5 comments about ERIC LIDDELL: PURE GOLD.

1. 
   Outstanding book on the life of a young dedicated christian.
   Should be of great encouragement to young people who desperately need someone as an role model in this day of confusion.
   Book is well written and brings out his courage to do that which is right in the face of adversity.
   Book is written in a foremat that can be enjoyed by those of any age group.



2. Are you sure it can't be done??? well, think twice and then read this man's biography. Eric Liddell immortilized worldwide in the 1981 Hugh Hudson's motion picture Chariots of Fire in its purest form is presented in this book. A story on courage, capacity and determination. You should not miss it. You shall want to go out jogging and be a better person to say the least!
   
   From his birth on January 16, 1902 in Tientsin, China, to his unexpected death due to a brain tumor on February 21, 1945 in a japanese concentration camp in that same country, passing through his experiences at boarding school in the UK, his olympic victory, his religious commitments, his unbelievable determination, his beloved Florence ("Flo") and the beautiful love story that surrounded their relationship, the people who marked his life (his mother Mary, father James, brothers Rob and Ernest, sister Jenny, etc.). A book that brought out emotions from the beginning when I read about Florence (Eric's widow) watching Chariots of Fire and imagining her reactions, her feelings of pride... This book is a thoroughly rewarding experience!



3. I fell in love with the movie "Chariots of Fire" when I was in college over 20 years ago. I also enjoyed the paperback of the same name. Recently I became interested in this true story again and found "Pure Gold" on Amazon.
   This biography is slow-moving and tedious. I have never been to China nor do I have any interest in the Orient, so the setting of most of the book was not compelling. I was hoping that Eric's personality and dedication to Christian principles would pull me through when I was tempted to stop reading and give the book away.
   I was inspired enough to finish it but "ho hum" is my response to the writing.
   Maybe "Chariots of Fire" was a too "Hollywood-ized" version of the 1924 Olympics,(as Back Flash was to firefighting) but even if it was, I prefer it to this book.



4. Eric Liddell is an interesting & worthy subject for a biography but this one isn't it. The author did extensive research in primary documents, interviewed people who knew Liddell personally, & created an excellent bibliography. Unfortunately, the writing style is corny & some of the passages are fictionalized, particularly ones regarding Liddell's relationship with his wife Flo. The author puts thoughts in their minds that he couldn't possibly know. He so over-romanticizes his subject that he becomes almost unreal. Liddell was a great athlete & a great servant of the Lord, but the author so idolizes him that he becomes a kind of plaster saint. The main problem with this book is that it is explicitly written to be "inspirational," & so the reader is reminded over & over again what a great Christian role model Liddell was. This gets tiresome. Don't misunderstand me -- I am not knocking Liddell here at all, only the author's mode of presenting him. A less didactic book would serve Liddell better. His own words & actions speak for themselves.



5. Because of the surprise hit Chariots of Fire, the world knows the name Eric Liddell. Most people also know about the stand he made for his beliefs as he refused to run an Olympic race he was favored to win simply because the race was scheduled for Sunday. Those who have seen the movie know that it ends shortly after he wins an Olympic gold medal in an event in which he had barely trained. But in Pure Gold, a biography of Liddell weighing in at 333 pages, the race is complete by the ninety-eighth page. There is much more to Liddell than the movie portrays.
   
   Eric Liddell is a man who was sold out to God. He regarded his own desires and his own comforts as secondary to God's. Raised as the son of a missionary, he grew up away from his parents, for in those days children were left in their native country to receive their training, often seeing their parents only once every six or seven years. There was a period of over a decade in Liddell's life where he was with his parents for only 100 days. Despite the seperation, he received strong training, primarily in the Bible.
   
   While he grew both academically and spiritually, people also came to realize that Liddell had a gift for speed. He was fast. He was also uncouth, with a running style all his own. He would start like any other runner, but as he approached the finish line, he would throw his head back and his arms would begin to flail. Yet somehow, rather than slow him down, this gave him a burst of speed that often led him to victory.
   
