's elegiac writing. In the illustrations I tried to show some of the fragile beauty of the landscapes and create an atmosphere that would enhance the sense of foreboding and impending loss. I try to get the setting to tell its part in the story, as evidence of what happened there in the past and as a hint at what is going to occur. My usual scarred and broken trees came in handy.

Amazon.com: You were a conceptual designer (and won an Oscar) for Peter Jackson's film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, which I think we can safely say had a bit of success. How does designing for the screen compare to designing for the page?

Lee: They both have their share of joys and frustrations. It was great to be part of a huge film collaboration and play a small part in something quite magical and monumental; I will always treasure that experience. Film is attractive because I enjoy sketching and coming up with ideas more than producing highly finished artwork, and it's great having several hundred other people lending a hand! But books--as long as they don't get moldy from being left in an empty studio for six years--have their own special quality. I hope that I can continue doing both.

Amazon.com: Of all fiction genres, fantasy seems to have the strongest tradition of illustration. Why do you think that is? Who are some of your favorite illustrators?

Lee: A lot of excellent illustrators are working at the moment--especially in fantasy and children's books. It is exciting also to see graphic artists such as Dave McKean, in his film Mirrormask, moving between different media. I also greatly admire the more traditional work of Gennady Spirin and Roberto Innocenti. Kinuko Craft, John Jude Palencar, John Howe, Charles Vess, Brian Froud ... I'll stop there, as the list would get too long. But--in a fit of pride and justified nepotism--I'll add my daughter, Virginia Lee, to the list. Her first illustrated children's book, The Frog Bride [coming out in the U.K. in September], will be lovely.

Customer Reviews

Amazing!

It's been a while since I've read a book that's taken my breath away. As most people reviewing would probably agree, more for the Tolkien fan than the casual reader. Such a tragic tale, but one that drew me even deeper into the world of Middle Earth. I love the poetic, flowing writing style of JRRT. Hopefully I can keep his writing in a separate category and enjoy the other fantasy out there for what it is.

Read "The Silmarillion" first...

This book is very good, and is a lot easier to read than picking the story out of "Unfinished Tales" or "The Silmarillion". But I would not have understood much of the background details and geography if I had not read "The Silmarillion" first. Very fascinating and gives a good perspective of First Age Middle Earth. Highly recommended for true Middle Earth fans.

Excellent Prequel!

The only book of Tolkien's that I've read previously was The Hobbit (and that was at least 8 years prior). The LOTOR trilogy was a great story in itself and I was looking to branch out from other reading areas. This story reminded me of the tragedy's of Ancient Greece. Without trying to give anything away, the main character, Turin, has a great deal going for him and at the same time a great deal against him. It was tough to see Turin's life unfold and the events that led up to the end of the story...which culminated in -- nevermind, I don't want to spoil it. This tale does not hinge on the LOTOR story, but there are some familiar characters and it does tell some of how Middle Earth became the way it was.

http://astore.amazon.com/harry_potter_and_the_deathly_hallows-20/

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)

2008-04-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

Product Description

Read by Jim Dale8 hours 17 minutes, 6 cassettesHarry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.
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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #1229 in Books
Published on: 1998-10
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
309 pages

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com

Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans that come in every flavor, including strawberry, curry, grass, and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In the nonmagic human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoiled, piglike cousin Dudley.

A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough, however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl Hedwig... and that's where the real adventure--humorous, haunting, and suspenseful--begins. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, first published in England as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, continues to win major awards in England. So far it has won the National Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the Children's Book Award, and is short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, the U.K. version of the Newbery Medal. This magical, gripping, brilliant book--a future classic to be sure--will leave kids clamoring for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (Ages 8 to 13) --Karin Snelson

