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Customer Reviews (30)

This book isn't worth that much
Frankly, I have no idea why this book is valued at $150 new.It simply isn't worth that much.It's an OK book, with lots of illustrations, but the illustrations are just illustrations and do not form an integral part of the narrative.The narrative itself is not particularly original and similar expositions can be found by many other authors, What Is the Theory of Relativity by Landau and Rumer for example which costs only $14.50.If you buy this book hoping that it will provide you with a revelation about relativity, it will disappoint you.

Not Enough Stars for This One
In attempting to learn Einstein's theories of relativity (both special and general) I've accumulated pounds of books and DVD's, and no kidding, this is the best one yet. Not only is this book better than all of the others combined, but it's really all you need. As the title implies, the author uses primarily a visual approach to explain these theories.

Most of the book deals with special relativity (linear-moving frames of reference with no forces at all acting on them), and I already had a pretty good handle on that. My motive in buying this book was that it also deals with general relativity (gravity) and none - absolutely none - of my other books or DVD's covered that in any detail whatsoever.

Now, just because this book seems (to me) to be complete and understandable, this does not mean it's an easy ride - Mr. Epstein is excellent trail guide, but the trail is rough. There are equations, which means you'll have to remember your high school algebra-I, but the equations are not all that bad. If my 66-year-old brain, over a half-century removed from high school, can make sense of these equations, I'm sure you'll be fine.

More importantly, many things that you have found intuitive and common-sense to this point are going to be significantly challenged as speeds become relativistic (i.e. a significant percentage of the speed of light). Don't be surprised if you have to re-read chapters until you get the picture. Relativity is not intuitive and takes a lot of getting used to, but it's achievable.

In the arena of general relativity, this book really shines. Explaining general relativity on a two-dimensional page is next to impossible, so the author gives you some home experiments (paper, pen and scissors) where you can demonstrate the principles to yourself. The author's explanations of this not-at-all-easy subject borders on genius. On your first read, you may bypass the experiments, but I'll bet you get to them eventually. These experiments and explations are so clear, a high school senior could use them to build a legitimate science-fair project.

As I went through the book, I checked to see if a) the author covered all the ground that my other media did and if b) he added to my knowledge. The author passed with flying colors for special relativity, and for general relativity this author provided almost ALL my knowledge.

But there's bad news. This book is no longer in print, and as of the time of this posting, not an awful lot of used copies are being offered. If you want to learn the concepts of relativity, or know someone who does, I'd get a copy fast, because I don't think many owners of this book are going to be parting with it. In my case, this book will become part of my estate.

The principle of relativity
The special theory of relativity was published in 1905, the general theory in 1915, though you wouldn't know it from the general ignorance of their most basic statements. Relativity Visualized is my favorite introduction to the subject, in a field crowded with good work, including what was written by Einstein.

If you would like to know why time passes more slowly for a moving object, you need only consult the light-clock diagram in Chapter 4. This illustration alone is worth the price of the book.

Why can we not travel faster than light? You'll find the answer in Chapter 5. "The reason you can't go faster than the speed of light is that you can't go slower. There is only one speed. Everything, including you, is always moving at the speed of light. How can you be moving if you are at rest in a chair? You are moving through time." An object moving through space must divert some of the speed it should be using for traveling through time. At the speed of light, there is no speed left for traveling through time. Photons do not age.

Those who want a little mathematics with their exposition might try Spacetime Physics, by Taylor and Wheeler. I prefer the first edition to the current one; the hardcover is nice, but the paperback edition with the maroon cover has the answers to the problems at the back of the book. It is readily available on the used-book market.

If you want a look at Einstein's papers, they're available in paperback from Dover, The Principle of Relativity. In closing, I will mention The Einstein Theory of Relativity: A Trip to the Fourth Dimension by Lillian Lieber.

The title says it all
This is the best and easiest to understand explanation of relativity theory that I have come across. If you would like to to understand relativity try this book.