   Some of his exploits from his early days are famous, such as the time he fell in a 400-meter race, but managed to climb to his feet and work his way back into first place, making up a deficit of over ten meters. And as we know from the movie, he earned a position on the British Olympic squad at the 1924 Olympic Games where he came away with two medals, a gold and a bronze. He returned to his native Scotland a hero - far and away the best-known athlete in the nation. It was this fame that provided the springboard for his mission work. Despite being a shy and quiet man, he criss-crossed the country, speaking before hundreds of thousands of people, telling them about the Lord and encouraging them to give their lives to Him.
   
   At the very pinnacle of his athletic success, Liddell laid it all aside to become a missionary to China, the country his father had served when Eric was a boy and the country he continued to serve to that day. Liddell counted his prestige as nothing and moved to the mission field. He served the rest of his life in China before his eventual death in a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. It is this period of his life that so few know about, yet this is where we see Liddell at his finest. It is here that we see the power and effectiveness of a life that is sold out to God.
   
   This biography is well-written, inspiring and highly-recommended. It presents Liddell as he really was and helps the reader understand the foundation for his life. It portrays Liddell in his strength and in his weakness, through joy and sadness. It portrays the consistency of a man who lived in the same way when the eyes of the nation were upon him, or when he stood only before the eyes of the Lord.
   
   While Chariots of Fire has done much to bring Liddell to the public eye, and while it presented the man accurately, it tells less than half the story. However, the race which forms the climax to the movie can well be seen as a metaphor for Liddell's life. He finished the race of life the same way he had finished so many races long before - with his arms flailing and his head turned to the sky, enraptured purely with the joy of running.

5 comments about Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir.

1. Let me just get this out of the way, regardless of WHO YOU ARE, this is a really good book (which I actually read from front to back and will probably re-read) that any human being should like, plus the story has an amazing twist . The people who feel they have to go on the defensive and gave this book a bad review, I feel sorry for. I read to open my mind, not to close it; THAT DOES NOT MEAN I TAKE TO HEART the veracity of everything I read . Small minds come in many different flavors, so don't feel so special, get a hobby!



2. I'm sorry I cannot review this book as I have yet to receive it. Maybe you should improve your delivery serviuces to countries such as mine.!



3. This is a sad story of a little girl in which she is forced to set aside the crown of liberty and live like a beggar, but she fights to retain her dignity...
   Excellent Job, Great Audacity.



4. As a person of the same age as of this woman, who has lived in Iran until 1994, I have to say I find this book a bad piece of fiction, written for the Western audience and ready-to-be-sold to Hollywood to make a crappy movie.
   The truth is, in those years our life as a nation was miserable. Evin prison was full of political prisoners, and there was no freedom of speech. But things were not the way Nemat describes it. Her memoir is ridiculously fabricated with lies about everything you can imagine about Iran. People of age 15 were executed in Iran in those years, but for reasons more politically important than leading a strike in high school! Is she crazy? If the Iranian regime wanted to arrest every high-school student for their argument with their math teacher they could not rule the country. And that story about being saved by her interrogator: nothing can be more far from reality than that. This is more like an emotional Hollywood movie than the reality I have lived in.
   
   I cannot believe people here actually believe this nonsense. This woman is either a charlatan, or a psycho.



5. I have read the reviews that are good, bad as well as the very heated discussions about this book and I have to say that it is good that this book generated such intense reactions in mind of the readers as it did for me. Regardless of the accuracy of the author's account as I don't have the first hand experiences, I assume that most of the author's accounts of the general political and cultural environment in Iran are fairly accurate. My reaction is again, the disbelief over the oppression and violence towards women in the name of religion and traditions, and the conspicuous lack of uproar in the international community in the name of political correctness or "cultural sensitivity". I don't mean to minimize the importance of other causes that received attention, such as Chinese government against Tibet, but when it comes to women, the world seems to be rather silent. Books such as this, and other memoirs such as Infidel, Bookseller in Kabul, Wild Swans,and memoirs by FLDS survivors are important means to raise awareness, therefore need to be written and to be read. Having said that, I gave only two stars because the writing is very poor and flat and some recollections of her childhood experiences seem too romanticized and blantantly inconsistent with her developemental stages, which raised questions in me about the believability of her account, and eventually became distracting to me.

5 comments about Six Records of a Floating Life (Penguin Classics).