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

The amazing popularity of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone means that now even Muggles know about the Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Whether or not you've read about Harry, this unabridged audiobook brings his world to life. Reader Jim Dale brings an excellent range of voices to the characters, from well-meaning Hermione's soft, earnest voice to Malfoy's nasal droning; from Professor McGonagall's crisp brogue to Hagrid's broad Somerset accent; and from snarling Mr. Filch to p-p-poor, st-tuttering P-Professor Quirrel. Some of the characterizations are peculiar--why do the centaurs have Welsh accents?--but that's a small price to pay to hear one of the myriad ways to sing the Hogwarts School song. Harry Potter fans of all ages--Muggle or not--will enjoy curling up with a few chocolate frogs, a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans ("Alas! Ear wax!"), and this marvelous, magical audiobook. (Running time: 8 hours, 6 cassettes) --Sunny Delaney

From Publishers Weekly Readers are in for a delightful romp with this award-winning debut from a British author who dances in the footsteps of P.L. Travers and Roald Dahl. As the story opens, mysterious goings-on ruffle the self-satisfied suburban world of the Dursleys, culminating in a trio of strangers depositing the Dursleys' infant nephew Harry in a basket on their doorstep. After 11 years of disregard and neglect at the hands of his aunt, uncle and their swinish son Dudley, Harry suddenly receives a visit from a giant named Hagrid, who informs Harry that his mother and father were a witch and a wizard, and that he is to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry himself. Most surprising of all, Harry is a legend in the witch world for having survived an attack by the evil sorcerer Voldemort, who killed his parents and left Harry with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. And so the fun begins, with Harry going off to boarding school like a typical English kid?only his supplies include a message-carrying owl and a magic wand. There is enchantment, suspense and danger galore (as well as enough creepy creatures to satisfy the most bogeymen-loving readers, and even a magical game of soccerlike Quidditch to entertain sports fans) as Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione plumb the secrets of the forbidden third floor at Hogwarts to battle evil and unravel the mystery behind Harry's scar. Rowling leaves the door wide open for a sequel; bedazzled readers will surely clamor for one. Ages 8-12. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Great Book

Great book and seller. Fast shipper and the book was in better than new condition. Thanks

A Must Read For Everyone

To be honest, I never thougth I would read a Harry Potter book. I thought it was for children until a respected colleague brought her copy to work one day. I laughed at first until I realized she was serious. To appease her I took it home and started reading.

Quickly I became so wrapped up in the story, I couldn't put it down until I finished. I immediately found the other books and devoured them just as ferociously.

Trust me when I say they are so much better than the movies. No disrespect to the directors and writers, but there is no possible way to give the books full disclosure on the screen. Pick this book up today and you'll find out what I did. This ain't just for the kiddies, it's for everyone who enjoys reading.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2008-04-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com

Readers beware. The brilliant, breathtaking conclusion to J.K. Rowling's spellbinding series is not for the faint of heart--such revelations, battles, and betrayals await in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that no fan will make it to the end unscathed. Luckily, Rowling has prepped loyal readers for the end of her series by doling out increasingly dark and dangerous tales of magic and mystery, shot through with lessons about honor and contempt, love and loss, and right and wrong. Fear not, you will find no spoilers in our review--to tell the plot would ruin the journey, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an odyssey the likes of which Rowling's fans have not yet seen, and are not likely to forget. But we would be remiss if we did not offer one small suggestion before you embark on your final adventure with Harry--bring plenty of tissues.

The heart of Book 7 is a hero's mission--not just in Harry's quest for the Horcruxes, but in his journey from boy to man--and Harry faces more danger than that found in all six books combined, from the direct threat of the Death Eaters and you-know-who, to the subtle perils of losing faith in himself. Attentive readers would do well to remember Dumbledore's warning about making the choice between "what is right and what is easy," and know that Rowling applies the same difficult principle to the conclusion of her series. While fans will find the answers to hotly speculated questions about Dumbledore, Snape, and you-know-who, it is a testament to Rowling's skill as a storyteller that even the most astute and careful reader will be taken by surprise.