Anyone can understand this complex phenomena
You do not have to be a physics major to understand the nature of Einstein's theory of relativity.This book provides a natural progression of easily-understood examples that cover all the core concepts.It really gets your mind thinking about the nature of space and time.If you ever wanted to know more about physics and these previously elusive and seemingly convoluted areas of science, this is the book to get. ... Read more

Product Description

In this volume, Jan Susina examines the importance of Lewis Carroll and his popular Alice books to the field of children’s literature. From a study of Carroll’s juvenilia to contemporary multimedia adaptations of Wonderland, Susina shows how the Alice books fit into the tradition of literary fairy tales and continue to influence children’s writers. In addition to examining Carroll’s books for children, these essays also explore his photographs of children, his letters to children, his ill-fated attempt to write for a dual audience of children and adults, and his lasting contributions to publishing. The book addresses the important, but overlooked facet of Carroll’s career as an astute entrepreneur who carefully developed an extensive Alice industry of books and non-book items based on the success of Wonderland, while rigorously defending his reputation as the originator of his distinctive style of children’s stories.

Product Description

This collection was designed for optimal navigation on Kindle and other electronic devices. It is indexed alphabetically, chronologically and by category, making it easier to access individual books, stories and poems. This collection offers lower price, the convenience of a one-time download, and it reduces the clutter in your digital library. All books included in this collection feature a hyperlinked table of contents and footnotes. The collection is complimented by an author biography.Author's biography and poems in the trial version.

Customer Reviews (2)

magical stories
Works of Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, + 25 other works including poetry. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

I love this ebook. I haven't read these stories in a long time and forgot how wonderful they are. The ebook is nicely put together. Glad I bought it.

Lewis Carroll - Great eBook for Kindle!
Complete Works of Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland + 25 other works. FREE Author's biography and poems in the trial version.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", "Through the Looking-Glass" and Poems by Lewis Carroll. Great eBook for Kindle!
... Read more

Product Description
Whimsically and delightfully presented mathematical recreations by the author of Alice in Wonderland are solved by arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, differential calculus and transcendental properties. Six illustrations. Two books bound as one.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Mathematcal recreations
This book contains two publications by Lewis Carroll.

Pillow Problems contains 72 elementary mathematical problems together with their solutions. The problems are hard. The level is comparable to mathematical Olympiad material. The solutions are clear but sometimes use idioms and methods that were in use in the 19th century (like the use of "analysis" and "synthesis" as phases in a geometric proof). The subjects of the problems are geometry, algebra and probability. I try to solve them when I am sleepless in bed, maybe my pillow is not right (at least for some of the problems).

A Tangled Tale is more like the Lewis Carroll one expects. Problems are presented as part of an illustrated (tangled) tale. There are ten tales (called "knots") that contain really nice and demanding problems. There is also a section containing the solutions. The text originally appeared as a monthly publication. Solutions were send in and these solutions were used in the text to illustrate common mistakes, to produce nice solutions and to make fun.

If you like mathematical problems this book should be of interest to you. If you are just interested in Lewis Carroll then be prepared, the Pillow Problems will be enigmatic and A Tangled Tale will be nonsense, but not the nonsense you know from the Alice book.

Hmmmm
As an Alice in Wonderland collector, it was fun to have something new, but it is such nonesense, it will just sit in my collection.

Pillow Problems and A Tangled Tale
Charles L. Dodgson was a Mathematical Lecturer at Oxford, better known as Lewis Carroll. This collection of mathematical puzzles was compiled in 1893, following years of insomnia.Dodgson claimed to have solved every puzzle, without pencil and paper, during his sleepness nights. Thisincredible feat is difficult to comprehend, even for such a genius.Thecomplexity and good humor of the problems and tales are suggestive of hiswell-loved "Alice in Wonderland".Dodgson also hints at hispioneering the field of symbolic logic. ... Read more

Product Description
A groundbreaking book, the only volume of first-class reproductions of Lewis Carroll's photographs.

Published on the one hundredth anniversary of the death of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), Reflections in a Looking Glass presents Carroll's remarkable photography. Richly illustrated, this important book presents seldom-seen works-most of them formal portraits and staged scenes that combine Carroll's famous childlike sense of play with the Victorian propriety that characterized his age.

Also included in Reflections are selected drawings by Lewis Carroll and by John Tenniel, who illustrated the original Alice books. The central text by Morton N. Cohen, the world's leading authority on Lewis Carroll, provides an in-depth account of Carroll's experimentations in the new medium of photography. His hobby opened the door to many of his "child friends" as well as to leading artistic and literary figures of the day, all of whom came to Carroll's studio to sit for their portraits.