1. I decided to read "Six Records of a Floating Life" after spending a summer in Suzhou, the city of Shen Fu's birth and his home for many years. When describing this work, my Chinese friends were quick to use words like "romantic" and "touching". However I was skeptical since I had also heard that this book detailed Shen Fu's relationship not only with his wife, Yun, but also concubines and courtesans - thus setting it far outside the scope of what is traditionally considered "romantic" by modern, Western standards. Yet, if one is willing to keep an open mind and look at Shen Fu's extra-marital relations (which are, in fact, treated very briefly) within the context of the time and culture during which he wrote, one can see that that author and his wife were very much in love and cared passionately for each other for more than twenty years. Fu's description of the airy joys and carefree pleasures they experienced together as husband and wife are sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone who's every been in love.
   
   Yet, with great happiness Shen Fu also experienced great pain and numerous hardships. Considered a failure in both business and scholarship, he was never wealthy and he struggled to provide even a modest living for himself and his family. Indeed, Fu drifted from place to place, job to job, often relying on friends and relatives to provide him with money and shelter. Adding to the pressures of poverty was his wife's chronic illness, which eventually took her life. Shen Fu's description of his wife's death is truely heart-breaking, as he writes:
   
   "Her spirit vanished in the mist and she began her long journey... When it happened there was a solitary lamp burning in the room. I looked up but saw nothing, there was nothing for my two hands to hold, and my heart felt as if it would shatter" (p. 89)
   
   Part romance, part tragedy, part travelogue and part memoir this book indeed lives up to it's reputation as a classic. Shen Fu articulates the joys and sorrows of ordinary human life with the skill of an artist, and he is always someone with whom we can identify. Like we all do, he struggled to find peace and comfort while trying to bear the weight of sadness. Whether you're interested in Chinese history and culture or not, this book deserves to be read and appreciated.



2. If one reads the introduction, this book is not meant to be read as a sequential narrative, instead it is a collection of memoirs and hence the word "records" in the title. Through this collection of records and memoirs, readers are welcomed to peer into segments of the author's bumpy life.
   
   The records follow Shen Fu on his numerous failed attempts to find contentment in life: As an educated man, Shen Fu tried to gain a position through civil examinations but got nowhere, he tried his hand at being a painter but found that he had no talent, he made friends with people who eventually betrayed him, he got into debt and was disowned by his father, and the final blow came when he lost his child and beloved wife, Yun. In the end Shen Fu's decided to live a "floating Life" by giving up worldly matters to wander China.
   
   Shen Fu is also a groundbreaking author. He is very descriptive of his environment, which is uncharacteristic of Chinese writers of his time. Through Shen Fu's accounts the reader can experience the long lost customs of ancient China, for example, lonely men with a bit of pocket money can visit brothel boats sitting "like aimless floating leaves" on the river.
   
   Moreover, Shen Fu's accounts of his wife, Yun, were against conventions because he does not cease in describing her only as a dutiful wife and daughter-in-law according to Confucian ideology, but he portrays her as an intelligent and adventurous woman who was willing to dress up as a man to visit a temple (which forbids women) with him. To Shen Fu, Yun was his soul mate and she transcends his memoirs into a love story. She is present from his first record, "The Joys of the Wedding Chamber" where they first met as an arranged marriage to his last record, "The Delights of Roaming Afar" where Shen Fu is constantly reminded of Yun, long after her death, when he travelled to places he wished he had brought her to.
   
   Lastly, Shen Fu's tone is full of indignant passion making him an amusing storyteller. The translators (Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui) translate Shen Fu's work without losing his ease and personality, making the book a delightful read.
   
   Keeping in mind that not many authors in feudal China reveal an honest account of their times and even less-so the intimate accounts of their domestic life, this autobiography is wonderfully rare.



3. There are so many contradictions within this quirky memoir that it could only possibly be true.
   
   This is a memoir of life right around the start of the 19th century. It recounts the adult life of Shen Fu, a man who appears to have been ordinary in the extreme. Although educated, he did not pass the literary tests of the civil service. At best, his career could have been a secretary under one of the successful examinees, but his times weren't always the best. His positions never lasted, and his business attempts failed. Often, he sold his possessions and his wife's down to the clothes on their backs (or less). He fell out with his family, in a time when filial duty was enforced by law, and became outcast in almost every sense.
   
