Product Description
A bibliophile's pilgrimage to where book lovers go when they die-Hay-on-Wye.

Paul Collins and his family abandoned the hills of San Francisco to move to the Welsh countryside-to move, in fact, to the little cobblestone village of Hay-on-Wye, the 'Town of Books' that boasts fifteen hundress inhabitants-and forty bookstores. Antiquarian bookstores, no less.

Hay's newest citizens accordingly take up residence in a sixteenth-century apartment over a bookstore, meeting the village's large population of misfits and bibliomaniacs by working for world-class eccentric Richard Booth-the self-declared King of Hay, owner of the local castle, and proprietor of the world's largest and most chaotic used book warren. A useless clerk, Paul delights in shifting dusty stacks of books around and sifting them for ancient gems like Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable, Confessions of an Author's Wife, and I Was Hitler's Maid. He also duly fulfills his new duty as a citizen by simultaneously applying to be a Peer in the House of Lords and attempting to buy Sixpence House, a beautiful and neglected old tumbledown pub for sale in the town's center.

Taking readers into a secluded sanctuary for book lovers, and guiding us through the creation of his own book, Sixpence House becomes a meditation on what books means to us, and how their meaning can still resonate long after they have been abandoned by their public. Even as he's writing, the knowledge of where his work will eventually end up-rubbing bindings with the rest of the books that time forgot-is a curious kind of comfort.
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Customer Reviews (50)

Look Out, UK.Ex-Pats, Awaaaayyyy!
For the most part I enjoyed this little book.It's easy enough to finish it in one sitting.

The author details his experience of uprooting from San Fran and heading to a tiny village/town in Wales.The town has more than its fair share of booksellers and the shenanigans promptly ensue as he is offered employment.Along the way, we learn about a myriad of different rare books.We also get to follow the trials and tribulations he and his wife encounter as they try and purchase a house.

I could have done without some of the social "bad america" commentary but in the grand scheme of things, it's not like he is wrong on any of the counts.

This book has certainly whet my appetite for a trip across the pond.

Bill Bryson lite
I've been to Hay on Wye numerous times (I lived in North Shropshire from 1972 - 1991) so I was curious to read Collin's take on the place. He has a very journalistic, Bill Bryson-like style and the book starts out full of promise but somewhere about two-thirds of the way along it seems to lose its way.

A great way for a writer to have a tax-deductible holiday, is the way it comes across. Not ever believable that he ever actually intended to live there with his family.

I love this book.
I love books about books and this one is really great.How great would it be to live in a town of books!

Old books and old houses in the old country
My only regret about this wonderful book is that I didn't read it before now.The writer chronicles his year-long adventure in a "book town" in Wales.During that year, he published his first book (Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World), worked for a kook in a used bookstore, nearly bought a standing ruin of a house and explored the wonders of the British country culture with his young family. Paul Collins is a witty, insightful and incredibly well-read writer.He writes with an informed vocabulary, but he is no language snob. This is great writing by someone who is truly passionate about writing.

Pleasant narrative of a bibliophile in Hay-on-Wye Wales
This book is an autobiographical travel narrative of a beginning author who moves to Hay-on-Wye Wales, a world famous depository of used books.Any bibliophile will drool at the descriptions of all these book stores in one little town.But if this were only a description of some used book stores, this book would grow tiring, even to a book-lover.

Mostly, we get an account of a year spent moving an author and a young family from an over-priced San Francisco to a quaint Welsh town that has become a nidus for readers from all over the world.Interspersed with what might be best described as a travel narrative along the lines of A Year in Provence, we get fascinating asides about the books that the author finds interesting.Besides these bon mots, we also are introduced to the characters and booksellers of the town including the fascinating eccentric Richard Booth who is the main force that turned this small town into used-book central.Witty and erudite, the author weaves these disparate subjects together into a fascinating and entertaining account.4 stars. ... Read more

Product Description
In Not Even Wrong, Paul Collins melds a memoir of his son’s autism with a journey into this realm of permanent outsiders. Examining forgotten geniuses and obscure medical archives, and beginning to see why he himself has spent a lifetime researching talented eccentrics, Collins shows how these stories are relevant and even necessary to shed light on autism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Not much here
This book provides a few decent insights into the mind of an autistic child, and a few tidbits that sort of qualify as a history of autism. But there isn't enough substance to be worth reading. For a good depiction of an autistic child, see Daniel Mont's A Different Kind of Boy instead. For some history, see Wikipedia.