Excerpts from Carroll's diaries combine with Cohen's annotated captions to make this book an invaluable resource. The book also includes a Preface by Mark Haworth-Booth, curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Afterword is by Roy Flukinger, curator of photographs at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, the source collection for much of the material in this extraordinary book.
... Read more

Product Description
Published 1975 by Franco Maria Ricci. Very good to fine condition with some slight rubbing to dust jacket. The previous owner's bookplate is in this copy. Text edited by Guido Almansi; notes by Brassai and Helmut Gernsheim. One of 3,000 numbered copies printed in November 1975. Series: The Signs of Man, 3. ... Read more

Product Description
This reproduction was printed from a digital file created at the Library of Congress as part of an extensive scanning effort started with a generous donation from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.The Library is pleased to offer much of its public domain holdings free of charge online and at a modest price in this printed format.Seeing these older volumes from our collections rediscovered by new generations of readers renews our own passion for books and scholarship. ... Read more

Product Description
In the Shadow of the Dreamchild presents new research to show that the long-standing image of the life of Charles Dodgson (better known to millions of fans around the world as Lewis Carroll), as exclusively child-centred and unworldly, his pre-occupation with Alice Liddell and his supposedly unnatural sexuality are all in fact nothing more than myths: that they belong to an invented persona, created around the name `Carroll'.This shows that they have little to do with Dodgson's real but overshadowed life.Meticulously researched, the book traces the development of this false persona and demonstrates how generations of biographers have helped to create fictions about Dodgson's life, rather than bring the documentary facts before the public. It uses the data to create a startlingly new picture of Dodgson's personality, his experiences and, crucially, his all-important relationship with the Liddell family. ""As artfully told as a fine detective story.""-Publishers Weekly ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Lewis Carroll preferred little girls and I can prove it.
Karoline Leach did only half of her homework.She read the literature on Lewis Carroll, but she did not read the literature on pedophilia.

As a result, she explains how Carroll's earlier biographers could have conspired to create an image of Carroll as a devotee of little girls.She does explain, however, how they could have created an image which so closely resembles such a devotee in real life.

Following is a list of traits which Lewis Carroll shared with the prototypical lover of children:

====identification with children====

On page 82, Leach takes a shot at William Empson, who wrote in 1935 in Aspects of Alice that Carroll identified with children.Yet in his latter years, Carroll often signed his name "Sylvie," Sylvie being the name of the child heroine in his last novel.So stated John Skinner, in an article in 1947 which was reprinted in 1964 in Psychoanalysis and Literature.

In 1930 in the International Journal of Psycho-analysis, and again in 1945 in his book, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis, Otto Fenichel wrote that girl-lovers tend to identify with girls.

You may say, "Empson wrote his article in 1935 and Fenichel wrote his article in 1930.Maybe Empson read Fenichel's article and slapped thattrait onto Lewis Carroll."

That is possible, but here are some cases in which Carroll's biographers jumped the gun on the psychoanalytic writers:

====idealization of childhood====

Writers have commented on Lewis Carroll's tendency to idealize children.On pages 154, 183, and 215, Leach expreses a similar view.

In Image of Childhood, published in 1957, Peter Coveney quoted Carroll as writing about "the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names--empty words signifying nothing!" In Death of Narcissus, published in 1976, Morris Fraser, discussing the same topic, quotes the same passage.

It was not until 1990 that Segal & Stermac, writing in Handbook of Sexual Assault, commented on the tendency of pedophiles to idealize childhood.

====role reversal====

Paul Schilder, writing in 1938 in Aspects of Alice, spoke of role reversal in Carroll's relationship with girls.Writing in English Language Notes in 1981, Donald Rackin discussed Alice's protective role to a bumbling knight who keeps falling off his horse.

In 1949, Sandor Ferenczi, wrote about role reversal in pedophile relationships in the International Journal of Psycho-analysis.

Finally, here are a few observations of my own:

====attraction to an androgynous image====

Lewis Carroll dedicated "The Hunting of the Snark" to a girl who was "Girt with a boyish garb for boyish task."