   But his life never wholly failed, either. Perhaps it was the glow of nostalgia, but his twenty-three years of marriage were always a joy to him, even when his wife's health failed, and even when she may have been the source of some of his problems. They had their times of poverty, but never to the point of starvation. He was honorable enough to quit a corrupt position when it offended his honor too deeply. He was devoted enough to heal the familial rifts. His joys and Yun's were simple - travel, each other, the beauty of the full moon, and maybe a little too much wine shared with happy company. Shen Fu and his devoted Yun never demanded much from their lives, and usually got enough to enjoy.
   
   The text wanders. The first three chapters chart the ups and downs of the marriage to his beloved wife. She died early, from some frightening disease. Still, she and he accepted it stoically, or mostly did. The fourth chapter collects a few decades of moments together, the sights and sounds of travel. With his wife and after her, Shun Fu visited temples, sacred caves, and pleasure districts, reported in some drifting collage of personal history. Despite the "six" promised in the title, we have only four. It's probably better that way, according to the appendices.
   
   I really think I would have liked Shun Fu. He was honest enough, loving enough, and devoted enough to his children. Even when his own situation deteriorated badly, he fostered his son as best he could and sheltered his daughter with people who could marry her well. He never wholly succeeded or failed, but muddled through the chances that appeared to him. He was no grand hero, nor villain, nor idle dreamer, nor driven workaholic. He was just a guy, living some guy's life pretty well. Maybe he dressed up his memories just a bit, but don't we all?
   
   //wiredweird



4. "Six Records" (also known as "Six Chapters of a Floating Life"), c. 1805, is an extraordinarily frank autobiography that is totally unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of Chinese literature. It describes the life of the author Shen Fu and his beloved wife, Ch'en Yun (1763-1803), in extremely revealing detail. The intimacy and joy shared by the couple are as unusual by normal standards of Chinese married life as is the author's daringness in revealing them to others. Their close, playful relationship stands in defiant opposition to the staid decorum of married life expected by Confucian ideology.

   A thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring read. Ch'en Yun is a woman ahead of her time who admirably balances her love of learning and passion for life with her duties and obligations as a traditional Chinese wife.




5. a very, very good book to get to know the everyday life of late imperial Chinese!

5 comments about My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance.

1. Well written book for people who would like to become Quant while their major is not finance.



2. I wanted to get a better picture on how it is to work as a "quant" on Wall Street, not knowing much to start out with. The book certainly met my expectations. I was a bit surprised that most of the research effort goes into financial engineering (developing and analyzing new products) as opposed to trying to better understand/predict how already existing products will do. It was interesting to understand the relationship between "quants" and traders. Finally, a bit surprising that so little from physics was applicable.



3. Though I barely have a clue about the models presented in the book, the author provided a very informative and descriptive view of life as a Quant. It even gives a picture of working in Wall Street. I thank the author for his effort.



4. I enjoyed this book very much. It's like a memoir, but focuses on his professional life. He talks about his training in physics, and how hard it is to get satisfactory (to him) employment. He switched to being a quantitative analyst on Wall Street. He talks a lot about what that really means, how the quants fit into the structure of Wall Street, and he even gets into some of the technical detail (I would have liked a bit more of that). It's well written and fun.



5. Very (very) shallow on technical content. Bizarre and boring anecdotes about the politics of the big investment banks. Detailed stories about uninteresting aspects of the author's life. I kept looking for some real beef, but gave up at some point.

5 comments about Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living.

1. It was an eye opener and such a great read! Thanks Doug!
   
   I usually read non-fiction or intense thrillers, so I wasn't too sure how this book would favor amongst the rest. It won me over.
   
   Doug's book really impacted the way I think. Just cutting back a little bit on certain things makes a HUGE difference. Not to mention that my fast paced life seems to have slowed down now that I am more conscience about what I use and how I use it. Things like gardening, planting trees and building economic structures (solar panel mounts) add to quality time with my boyfriend. Not only is it educational for me and my other half, but these are ideas that we can instill on our children...when the time comes for them of course. Dougs humor and honesty, and anti-Bush quirks add all the bit more to this book. Pick it up today!