Beautifully written, Easy read
A friend suggested this to me as the first book about autism we should read. Our 2-year old is in the process of being evaluated for autism. This was a perfect book for us. It isn't a guide or reference book, but a gentle opening into the world of autism that I really felt cradled me as I opened my eyes to everything within.

This is a lovely, easy read for anyone curious about autism or just looking for a good read.

I love this book!
This is my favorite book on autism, period. I adore it.

I am a 30-year-old mom with Asperger Syndrome, my 11-year-old daughter has Autism. As such, I have sought books to keep on hand to give to friends who may be interested in reading about autism. I wish I could afford a whole shelf full of this one!

Paul Collins writing is insightful and deep and it flows well - leading from one chapter into the next, it's a difficult book to put down. This book talks about the author's expolration of the history of autism, and individuals who have lived or are living their own unique lives. At the same time as he's following these leads to find out more about his autism, his own son is diagnosed. It's a beautiful story because of the twists and turns, and because of the lives of people it illuminates so graciously.

I was given an assignment in my graduate Humanities class to recommend one chapter of a book for the whole class to read. I knew immediately it would be this book, but had to think about which chapter. After much deliberation (there are many beautifully written stories that flow together in this volume), I selected Chapter 16. The passage where he sits on the steps of a church to cry after meeting the man with the painted lightbulbs illustrates how this book speaks on what it means to be human, it isn't just a book on autism.

Always eloquent, never condescending - if this is the first book you read on autism you'll start with a deeper understanding. Don't bother reading books that bog you down with those who "suffer from autism" - this book, instead, is about human beings.

This should be the first autism book you read!
This is the latest book I have read on Autism.I wish it was the first.It tracks parents as they first learn of their son's diagnosis at around 2 years old.Then over the next year and half we follow this small family as they come to terms with ASD.Interspersed is the author's (a history professor) research into prominent stories of oddball characters from the last four centuries, who in the light of modern assessments, may have been autistic.The last two pages felt as if the author had tapped into my own life since my son's diagnosis 2 years ago.If you are a parent coming to terms with some recent devastating news, my advice is that before you read any other book on the subject, even Temple Grandin, start here.I have read 20 autism books in the last few years and this will help you more than any other.

Opened my mind, opened my heart and made sense of many people I've known.
I have just finished Not Even Wrong and am in that stunned place of being so moved and so enlightened that I will need time to process it all. This is an amazing book. This author should be on the best sellers list as he consistantly writes with such savvy, humor and dedicated research, unearthing fascinating lessons from history that expand my understanding of this world and the mysteries of life. . ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (12)

The First Folio's travels over 400 years
Until I saw this book recommended very recently in paperback by the New York Times, I had never heard either of the book, or its author, Paul Collins. I have read other reviews of the book on Amazon, and I have searched Paul Collins's name. It seems he has published a number of works that have been well-received. Please add this new book to the list. I had no idea that the history of Shakespeare's First Folio and of its various collectors of copies thereof over a 400-year period could be made so interesting. It takes the reader from 1623 London as far as 21st century Tokyo, and Paul intersperses the breadth of his historical knowledge with descriptions of the various places he has obviously visited to assist his discussion of his chosen topic. As someone who has had intimate knowledge of the west end of London, I feel this book gives me an even better insight than I ever had before into some arcane areas of the city of my birth.

Finally, and surprisingly, this book is a real "page-turner". I am easily bored by books that are not well written: I could not put this one down. Buy it! You won't be sorry.

Light, pleasant, and very informative
The most revered author in the world never bothered to publish the works for which he is famous. Today, only ten words are known to exist in his hand: his name, written five times. The only man we can be certain he disliked was the guy who published 36 of his plays about seven years after his death (and he was blind and died a few weeks before the First Folio finally came off the press).

We know more about what happened to that print run of 750 copies than almost any book since, though it is nearly four centuries old. Copies disappeared in the Great London Fire of 1666 and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and another sank to the bottom of the Atlantic in 1854 when the SS Arctic rammed a French steamer off Newfoundland. A copy recently sold at Sotheby's for $5.8 million.