In 1962, J. H. Fitch wrote that girl-lovers tend to seek masculine traits in girls.

Leach spends an entire chapter (pp. 197-216) discussing Carroll's guilty feelings, and suggests that they might have come from sexual feelings.On page 214, she writes that children offer a "glimpse of innocence and beauty" which offer "a true, uncorrupting love."According to McGuire, Carlisle, & Young, writing in the 1965 issue of Behavioural Research and Therapy, this is exactly what pedophiles seek in children.

====attitude toward animals====

I. B. Weiner, writing in the 1962 issue of Psychological Quarterly, reported a finding that pedophiles tend to be attracted to small and docile animals whereas male homosexuals tend toward the reverse.

In Sylvie and Bruno, there is a chapter in which the narrator takes a walk through the woods with Sylvie, talking about hunters.In this conversation, Weiner's dichotomy becomes obvious.

====feeling of discomfort around other men====

Leach repeatedly tells us that Carroll associated with other adults, especially women.Yet if she studied the literature on pedophilia, she would know how strongly she was confirming that Carroll was a pedophile.In 1967, Kurt Freund wrote in Behavioral Research and Therapy that men attracted to children tend to feel uncomfortable around other adult males.

What could be Leach's motive for writing this book?Could she be seeking revenge against a predator in her own past?Probably.On pages 103-104, she argues, through a convoluted and fallacious syllogism, that an adult could ever feel attracted to children but conscientiously refrain from molesting them.

If Leach needs to resolve some tension left from her own childhood, I wish she could do it without rewriting history.

finally, a new edition of this book!
Don't bother paying the ridiculously high prices for used copies of the hardcover edition!
Karoline Leach's book is being reprinted by the original publisher(Peter Owen Publishers;located in London,UK). 'In The Shadow Of The Dreamchild' will be released sometime in mid January of 2009(in paperback format),and with revised and updated material. It will be interesting to see what new things the author adds to the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Will Brooker, author of "Batman Unmasked" and "Using the Force", turns his attention to Lewis Carroll and Alice. He takes the reader through a fascinating and revealing tour of late 20th Century popular culture, following Alice and her creator wherever they go. Brooker reveals the ways in which this iconic character has been used and adapted, taking in cartoons, movies, computer games, theme parks, heritage sites, novelisations, illustrations, biographies, theatrical performances, toys and other products, websites, fan clubs and much more. The result is a remarkable analysis of how one original creation has expanded over time to symbolize many different things to many different people. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Nice, but dry
This book is what is says, a review of Alice and the way people understand it. If that interests you, this is a good book. For a Carolinian who just wants to see about the effects, but not get too far into the detail, this book is too dry.

Too much time spent on American Mcgee's Alice, and the nuances are borderline psychobabble. This might be better for a research document on the subject as the points are valid, just not that interesting.

I'm almost done reading the book. I'm trudging through more to "finish it" for the sake of finishing it, rather than out of interest.

I'd recommend this book for skimming.

-----

1/23/10 Finally finished the book. The last two chapters are more interesting. In the penultimate, he analyzes responses from society members. It's odd, but it rings true. The final chapter is interesting, in that it has a different feeling than the rest of the book. Whereas in the rest of the book he studies from the outside--even when joining the society it is for the book--the final chapter is his tour of Alice sites. Will Booker is no longer the researcher, but the interested patron. It's as if before he left the scene, he decided to get into it once himself, just to have done it.

But the sites he visited were lackluster, and the interest was just not there. His tone is sort of bittersweet, and i almost wished i was there to share it with him. In a strange way, he was going on his pilgrimage for our sake, and found nothing worth our time. His final analysis of what he would tell Carrol (not what he said he would actually say, but his study of it when he thought about it) seemed so true.

This doesn't change my impression of the book overall. But i do think the final chapter is ironic. It is doubtful it will mean anything to anything who hasn't read the rest of the book, but i read the entire book and i finally got to the last chapter, and what i found was as unrewarding as the very pilgrimage he himself recorded there.

I don't mean to knock the author. If i saw him, i'd thank him for the book and (hopefully) have a good talk with him. But for the book itself, it's interesting but dry.