2. The book is about the author's adventures when he moved to New Mexico to live green and reduce his carbon footprint. He raises goats and chickens, gets a diesel truck and has it converted to run on grease from restaurants, grows veggies in a garden, and puts in a solar water heater. I was smiling throughout the entire book. He also made a lot of great points about how everyone can do just a little to help save the environmen. He is a great story teller and I love the book.



3. I found Doug's book inspiring AND funny. It made me smile, laugh out loud and ponder ways in which I too can become more self sufficient. Would highly recommend!



4. I loved the book and admire Doug's efforts. I laughed out loud several times!



5. Most books I read may be intellectually interesting, but don't really impact my life to any degree. This humble little tome did instigate some changes for me. On the humblest level I've started making a monthly donation through my power company to a renewable energy trust fund so that more alternative sources can be funded. I've also started to jack up my home's insulation to ever higher levels, even though they were considered average before. And, I'm getting ever more mindful about how low or high I set the a/c & heat in my house, as well as the amount of driving I do, so that I'm cutting back my carbon footprint even more. I've hardly 'gone off the grid' as Mr. Fine has aspired to, but collectively such small changes could make a difference to our country, and to the planet.
   
   But I confess, I still own my Subaru.

5 comments about Return from Tomorrow.

1. This is a fascinating real life-death account which I personally believe to be true. It gives great hope to those of us who are still alive and is a compelling and inspiring adventure.



2. I was originally loaned this book by a friend who made great claims about it. I was hesitant because most of us have heard the experiences of those with near or real death and then come back to tell about it. One day I picked up the book and starting skimming through it to the part where the death experience occurs, I couldn't put it down! its totally different than all the others I've heard about. In fact, once I finished the book I immediately started over from the very beginning. I bought this book to loan out to others and to re-read myself, it can be read in a few hours.



3. I found "Return from Tomorrow" to be a moving, compelling little gem. I have been sharing it with many friends and feel that you could have a ministry from what George Ritchie reports in his book. It was absolutely life changing for me. I thank Guideposts and George Ritchie for his inspiring and riveting story.



4. Excellent book for someone wanting to broaden his/her spiritual and religious base. It is a Christian book, but goes beyond traditional boundaries. The author discusses relationships with Jesus and God that are more personal and of more consequence that conventional teaching.



5. My mother who is 78 and just went through a health crisis, handed me this book after she was done saying just that it was interesting. I agree with her. I've been interested in NDE since before I went to school for Neuroscience. I read about some accounts as well as the view of science for these experiences, which is that as the mind shuts down neurons fire strangely causing people to have these hallucinations. I didn't find these explanations to be satisfactory, partly because they haven't been able to research this phenomenon well. How do you predict when someone is going to die, then come back to life? You certainly cannot risk causing this to happen. It's unethical. Plus as is often the case in medical research, those doctors come to the research expecting to validate their own preconceptions. For the most part, those who have reported NDE of their own, do not go into it 'expecting' to experience similar to what has previously been reported.
   
   George Ritchie went through this experience during WWII. This was prior to all the current interest in this phenomenon. The book itself was written during the 1970's, and is considered 'The' classic book on NDE.
   He felt the need to share this experience with others, and was probably surprised to find the amount of interest it has garnered. As with most young men, he went into this experience without expections or preconceptions...he basically hadn't thought of something like this happening before. Who does at age 20.
   
   Whether or not what he experienced is valid, the experience itself was life-changing for good. That alone is reason enough to look into this with an open mind. That which changes people in such a way as to produce good has significantly more promise than that which leads people to wrong-doing.
   
   The book itself, and the writing is quick and well-done. Ritchie is obviously a person of intelligence...he went to medical school (so has probably heard some of the scientific reasoning for this), and then became a psychiatrist (some of the biggest skeptics). At age 20, he wasn't very religious. He certainly didn't expect to die.
   
   Those who choose to read books such as this usually are those with an open mind. Each person has to decide for themselves what they choose to believe. I'm sure that this book offers comfort to many, especially those who know they are approaching their own deaths. Since this book has been printed over and over again for the last 40 years, it must 'ring true' for some reason to an awful lot of people. Readers need to approach this book (and others like it) without their own expectations or preconceptions to get something out of it.
   