Paul Collins, who teaches at Portland State University, edits an imprint of McSweeney Books, and does commentaries on NPR as Weekend Edition's literary detective, has made a specialty of digging up forgotten books and obscure history.

His first book for general readers, Banvard's Folly, offered entertaining portraits of "people who didn't change the world." Subsequent tomes tracked the purloined remains of Thomas Paine, traced the history and diagnosis of autism, and visited Hay-on-Wye - a Welsh village of 1,500 inhabitants and, count 'em, 40 antiquarian bookstores.

As different as their subjects may appear - Collins once said "there is no way they are reproducible [by potential competitors] because they are so chaotic" - at least one thread connects them all: a love of books, and what they say to and about us.

Shakespeare's First Folio hardly qualifies as "forgotten," yet its 386-year history is perfect for Collins's peripatetic narrative style. The five "Acts" and 18 "scenes" of The Book of William take the reader from St. Paul's Churchyard in the 1580s, where future printer William Jaggard got his start with a bookselling stall, to the windowless, fireproofed, temperature- and humidity-controlled vaults of Meisei University in Japan, which contain a dozen First Folios, worth upwards of $50 million.

Along the way, we learn that paper in Jaggard's time was made from handkerchiefs, blouses, table linens, and undergarments; witness the 1720s literary war between Alexander Pope and Lewis Theobald (yeah, that's right - who? - but Collins dubs him the victor) over how to edit Shakespeare; meet various First Folio hunters, dead and living; and examine kabuki and manga Shakespeare.

Collins is pleasant company on these journeys through musty and scholarly byways; fans of Bill Bryson might find the style similar. Musing on the vagaries of theatrical fashion after the Bard's passing, he writes: "Puck and Titania couldn't get themselves arrested in the 1620s." The spongy green carpet of DC's Folger Library "makes you want to either tackle a Milton scholar or throw a long bomb down the forty yards to the reference desk."

This is great, informative fun.

ABSORBING
The author has such a light, chatty style (and such an obvious enthusiasm for his work) that the arcane minutia about early book publishing practices goes down like sugar plums.

When I ordered the book, I was writing a young adult novel about a young boy's time-travel back to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre during a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and I thought this would offer some needed background. Wow! It was so much more captivating than I expected it to be.The personalities involved in promoting the First Folio's rise to prominence are fascinating, from Jaggard to Heminge and Condell all the way down to Henry Clay Folger -- just wonderful stories. This book has made me add a visit to the Folger Library in Washington to my Bucket List.

A most enjoyable read. It was so much fun to read that I limited myself to 2 or 3 chapters per day so it would last longer. I am definitely exploring Paul Collins's other titles, as this is the first one I've read, having noticed a review in the New York Times. Bravo!

Good look at a rare book
I think this book is a must read for those of us who love old books and Shakespeare but are not scholars. The author describes what printing was like in early 17th century, and how books were bought, sold, and cataloged. From a book sale at Sothebys to a Japanese university, he tracks the ownership of first folios and gives a sense of that rarified world where people have fortunes to spend on books. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Book of William
The Book of William by Paul Collins is a Shakespearean travel narrative, tracing the unique history of one of the worlds most influential books. From its relatively lackluster beginnings to its current $5 million price tag, the path of Shakespeare's first Folio contains plenty of twists and turns, and Collins likewise pulls his audience from 17th-century London to the bank vault under the Folger Library, and finally to obscure theatres and a large university in Japan. The Book of William is better suited for the enthusiast than the scholar; I believe anyone with a remote interest in the Bard and his published work will find Collins' account entertaining. ... Read more