A Wasp Without a Wig
Will Brooker is the handsomest former nerd in central London, and he takes his own edge off by cligning to the little bit inside him that still feels rejected, neglected, and put on the shelf by the cooler kids.His analysis of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass feels like something actually felt, not just abstracted, and it's clear that he keeps taking down from the hook all these various interpretations of Lewis Carroll's character, unable to settle on one, to see which one fits him the best.He is relentlessly modish and thoroughly up-to-date, and yet an old-fashioned drive for completion gives his character an uncharacteristic burnish, an OCD shadow.His book is terrifically written, on a sentence by sentence basis, but after awhile it does get wearisome, usually because like a handful of other practitioners of deconstructionist theory, Brooker is unable to give another full credit without sniping away at him or her.Every text that he picks up to examine will be revealed to have some huge flaw which Brooker doesn't share in.

He's divided his study into nine general areas, from representations of Lewis Carroll in recent biography, to the fandom with which his own recent work has been concerned.At least one of these topics, the section in which he critiques many illustrators of Lewis Carroll, should have been jettisoned for, despite what he thinks, Brooker lacks the ability to write well about the visual arts, odd for one who has written extensively on many comic artists, but alas, he's pretty bankrupt there.Another chapter devotes itself to contemporary sequels to ALICE, including Jeff Noon and Gilbert Adair, and here again a weakness in Brooker's comprehensive approach becomes obvious at once: although he has just about nothing to say about Adair's ALICE THROUGH THE NEEDLE'S EYE, he feels obliged to "cover" it with the same word count as he does everything else.

Against these minor flaws Brooker's book is an arsenal of critical insight and, as well, sheer writing chops.His opening salvo, tearing apart a series of biographers for their outright misstatements and lack of perspective, could hardly be better planned nor achieved.I would never have thought of the simple method he winds up using, which is, he isolates five areas of mystery in Carrollian biography, and one by one he examines what X, Y, or Z says about each.For example, what of the cut diary pages?What about the heartfelt diary entries which entreat his God to make him a more decent man?And what about those nude photographs of little boys and girls?

OK, maybe he tries to do too much, and depends on his own adorableness for pages at a time, but this is a thoroughly exciting book and I hope Brooker sees fit to keep it up to date in the years to come, maybe staging an Alice Biennale or something like.

The analysis juxtaposes perfectly with his life and times
Lewis Carroll wrote "Alice In Wonderland" and is most noted for this achievement, but he did so much more, fostering the setting for later computer games, theme parks, and performances inspired by his works. Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll In Popular Culture isn't just another coverage of Carroll's life; it's a survey of how the characters he created live on in modern times, adapted since his death in 1898. The analysis juxtaposes perfectly with his life and times and creates for more depth in the analysis of Alice's ongoing effects on modern culture, than the modern biography could achieve.

IMAGES OF ALICE
Possibly the 60s were the time when Alice began to enter the popular culture.In 1963 for example there was a girl singer who named herself Alice Wonderland and made a single.A month or two earlier Neil Sedaka had landed Alice on to the Top 40.
A matter of months later,as the Beatles began to conquer America,came John Lennon's 2nd book,like the first,influenced by Lewis Carroll's nonsense writings. (Carroll would be further immortalised by the Beatles when he was one of the figures on the Sgt Pepper sleeve).
Then came the first rumblings of the new American music influenced by both the Beatles and folk music in general.The Great Society were one of many trying for a bite of the cherry and lead singer Grace Slick wrote a song called "White Rabbit",more or less a comment about parents who gave their kids Alice books then wondered why they ended up taking drugs.
(Obviously tongue in cheek as Slick took more than her share during the Jefferson Airplane years:this was the band who she joined after the Great Society taking with her the 2 songs they'd recorded ,one of which was "White Rabbit". The rest is history.
Alice has always been at least of enough fascination to the music world as to have inspired no end of songs or band names from "Alice In Sunderland" to the Mock Turtles,Carolyn Wonderland or even the very title of the 2nd book ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS,who were a duo from the village of Ditchling in Suffolk and who wrote some music for a local Alice production.
The album was a limited edition and is now worth over £1000 as its regarded as Folk Rock or whatever but even the reissue is worth quite a bit

Someday the definitive book may be written about the Alice influence on popular music but meanwhile there's this one

what is it saying?
not sure what this book is supposed to be. It is really just a rehash of very old ideas about Carroll with some pop culture uncomfortably tacked on.The 'myth' has been dealt with far better by people who really seem to understand it (it's too deep I think for Brooker's milieu), and the pop culture is presented without any kind of analysis or penetration.