   Karen Sadler

5 comments about Cash: The Autobiography.

1. I loved how much heart Johnny Cash put into this book. Every detail, every aspect of his life are told with huge honesty and intensity, showing his affection to everyone who's been close to him during the years. if you love this legend, you'll be delighted by this book.



2. What really makes this better than most autobiographies is that Johnny Cash is a good story teller, and avoids the temptation to tell his life story strictly in a linear fashion from his upbringing to the present. Instead, he presents his life story as a set of stories during a tour, as if we are on the tour bus with him going to place to place. And it hits the right note since he's spent so much of his life on the road. And the moments he talks about his various homes have a certain intimacy, since we realize home for a person like Johnny Cash has probably been pretty fleeting. Subtly powerful stuff, just like his music.
   
   Cash comes across as a pretty worldly figure, despite being heavily grounded by his country roots. We get pretty frank and open discussions about his failures and battles with addiction. As someone pretty non-religious, I found his discussions about Christianity and what it means to him and his family completely open and approachable, and it never comes across as preachy or patronizing. Yes, the endless talk about his various grandkids and non-stop effusive praise of the exhaustive list of people he's performed with started getting a little old, but I can forgive that. Very enjoyable read. 4 1/2 stars out of 5, so I'll round it up to 5.
   
   Note: As someone who would listen to Cash read aloud the phone book underwater to the sounds of fingernails across a chalk board, you might say I'm a little biased.



3. This book was good. I can't say it any simpler. I enjoyed reading it and feel a little closer to the man whose music I admire.



4. This is a very readable book. The writing is simple, yet interesting. It reads just like Johnny Cash is having a conversation with the reader. Thumbs up.



5. I really liked the book and I am glad I bought it but it wasn't as in depth as I was hoping it would be. Some of the names he drops would have been easier to follow if he had used last names and the book assumes you have kept up with his history and his career but what it does do is makes me want to purchase "Man in Black" just that much more.

5 comments about On Call: A Doctor's Days and Nights in Residency.

1. This book was a fairly easy read, I almost wish it was longer. The write made it easy for those of us without a medical background to follow along. A great insight into what it takes to become a Dr. I have more respect for Dr's after reading this novel.



2. It's a honest encounter of residency years of a Internal Medicine Physician. It's mostly like a diary of her years in residency.



3. 
   AS a doctor I can see myself in her story and experience... Difficult to cope with other people sufferings and wonderful when you can help it...



4. Dr.Transue does a great job of infusing her story with accuracy and gory details, but still keeps a very human approach and doesn't lose sight of her patients as people. This book is so interesting for anyone (and most of us hopefully have)who has been on either side of medical care to see both sides. It is a great book to help patients realize how human their doctors truly are and the enormous amount of stress their caretakers are under,and yet they still manage to have patience and grace under fire.



5. I really enjoyed this in depth book about residency and the continued process to achieve the doctor status! Very well written and bright!
   I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the medical field and those searching for info on the process of becoming a doctor!

5 comments about Storm of Steel (Penguin Classics).

1. STORM OF STEEL offers WWI from a German soldier's point of view, but Erich Maria Remarque it ain't. All told, author Ernst Junger was shot multiple times, yet would live not only to write this book (and many others) but to celebrate his 103rd birthday (attended by an unusually patient Grim Reaper-in-Waiting).
   
   On the penultimate page of this book, he writes: "Leaving out trifles such as ricochets and grazes, I was hit at least fourteen times, these being five bullets, two shell splinters, one shrapnel ball, four hand-grenade splinters and two bullet splinters, which, with entry and exit wounds, left me an even twenty scars." Like George Washington (who also was shot at, over, under, and through), someone seemed to be watching over Junger.
   
   Fans of war literature will relish this book. Junger takes the reader through the trenches of Flanders, the Somme, Cambrai, Langemarck, and many other WWI locales. His narrative is straightforward and blunt, including many details on soldiers' deaths (German AND British) with a full compliment of gory details. He seldom editorializes or pontificates, and even acts as if gas attacks are normal (well, they were -- then). The narrative has that "rubbernecker" effect going for it. The appalling body counts almost carry you forward, despite your disbelief at the complete waste of humanity. Meanwhile, Junger riffs on tests of manhood and the rush (along with the fear) that is war.
   