Product Description
Here is the story of how the criminal elite hijacked science and transformed it into a weapon against the masses. This examination includes:(1.) The occult Origins of Darwinism.(2.) Nominalism and radical empiricism as instruments of epistemological manipulation.(3.) Eugenics and population control.(4.) Scientistic cults and religious engineering.(5.) Echelon, PROMIS software, and other technologies of the Panopticon Singularity.(6.) Neoconservativism as a continuation of Technocracy and Jacobinism.(7.) Transhumanism, Singularitarianism, and other futurist variants of the elite's occult religion.(8.) The unfolding endgame between scientific dictatorships. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Deft analysis of the New World Order, tainted by dogma
The mantra throughout the book is that the elite are trying to "immanentize the eschaton". This phrase popularized by neo-conservative, William F Buckley, literally means, "heaven on earth within history." The authors echo the claim of the phrase's originator, Eric Voegelin, that this is a gnostic ideology that shares many similarities between communism and Naziism. But this is really a misrepresentation of Gnosticism. The purveyors of modern political ideologies like communism and fascism subverted the spiritual wisdom in the Gnostic tradition for their own nefarious ends. Gnosis is INDIVIDUAL, SPIRITUAL revelation, NOT a theory to be used to craft social policy. Gnosticism generally employed asceticism. And as with any religion, many of its adherents were prone to extremism (e.g. material world = hell). However, claiming that political ideologies like communism and fascism are actually Gnostic makes about as much sense as attributing them to Christian monasticism. The elite are spiritually bankrupt, and have simply found a convenient religious tradition to subvert in advancing their corrupt ideology. It doesn't mean that there are not kernels of truth with Gnosticism.

All religions have threads of spiritual truths at their cores, but they are usually wrapped in such corrosive and spiritually destructive packages that all but the most discerning of individuals would be wise to just walk away. Religions, as Jung said, are defense mechanism against a direct experience of God. They keep humanity as spiritual infants. While the Collins brothers admit that the elite used religion to manipulate and control the population, they never stop to question how many of their own religious ideologies might still be relics of this manipulation. It's unfortunate that, despite their sharp intellects, they have still not seen through the sham of Christianity. While it does engender some positive, genuine spiritual feeling in its adherents, and while it has given rise to remarkable sacred artistry (Rachmaninov's Vespers), this in no way justifies Christianity's more destructive dogmas. But for the Collins brothers, it's all or nothing. To them, God is still a monarch and "jealous", off-planet landlord; and Jesus Christ is the only way to keep out of a fiery pit called "hell". They bristle at statements like that of Gene Roddenbury (p154) when he suggests that we are all "pieces of God". (It's blasphemous to the murderous warlord, Jehovah.) Yet, I would urge the brothers to really examine their concept of the Christian God, and how "he" could be infinite, omniscient and omnipresent but still be SEPERATE from any part or existence. I prefer to phrase it as Bill Hicks did: "we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively." Are we all "God"? Well, yes and no. The way the Collins brothers think of God? Certainly no. The power elites say "yes" because they love to have a justification for considering themselves literal, INDIVIDUAL Gods with dominion over the earth. This idea is, of course, repugnant.

But here's the mode of thought that's so frustrating coming from this book and all other conspiracy researchers who are heavily wrapped-up in their own rigid, religious beliefs: Some ideology, spiritual practice or current of thought was once associated with some historical [...] and should therefore be dispensed with entirely. For the Collins brothers, this applies to such things as entheogens, meditation, and evolution in its ENTIRITY! Yes, there's a lot of TERRIBLE science in Darwinism, but surely we can recognize the tendencies of biological complexification as SOME KIND of evolution.

The words "moral" and "morality" are tossed around liberally throughout the book. But the word "ethics" is never used. What's the difference? One is a system of circumscribed beliefs and codes of behavior. But to me, "ethics" really refers to the guidance that comes from the indwelling spirit in man- the conscience or "higher self". But where Darwinism denies the existence of any kind of spirit, Christianity relegates it to the trash bin with "original sin". The soul must first be "saved" by God before it may pass into the heavenly realms. But the Gnostics had a different idea. To them, entrance into the material world necessitates a forgetting of the God-force within. Salvation then comes through opening up to this indwelling spirit and remembering ones origins (gnosis). And for the Gnostic sects that believed in reincarnation, gnosis meant freedom from the birth/death cycle. (see Ian Stevenson for overwhelming EVIDENCE for reincarnation). This echos the Hindu Upanishads and many other spiritual traditions. Here, Christianity is the "odd man out."

Another interesting subject the book examines is that of the "predictive programming" of science fiction. This is the noteworthy theory that the presentation of a future scenario in a work of fiction can have the effect of conditioning the minds of the audience to expect and even welcome the events portrayed. So what is the Revelation of John of Patmos if not predictive programming? Notice how this piece of literature has shaped the expectations of millions of people throughout the centuries. The blind belief in Christian eschatology has been a destructive force on this earth - in everything from the European domination of the New World under the cover of "conversion", to the current disregard of environmental concerns by Christians who think, "What does it matter? When Jesus comes back the earth will be destroyed anyway."