I think you are better off withLeach's 'In the Shadow of the Dreamchild' or Sigler's 'Alternative Alices'. ... Read more

Product Description
Challenging collection of 42 mathematical mind-benders, compiled by Lewis Carroll scholar, includes Castle Croquet, A Sticky but Polished Riddle, Who’s Coming to Dinner?, A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Eligible Apartments, Predicting the Total, and more. Solutions.
... Read more

Product Description
Guiding the reader through the period surrounding the production of Carroll's best-known works, this book contains extracts from his letters to family, friends and colleagues, to Alice Liddell, the inspiration behind the original "Alice", and to other young girls he befriended, to his illustrator, Tenniel, and to eminent writers and artists such as Tennyson and Rossetti. Excerpts from Carroll's diaries, plus many of his own photographic portraits, give further insights into this complex man, while the illustrations, which include many of his own photographs, suggest the visual sources that might have fired his imagination and depict the Victorian world in which he lived. ... Read more

Product Description
1983 oversized hardcover, published by the University of California Press. ISBN 0520053098. ... Read more

Product Description
Lewis Carroll's nonsense poems have been astonishingly popular with children and adults alike since the first publication of Alice in Wonderland in 1865, and have influenced the work of a host of modern writers, including James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borgese and Vladimir Nabokov. This selection of Carroll's verse serves as an introduction to his work. It includes the best-known Alice poems as well as "Sylvie and Bruno", "The Hunting of the Snark" and pieces from Phantasmagoria. The text is illustrated with a number of the evocative original Tenniel drawings. ... Read more

Product Description
An Excerpt from the book-

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the
bank, and of having nothing to do. Once or twice she had peeped into the
book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in
it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or
conversations?"

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the
day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of
making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and
picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran
close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that, nor did Alice think it so
very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh
dear! I shall be too late!" But when the Rabbit actually took a watch
out of its waistcoat-pocket and looked at it and then hurried on, Alice
started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never
before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take
out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after
it and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole, under
the hedge. In another moment, down went Alice after it!

[Illustration]

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way and then
dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think
about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed
to be a very deep well.

... Read more

Product Description
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (often shortened to Alice in Wonderland) follows the strange adventures of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world full of peculiar, yet engaging, creatures. Many of these characters, including the White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, and March Hare, have achieved literary fame and are known to almost all of us. The story involves many logic games and examples of "literary nonsense". Popular with adults and children alike, it is a giant in the fantasy genre. This publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland includes the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel and is part of the Qualitas Classics Fireside Series, where pure, ageless classics are presented in clean, easy to read reprints. For a complete list of titles, see: http://www.qualitaspublishing.com ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

An Inimitable Masterpiece and a Timeless Classic
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is one of the most beloved children's classics. It has been adapted into numerous cartoons, films and plays over the years, and it has become an important backdrop of the World culture. It is a brilliant and zany fairy tale that remains fresh and engaging well over a century after it had been written. This is in large part thanks to the unforgettable and unique characters that are as famous (if not more) as Alice herself: the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the "Mad" Hatter, the Queen of Hearts and many more. They are among the most idiosyncratic characters in all of literature. However, the aspects of the book that I found the most fascinating were the clever use of language, the numerous puns, and the plays on the difference between the literal and actual meanings of different expressions and saying. It was very amusing to read these, and realize how clever and verbal this book actually is. The book made me reflect again on so many aspects of the world that I take for granted, and it made me feel like a child exploring and learning about various objects, ideas and relations for the first time. This alone makes this book worth reading and rereading, and I expect to come to it many times again.

1 star = 1st place
Since one Star is the highest star (in other words, 1st Place vs. 5 stars being LAST place...I would never want to be in 5th place except a cow dung Frisbee throwing contest but I digress) I want to give this book one star! In fact once I click on the submit button you will see that me and five other people have voted that this book is in FIRST Place, not 4th or 5th place like most of the other mor ons rated the book. They just don't understand how to rate books. Anyway, I loved the book and recommend it to everyone in the world.