   Junger writes: "In war you learn your lessons, and they stay learned, but the tuition fees are high." Understatement. With examples of both mercy and bloody resolve, Junger's behavior will continue to astonish readers as they read his detailed account. Unencumbered by any attempts at high art or literary flair, STORM OF STEEL will put you there, giving you a real taste of how fleeting life was for these young men. The War had no winner and only one loser -- humanity itself -- only Junger chooses not to state as much. Instead, he trusts in his readers. Recommended for fans of history, WWI, and war literature. If you've read other works in the WWI canon, this is a worthy addition.



2. a straight-forward soldier's book who went through the whole war in the front lines. pleasingly free of the political whining and hand-wringing the saturates so many of the accounts written by 'our side' about this bloody and pointless conflict. the narrative touches on all aspects of the military experience of a member of the pbi (poor bloody infantry) and can serve for those on any side or army in this meat grinder of a war. i've been reading books on war for about 50 years at the clip of a couple a week and rate this book in the top three personal accounts - a truly excellent work.



3. This is an amazing book to read. Junger was a stormtrooper--the German soldiers who lead the first wave into the trenches--for something like four years. It seems extraordinary that anyone could have survived such a holocaust, let alone four years of it. There is very little in the way of emotional expression in this book, or personal or political observation. Junger devoted his writing to the material details of the battle. This book takes you right into it with unforgettable detail--the acrid smoke, the seemingly ceaseless rain of artillery. More of Jungers men seem to be felled by German artillery than the opposition. Junger describes a scene in which a battery is destroyed and a single horse survives, fleeing across the desolate landscape, "a white ghostly figure." From the very first minutes on the line, artillery remained a constant danger for these men. The book describes harrowing scenes of shootouts with snipers and machine gunners, shooting men at pointblank range with pistols. One scene describes a group of British cornered in a trench. Junger's men throw grenades into the trench. After each blast, helmets, rags of body parts, and blood flies up in the air. His unit moves forward to the edge of the smoking trench to finish the British off, only to be mowed down by British rifle fire as they prepare to fire. This is combat at its most intense! An ungorgettable read that takes you into the eye of the storm of steel. Definitely, good reading. You won't be able to put it down.



4. At first I thought this book was going to turn out to be one of those books that were written at a different time that just couldnt have a style to keep readers this day and age interested. I was wrong. Junger has a style all his own and you will feel has if you are the one standing in his boots through all the epic battles and hardships. You can almost see the mortor shells landing around him with all the carnage that goes with them. You will feel happy when he triumphs, and sad when men are there one minute and gone forever the next. This book will only get better the further you get into and the ending I will admit put a tear to my eye, this man deserved everything he earned and more. His final battle is one you will not be able to put down. I found my self reading paragraphs two and even three times over again convincing my self that my eyes were not playing tricks on me. This book is a must have for anyone who is even mildly interested in combat novels.



5. Ernst Junger lived a long and literary life. He was born in Heidelberg in 1895 and died there 103 years later! Junger ran away from home at 14 to become a soldier in Kaiser Wilhelm's army. He wrote several novels following World War I, refused to be a Nazi member and is well known in Europe. Storm of Steel was his first and best known book.
   The first person account of trench warfare in World War I is related by Lt. Junger with descriptive prose worthy of a fine novelist. We as his readers experience all the horror, terror, fear, mud, slime, filth and death which were the soldiers daily challenges. Junger served on the Western Front from 1914-1918 miraculously surviving at least 14 wounds! Junger was a patriotic German who respected his British and French foes as men of courageous valor and courage. He impresses this reviewer as someone who considered soldiering a duty to be endured for a land he loved.
   This true story is filled with countless stories of good men killed in an instant due to a shell or poison gas. We see deep trenches filled with death, stench and rats. We feel what it was like to go over the top into the forbidding No-Man's land. The landscape drawn by Junger resembles Dante's descriptions of hell. In the wasteland of war Lt. Junger found time to listen to the birds or appreciate a beautiful sky but the majority of the book is a grim recounting of what war is like for the men who are called upon to fight and die for their nation. Junger loved his troops and grieved when they were killed. We catch the small moments of smoking a pipe, reading "Tristam Shandy", enjoying a cup of coffee and enjoying a night at the tavern with fellow soldiers. We see Junger fighting on the Somme and Flanders as he won the Iron Cross and several other military awards. Despite the medals this realist paints a sobering lurid portrait of modern war where steel metal, tank and huge artillery pieces determine the victor in battle.
   Storm of Steel is not for the squeamish but is the best first person account of combat in World War I. It is also of interest because it allows the English speaking reader to see what was going on in the German army in this holocaust which killed over ten million men in the modern cesspool of mechanized warfare.