Despite all of my criticisms, I would still recommend this book, if you can look past the bible-beating. The analyses on the DSM IV, Durkheim on deviance, China & Russia and the eugenics movement are all first-rate. I might read the Collins brothers again, if they were to release another book. But I would hope that in the meantime they spend some time getting to know people like Alan Watts, Jordon Maxwell, Michael Tsarion, Terence McKenna, John Lash and John Marco Allegro. A little deprogramming could do them a lot of good. Paul and Phillip, may you both have an experience of gnosis, so that you may set aside your faith and belief for genuine spiritual experience.

Much needed book on a difficult subject
Being a student and while working parttime i academia i have for some time been apalled by how the university diciplines really suck when it comes to presenting the social reality in a way as to empower democratic citizenship.

The undemocratic nature of, and history behind the body of knowledge that is given legitimazy by academia is well uncovered in this book.

This is an older copy of the book
This is the first edition. The new 2006 revised version, however, has an extra 200+ pages of material. See ISBN 1419639323 (authors Paul & Phillip Collins).

Social Engineering and Technocratic Elite
Many of us are familiar with U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell speech to the nation on January 17, 1961, in which he warned the American public to "guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence" of the "military-industrial complex." A less known quote from the same speech sets the tone for the Collins brothers' incredibly erudite tome: "... we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite."

This book discloses exactly who these technological elite (technocrats) are; that they've been working behind the scenes for centuries, and public policy has indeed become its captive. Its aspiration has always been the implementation of a sociopolitical, technocratic utopian world order.

The breadth and scope of Philip and Paul Collins' massive study is nothing short of dazzling. "The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship" is a meticulous examination of a shared ideological construct centuries in the making. This elite circle of technocrats hasn't simply carried forth a unified grand master plan, however; the Collins brothers stress the fact that what we are dealing with is a "conspiracy of ideas," whose adherents have developed into a powerful "epistemological cartel."

Reading "The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship" is to embark on an intellectual journey of the highest order. The Collins brothers effortlessly discuss a wide range of philosophical concepts, all of which are integral to understanding the thinking and development of those behind the formation of a would-be technocracy. There simply isn't any other book that is even in the same league. "The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship" penetrates the core concepts of Gnosticism, Rosicrucian mythos, Baconian utopianism, Freemasonry and the Royal Society of London; from Darwinism to scientism, population control, eugenics and Malthusian propaganda; Jung, Hegel, Wells and Huxley; Fabian socialism, world government, evolutionary pantheism, and the deification of man. The reader is privy to the fact that there is genuine continuity between Illuminism, Jacobinism, Socialism, and Marxism; that the dialectical manipulation of society is symptomatic of "the Hegelian nexus where Darwin, Marx, and Hitler intersect." The Collins brothers are equally at ease with diverse concepts such as Bentham's Panopticon, sociocracy, semiotic manipulation, "sci-fi predictive programming," transhumanism and the techno-eugenic movement - and the implications thereof. Other books that have attempted only a fraction of what is discussed in this book seem haphazard in comparison.

I highly doubt it is even possible to convey the scope of the book in a simple review: with the range of topics discussed, along with judicious quotations from a dizzying array of sources - the breadth of "The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship" is simply mind-numbing. This book is the definitive statement identifying the significance behind the political concept of a New World Order. "Worth its weight in gold" really does apply in this case - and, of course, as is customary with such scholarly endeavors, the bibliography is worth the price alone.