Madness and Mayhem
One of my two-year-old daughter's favorite movies is a made-for-television version of Alice in Wonderland, so after watching the movie several hundred times I thought maybe it was time to read the book. Though I show a book cover, I actually read this book using DailyLit, a website that sends excerpts of classic literature to my email once a day, which I wrote about in another blog post.
I found the book to be an enjoyable romp through a world of nonsense and fantasy, though at times a bit dour as many of the characters did not seem all that happy. I understand that Alice is a child in the story, but I still find it difficult to understand how children can be as lacking in intelligence as she is throughout her adventures - I don't recall being quite so foolish as Alice is at this age. My favorite part of the book was actually after Alice exits Wonderland and sits with her sister, telling her all about her travels. I was able to appreciate the story more once I found an entry in Wikipedia on the novel that explained much of what I did not understand, such as the various poetry recitations and songs, the real people that the characters were parodied after, the mathematical concepts explored, and the elusive answer to the Hatter's riddle, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Answer: "Because it can produce a few notes, though... they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!"


Perhaps I have been disillusioned to the magic of this novel thanks to a combination of Disney's animated film and my daughter's obsession with her movie, but I would rate this book as a decently entertaining read, not one of my favorites. Though ,I am greatly looking forward to the upcoming movie Alice in Wonderland that stars Johnny Depp!!

fabulous.
As a child, Disney's Alice in Wonderland was my favorite movie.I loved the colors and the nonsensical fun.Carroll's novel does not lack in amusement; however, the book is far more than the silly story I know from my childhood.At a deeper level, the book is full of fascinating symbolism that mirrors political strife and unraveling social norms of Carroll's time.I truly believe that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has something to offer readers of all ages, from a child's bedtime story all the way through adulthood.It's a relatively easy read, very funny, and includes no questionable content.I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Carroll, L.(2005).Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York:Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.



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So, let's start out with honesty.I was never a big fan of Alice and her adventures as a child.I found the cartoon tense and unnerving--too many "off with her head" declarations.And now, reading it as an adult, I found it...trippy.Too trippy for me.



It begins simply enough.Bored, Alice notices a white rabbit and follows it through a rabbit-hole into a world where she can change her height with a taste of certain foods and drinks, cats smiles, caterpillars smoke from hookahs, babies turn to pigs and time is a person.



While the illustrations will help ease a reader into the text of this edition, there are still A LOT of text on each page, which may intimidate some (including me).I did find that after I started reading, the story went quickly, with flashes of memory from the Disney cartoon helping me to visualize, surprisingly enough.And I think connecting the book to other texts may be a way to ease some readers like me into the text.A teacher could pair it to Sachar's Wayside School series or the movie Labyrinth.





Activities to do with the book:



A teacher could create a lesson on manners or consider British history and philosophies of the nineteenth century.



If this book was used with high school students to draw out symbolisms, a teacher would probably have to address the implication of drug use among writers in the nineteenth century.



Since some students may have trouble engaging with the book, especially if they're struggling readers, this book may be best as an individual recommendation.



A teacher could connect this classic to other books (a few are mentioned above).





Favorite Quotes:



"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the band, and of having nothing to do" (p. 7).



"For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible" (p. 11).



"Well, then," the Cat went on, "you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased.Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry.Therefore I'm mad."

"I call it purring, not, not growling," said Alice.

"Call it what you like," said the Cat." (p. 58). ... Read more

Product Description
Children and adults alike have never grown tired ofthe exciting and fantastical adventures of master story-tellerLewis Carroll. Lavishlyillustrated, here are his finest works, including Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, The Hunting of the Snark, A Tangled Tale, Phantasmagoria, and Nonsense from Letters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Alice in Wonderland
As far apart from the Disney classic as the movie version of Moby Dick is to its literary partner, Alice in Wonderland portrays the fanciful tale of the little girl, Alice, wandering about in a world of her own childhood imaginings and storybook recollections.If you have never actually READ the book, than you have a chance to know what your mother always thought would scare you as a little child, but really just adds to the fantastical wonderland which was the author's intention. ... Read more