5 comments about My Own Country: A Doctor's Story.

1. This book was highly recommended by a friend/colleague. In fact he generously lent me his copy. The stories in this book are all real sad life stories. The images of each patient encounters are still very vivid on my mind and they all left big scars in my heart. It literally tore my heart apart when I read through the painful description of their sufferings till their last breath. They reminded me of the deficiency of our health care system (a big agenda item awaiting the next president-elected to tackle, if at all possible. we know it won't happen during this presidency for sure when the nation's focus is put on "war" and "combat"). There is so much more we, especially the health care professionals, can, should and must do to care for those who are tormented by ailments (both curable and incurable.) On the one hand, it saddened me to realize how ignorance, prejudice and selfishness of mankind can tear us apart. On the other hand it gave me hope knowing that there is always someone, like Dr. Verghese, who is heroic, selfless and willing to sacrifice for those who suffer. He is the perfect role model for all those who dedicate their life to health care.



2. This book has excellent insite to the challenges of people with HIV. Great read!



3. I happened across this book and was immediately drawn into it. The author is a remarkable human being with deep empathy and sympathy with some of the first casualties of the AIDS epidemic. As a Tennessee native, this story was very interesting to me; it chronicles the spread of the disease not long after the disease was recognized. The personal stories of all concerned are engrossing, and it's heartbreaking because in those early days the medical profession had nothing to offer the sufferers--and suffer they surely did, regardless of how they contracted the disease, and the book includes stories of those who got it through blood transfusions. The human connections between this Indian doctor who was born in Ethiopia and the people of east Tennessee, made at the most basic level, are what makes this book powerful; yet the author does not excuse his own shortcomings which eventually led to the failure of his marriage. I couldn't put it down and finished it in about 3 days - and then immediately got his other book, The Tennis Partner. (Another reviewer said this is fiction - but it's nonfiction. I found it in the biography section of the public library.)



4. My Own Country is Abraham Verghese's unique recount of his experience fighting AIDS at the dawn of the epidemic. Like other infectious disease specialists, Verghese is immediately immersed in AIDS, and it soon dominates his profession. the author traces the penetration of the disease as the city comes to grips with AIDS and its unwanted victims. Often without the support of his colleagues and family, Verghese treats an ever increasing number of patients. Including the estranged brother of a colleague, a gay couple intent on breaking it`s taboo, and man and his wife who contract AIDS through a contaminated blood transfusion. Though this memoir, Verghese reveals his own confusions about homosexuality, and wrestles with the his own sympathy for his patients and the prejudices of his colleagues. As one of his nurses says "'I don't think we should have bothered in the first place...he deserved what he got and I don't see why we should have to take care of him.'"
   Verghese can become wearisome in his consistent use of the term "miracle center" to describe his workplace and tends to drone on at many points, becoming unnecessarily detailed when writing about the specifics in his work and family life which somewhat take away from his insights. Also, Verghese's family is obviously important to him, and he hints time and time again at problems with his wife, however he never fully develops their relationship. "My work with AIDS in the community fell into this chasm between us. AIDS was like another wild friend, a friend from a different social stratum, a friend I indulged but no longer brought to the house or even discussed with her." Despite this, the author tells a terrific, unforgettable story of the not only the lives and feelings of the patients, but everyone it affects.



5. This based-on the author's true-story details the time he was just starting out as a doctor. He picked a Hospital in smalltown United States where he would be the infectious disease specialist. Suddenly, cases of AIDS appeared even in that small town. It was the 80's epidemic and as it spread from the big cities AIDS victims were met with fear and a lack of compassion from most doctors. Verghese was one of the few who truly listened to and cared for his patients through such a terrible disease.