Great Book!
Get the latest version of this book. It is excellent. The yellow cover of this book is for the older release.
This book is excellent. It ties together the players in this NWO.
It shows why the NWO seems to be at opposition with someone else.
The truth is that the Bush NWO team have opposition from the more socialistic elite eg. French and Russia, who want a more communist NWO.
Their formation of this NWO is not absolute; at least not yet.
This coincides with the bible showing this NWO as being iron mingled with clay. Due to opposition from their elite brothers, their rule will not be a complete foot on our neck. We are in sooo much trouble with these NWO people. We are screwed America unless you wake up.
This book is very professionally done and well researched.
I think that this book takes the time to show what has been planned for decades if not centuries. The elite think that we are sheep.
They have a plan for an American Union soon. It will be just like the European Union. Sovereignty of the U.S. is almost completely gone. America has been stolen. Blame the Bush Family, Rockerfeller, Rhodes,Rothchilds, DuPont, Fords. Most of these families supported Hitler during WWII.
... Read more

Product Description
A Book Sense Fall 2005 History Channel Top Ten Pick Paul Collins combines present-day travelogue with an odyssey down the forgotten paths of history as he searches for the physical remains of founding father Thomas Paine. Paine's missing body, like a saint's relics, has been scattered in pieces around the world over the last two centuries-a brainstem in New York, a box of bones in London, a lock of hair in Edinburgh, a skull in Sydney. As Paul tracks down these remnants, he revisits the unusual life of Tom Paine-and in his search for Paine's body, Collins uncovers that body's soul. "Savor this peculiar history of the way Thomas Paine's ideas--and his corpse--traveled after he died."-People Paul Collins is the author of Sixpence Houseand Not Even Wrong: A Father's Journey into the Lost History of Autism . He edits the Collins Library for McSweeney's Books, and his work has appeared in New Scientist , the Village Voice , and Business 2.0 . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Great Fun
This book is just great fun. It rambles and stumbles deliciously from one topic to another, including some esoterica, and at times loses focus on Paine.Does not have to be read straight through.(I skipped ahead to find out what happened to Paine's bones.)Refreshingly free of political bias and spin.Pedants, specialists, and political wingnuts on the left probably won't care for it.Wingnuts on the right will likely be indifferent.

Wonderful flashes of illumination on the 1800s
This is just superb, a completely entertaining book with some depth behind it. My wife loved it, and occasionally read me passages as she read it. I loved it, and kept mentioning passages to her as I read it.

Paul Collins is a wonderful writer. I thought John McPhee might be the best writer of nonfiction I've ever read, but Paul Collins is a worthy rival... with quite a different voice and approach. The book seems to be impeccably researched. But it's not really a history, it's a sort of travel volume or collection of anecdotes, in which Collins tells about his quest to determine what became of Tom Paine's body after Paine's death. The book shifts back and forth between his own experiences, and the various characters (in all senses of the word) who were touched by the travels of Tom Paine's remains. Paul Collins is himself a character in his own book, and frequently breaks the fourth wall to talk directly to the reader. He has opinions and lets them show, but I think he does a careful and honest job of separating the facts from his reflections upon those facts (more so than, say, Tom Wolfe).

It has interesting flashes of illumination into the life of the 1800s, as Collins tries to get into the heads of the people he is writing about.

One of the most interesting parts to me was his comments on the role of phrenology in the 1800s. It is today regarded as such a quaint curiosity that I never fully realized the extent of its acceptance, and its connection with progressive thinking and social reform. It was, if you like, the psychoanalysis of its day. He points out something I'd half-noticed: the degree to which novelists of the period make a point of describing the shape of their characters' heads.

My high school is not far from New Rochelle and the next time I go to a reunion I am definitely going to make some time to visit the Tom Paine memorial.

Not just about Thomas Paine.....
To those reviewers who were disappointed because "this book was supposed to be about Thomas Paine," I would have to say that you missed the point.

This book is much more than just another bio of Thomas Paine.It's about his ideals, and the author brilliantly uses his bones to tell the story.He does a great job of weaving the story and connecting many of the brilliant minds who continued to fight for the principles espoused by Paine, and they did so long after he had already been villified by most Americans and British.

I loved this book, and I enjoyed reading about many of the people, such as Conway, who we rarely learn about.

If you want to read a biography of Thomas Paine, there are several available.If you want to read a book which makes you appreciate those people who have stood up for the ideals found in The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason, then read this book.But don't forget to read the writings of Paine himself.

How to teach history!
Moncure Conway might have been the most fascinatingcharacter ever created for a historical fiction, for this book is both about him as well as Tom Paine. In fact, the book is almost incidentally about Tom Paine when he was alive. The focus is on Tom Paine, dead.
The book is well written, often very funny, and would be my textbook of choice if I were teaching high school or college history.
All-in-all, it's a book that is hard to put down!