A spectacular finish to a phenomenal series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a bittersweet read for fans. The journey is hard, filled with events both tragic and triumphant, the battlefield littered with the bodies of the dearest and despised, but the final chapter is as brilliant and blinding as a phoenix's flame, and fans and skeptics alike will emerge from the confines of the story with full but heavy hearts, giddy and grateful for the experience.

--Daphne Durham

Customer Reviews

Rowling's place in literary history is secure

I've loved the entire Harry Potter series (the movies, too). For the first few years, I avoided the books, due to all the hype (and controversy). When I finally decided to pick up "Harry Potter and the Philospher's/Sorcerer's Stone," I was not disappointed. It exceeded any expectations or preconceptions. It established Rowling, in my mind, as one of the finest fantasy authors in modern times, right up there with Tolkein and C.S. Lewis and Terry Pratchett.

The climax of her tales of Harry Potter proves this to no end. This is a fantastic series for children and young adults, and those of us fully grown, too. Rowling is obviously moral (her characters' use of swear words is limited, there is no sex, and the violence and dark events serve the purpose of proving her villians are evil), and an immensely creative artist. Each of these books is a literary masterpiece in its own right. There is always character development, plot resolution, humor, friendship, and life's lessons, big and small. Harry and his friends are brave, clever, honest, and loyal as hell -- marvelous role models for the children of today.

The things I like most about this series -- particularly Book 7 -- are that eventually good always triumphs over evil, even though the road to travel can be a long and hard one; and that Harry is not a pompous hero. He is forced to mature before his time, and he experiences flaws in his character as a result of growing up without a supportive family -- some lack in judgement, as a teenager some anger management issues, sometimes a lack of trust in those who are ultimately his saviors. This is one of the most likable things about Harry -- he is human, a normal kid in so many ways.

My favorite scene in the Deathly Hallows is towards the end, when Harry finds the resurrection stone, and uses it to see his parents, Sirius and Lupin one last time before going into the battle that decides his ultimate fate. The heartbreakingly poignant exchanges between these characters had me in tears, and demonstrate just what a fine writer and deep person Rowling is.

A note to Christians who oppose Harry Potter: I myself am a Christian, and have done my homework on modern day Wicca, and can state for a fact that there is nothing of "real" witchcraft practices in these books. Rowling wrote about the same kind of wizards and witches that Tolkein did -- the purely fictional type. And like Tolkein, Rowling has stated that she believes in God, and, like Tolkein, there are many Christian overtones in her work. By the way, Christian author John Granger has written a great book called "Looking for God in Harry Potter," which illustrates in good detail the fact that Ms. Rowling has done just that. I highly recommend it to the opposition -- so that they might finally see what the rest of us have in the magneificent Harry Potter all these years.

Eh, dissapointing outcome and left unfinished series

Reading this review? Remember its all IMHO and just a personal reflection. I had to have the book, loved reading it (missed work just to finish it) and highly reccommend if you have followed the series, that you get this. It will neatly tie up most loose ends and answer much for you. HOWEVER, there is a HUGE gap between the epilogue and the end of the book, leaving a ton of unanswered questions that arise just from reading it. * Did Harry ever actually complete his 7th year? I cant say more without spoiling, but thats the general idea of whats missing from the book.

Good to the end.

A very exciting end to a superb series. It was like desert to an excellent meal. Hope J. R. Rowlings will write more in the future.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)

2008-04-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #39 in Books
Published on: 2007-07-21
Released on: 2007-07-21
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
784 pages

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com

.......Readers beware. The brilliant, breathtaking conclusion to J.K. Rowling's spellbinding series is not for the faint of heart--such revelations, battles, and betrayals await in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that no fan will make it to the end unscathed. Luckily, Rowling has prepped loyal readers for the end of her series by doling out increasingly dark and dangerous tales of magic and mystery, shot through with lessons about honor and contempt, love and loss, and right and wrong. Fear not, you will find no spoilers in our review--to tell the plot would ruin the journey, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an odyssey the likes of which Rowling's fans have not yet seen, and are not likely to forget. But we would be remiss if we did not offer one small suggestion before you embark on your final adventure with Harry--bring plenty of tissues.