Boooooring
The first section of the book is about Paine's final years and his body and what happened to it. Interesting stuff. This is what the blurbs in Entertainment Weekly and elsewhere said.

But then the author seems to get way too into all the connections between so-and-so and seems to really forget that he was writing about Thomas Paine. So so-and-so met Walt Whitman, and they both knew H.D. Thoreau, and Thoreau knew so-and-so...then all of a sudden, fast forward to this religious pacifist and a nutty pseudo-doctor and...

By page 130 I began thumbing through page after page looking for a mention of Paine. There's tons on the popularity of the toilet in the late 1800s, and on phrenology and on women's rights (ok ok, so the Paine tie-in there is that some early feminists used "Common Sense" as a springboard for other progressive ideals, including feminism and abolitionism, etc.).

Honestly, the majority of the book fails, in my mind, to remain interesting in relation to Paine. Extensive research into esoteric pseudo-science and the invention of the water closet may be interesting, but when I pick up a book about the strange afterlife and times of Thomas Paine, I expect there to be a bit more of a connection to Thomas Paine.

No? ... Read more

Product Description
This title provides readers with an invaluable guide to conditioning your body for improved power, agility, and overall fitness. This superb new volume - for men and women - from award-winning personal fitness trainer Paul Collins, presents readers with practical, easy-to-follow exercises to condition your body for athletic and sports performance. "Functional Fitness" provides step-by-step coaching advice and workouts utilizing body weight, fitness balls, medicine balls, plyometrics, resistance bands, stability and speed training equipment - all of which have been specifically designed to coordinate your muscular framework for improved dynamic agility and power. This is a must-have volume for anyone interested in dramatically improving their sporting and athletic performance. ... Read more

Product Description
Dumbbell Training is the ultimate training guide for any person looking to increase their muscular size, strength, balance, coordination and explosive power for improving athletic performance. ... Read more

Product Description
Wardragon is the culmination of The Jelindel Chronicles in a soaring saga. Finally Jelindel, with her allies, Zimak and Daretor, has tracked the alien mailshirt across two radically different worlds. But the journey is perilous when each step is lined with flying beasts, metal wasps, mercenaries and assassins . . . and the mailshirt linked up with the evil Preceptor to create a deadly enemy. All Jelindel has is a little magic, Zimak's wit and Daretor's sword to scrape through and that is not enough.

Collins captures a terrifying, tense world with a touch of humour and holds it to the last shattering battle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Reviewer: Jenny Mounfield
What began in Dragonlinks with 14 year old Jelindel, sole survivor of her masacred family, draws to a heart-stopping climax in this the final chapter.

Having become a powerful mage and, with the help of her friends, dispatching the chainmail shirt that threatened to destroy all the worlds, Jelindel is shocked to learn that the cursed shirt has risen to power once more.

The mailshirt, made from a blending of cold science and magic, may be invincible, but the consciousness that inhabits it is not. Drawing on the body of its host, the Preceptor, its plan is simple: eradicate every scrap of magic everywhere. Q'zar, Jelindel's world, is destined to become like ours, a place where magic no longer exists. But only if Jelindel fails to find the mailshirt's weakness. Jelindel, herself, says it best:

" `Cold science naturally displaces magic, just as heat pushes out cold, or disbelief holds sway over belief. They cannot live together.'"

Jelindel is the quintessential heroine. She has overcome personal tragedy and crushing adversity to fight for what she believes in. Yet, thanks to Collins' obvious skill, she remains endearingly human with an underlying innocence, and more than her fair share of the fears that reside in us all.

While each book in this series is a link in itself - a piece of a much larger story - each volume is also a fully-formed smaller story that stands alone. Anything from the previous books that is needed to enhance understanding of this one, has been artfully woven into the narrative.

Wardragon has it all: rich description, adventure, characters as familiar as family and humour, often at the most unlikely times. Jelindel's story is a treat for fantasy fans of all ages. Highly recommended.

Jenny Mounfield is the author of two junior novels: Storm Born (Koala Books), and The Black Bandit (Lothian). Her first YA novel, The Ice-cream Man is scheduled for publication in July 2008.
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Things you can do following the instructions in this book
Things you can do following the instructions in this book:

Make a spool tank (a homemade windup toy that creeps forward slowly like an army tank); a "button buzz-saw;" a handkerchief parachute; a harmless handkerchief "blackjack." Make a squeaky noise with two blades of grass. Do cool things with dandelion stems and leaves. Make a little basket out of burrs. Put your name on a pencil. Give a pencil a decorative checkerboard grip. Play Mumbly-Peg with a boy scout knife. Make a bracelet out of a clamshell. Make a needle dart. Make a leather sucker. Play "killers" with horse chestnuts. Make a Spanish bolas with horse chestnuts. Make a bull-roarer, an indoor boomerang, an outdoor boomerang, several kinds of slingshot, a throwing-stick. Make a bow and arrow out of a broken umbrella. Make polly-noses from maple tree wing things. Pop jewel-weed pods. Make willow bees and cats. Make a pin piano. Make a "bavoom-thing," a peach-pit basket, a rubber-band-powered paddlewheel boat, a paper airplane, a paper helicopter, and a thing made from a wishbone that surprises people by jumping suddenly into the air.

A 1958 video interview of Robert Paul Smith can be found at (...)

A part of my childhood
This book was given to my brother and I when we were 4 and 6 years old. Whenever we were "bored," our mother handed us "the book."

With comprehensive, easy to read how-to's from mumbly peg to spool tanks to cockleburr baskets, "How to do nothing" is one of the enduring memories from my childhood ... Read more

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Gwathmey Siegel, the award-winning New York-based firm, is acclaimed for its extraordinary houses as well as its high-profile cultural, corporate, and educational work. In the tradition of the highly successful Gwathmey Siegel: Buildings and Projects (Vols. 1 & 2), Rizzoli now presents Gwathmey Siegel: Apartments.
Gwathmey Siegel has long been the architect of choice for clients who want to combine extravagance with an intellectually rigorous, well-crafted modernism. While the houses for which they are so justly renowned often exceed 20,000 square feet, the apartments they have designed are frequently one-tenth that size. The work, however, does not suffer from this reduction in scale, rather it takes on a stunning intensity-as if the ideas encompassed in the bigger houses are in the apartments compressed into tight, concentrated forms.Expressing an unsurpassed level of detail and craftsmanship, the 17 apartments featured in this monograph document the evolution of the firm's design ethos over 30 years of practice from a minimalist modernism to what has sometimes been described as baroque modernism.
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Beautiful book featuring beautiful work
I must preface this review by saying I am biased. It was my great fortune to be the co-designer of the building featured on the cover of this tome.
It was a unique experience to collaborate with the talented architects at Gwathmey Siegel.Their inventiveness, boldness, and underlying respect for timeless qualities of design justifies the breadth of their commissions.
The inclusion of plans, lovely photography and a brief but critical narrative makes this an excellent book for both architects and laypeople. ... Read more

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In his letters to the early Christian communities, the apostle Paul left for Christians of all time an array of powerful images: from the pain of a thorn in the flesh to the tenderness of a nursing mother for her children, from the competition on an athletic field to the growth of an agricultural field. In The Power of Images in Paul, Raymond Collins explores how Paul uses the ordinary to describe what is extraordinary, how Paul skillfully uses a wide range of metaphors as a means of both persuasion and clarification. But this book is more than an analysis of Paul's images themselves. Collins also examines how Paul deliberately draws from secular as well as religious and biblical themes in order to draw a culturally diverse audience into relationship with Christ. Entering Paul's world with Collins, readers will better appreciate Paul's use of metaphor and, more important, be persuaded as was Paul's original audience of God's unfailing love in Christ. ... Read more

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Strength Training for Women has been developed as a training guide as more women begin to understand the health benefits of this activity. Strength Training for Women is written in five parts. First, you will be educated about general strength training terminology. Second, major muscle groups of the body will be pinpointed, providing strength training exercises used in a gym using hand weights (dumbbells), barbells, various cable, pinloaded and weighted machines. Third, you will be provided with a series of strength training routines for use in the gym. Fourth is a body weight workout routine that can be performed at home or whilst traveling. Fifth is the take anywhere hand weight routine for the whole body. Through regular participation in strength training, many women find a positive outcome with body image, confidence and self-esteem since the body changes shape as fat is reduced and lean muscle is maintained. ... Read more

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Word count: 4126. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more