.......The heart of Book 7 is a hero's mission--not just in Harry's quest for the Horcruxes, but in his journey from boy to man--and Harry faces more danger than that found in all six books combined, from the direct threat of the Death Eaters and you-know-who, to the subtle perils of losing faith in himself. Attentive readers would do well to remember Dumbledore's warning about making the choice between "what is right and what is easy," and know that Rowling applies the same difficult principle to the conclusion of her series. While fans will find the answers to hotly speculated questions about Dumbledore, Snape, and you-know-who, it is a testament to Rowling's skill as a storyteller that even the most astute and careful reader will be taken by surprise.

--Daphne Durham

Customer Reviews

Rowling's place in literary history is secure

.......I've loved the entire Harry Potter series (the movies, too). For the first few years, I avoided the books, due to all the hype (and controversy). When I finally decided to pick up "Harry Potter and the Philospher's/Sorcerer's Stone," I was not disappointed. It exceeded any expectations or preconceptions. It established Rowling, in my mind, as one of the finest fantasy authors in modern times, right up there with Tolkein and C.S. Lewis and Terry Pratchett.

.......The climax of her tales of Harry Potter proves this to no end. This is a fantastic series for children and young adults, and those of us fully grown, too. Rowling is obviously moral (her characters' use of swear words is limited, there is no sex, and the violence and dark events serve the purpose of proving her villians are evil), and an immensely creative artist. Each of these books is a literary masterpiece in its own right. There is always character development, plot resolution, humor, friendship, and life's lessons, big and small. Harry and his friends are brave, clever, honest, and loyal as hell -- marvelous role models for the children of today.

.......The things I like most about this series -- particularly Book 7 -- are that eventually good always triumphs over evil, even though the road to travel can be a long and hard one; and that Harry is not a pompous hero. He is forced to mature before his time, and he experiences flaws in his character as a result of growing up without a supportive family -- some lack in judgement, as a teenager some anger management issues, sometimes a lack of trust in those who are ultimately his saviors. This is one of the most likable things about Harry -- he is human, a normal kid in so many ways.

......My favorite scene in the Deathly Hallows is towards the end, when Harry finds the resurrection stone, and uses it to see his parents, Sirius and Lupin one last time before going into the battle that decides his ultimate fate. The heartbreakingly poignant exchanges between these characters had me in tears, and demonstrate just what a fine writer and deep person Rowling is.

.......A note to Christians who oppose Harry Potter: I myself am a Christian, and have done my homework on modern day Wicca, and can state for a fact that there is nothing of "real" witchcraft practices in these books. Rowling wrote about the same kind of wizards and witches that Tolkein did -- the purely fictional type. And like Tolkein, Rowling has stated that she believes in God, and, like Tolkein, there are many Christian overtones in her work. By the way, Christian author John Granger has written a great book called "Looking for God in Harry Potter," which illustrates in good detail the fact that Ms. Rowling has done just that. I highly recommend it to the opposition -- so that they might finally see what the rest of us have in the magneificent Harry Potter all these years.

Eh, dissapointing outcome and left unfinished series

.......Reading this review? Remember its all IMHO and just a personal reflection. I had to have the book, loved reading it (missed work just to finish it) and highly reccommend if you have followed the series, that you get this. It will neatly tie up most loose ends and answer much for you. HOWEVER, there is a HUGE gap between the epilogue and the end of the book, leaving a ton of unanswered questions that arise just from reading it. * Did Harry ever actually complete his 7th year? I cant say more without spoiling, but thats the general idea of whats missing from the book.

Good to the end.

.......A very exciting end to a superb series. It was like desert to an excellent meal. Hope J. R. Rowlings will write more in the future.

http://astore.amazon.com/harry_potter_and_the_deathly_hallows-20/detail/0545010225/002-9717226-5898407