Product Description
This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. The Crystal Crypt is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Philip K. Dick is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Philip K. Dick then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.Amazon.com Review
Yes, this is the Lewis Carroll who wrote Alice inWonderland, and these two works show the same quirky humor. Hereyou see Carroll the mathematician at his playful best. Don't let thetitle of the first work mislead you--this isn't about modern symboliclogic but about ways of expressing classical logic with symbols. It'sloaded with amusing problems to delight any mathematical puzzler. Inthe second work he turns logic into a game played with diagrams andcolored counters, giving you hundreds of challenging and wittysyllogisms to solve. Great mind-stretching fun. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Killed My Kindle!
Both times I tried to read this book, my kindle froze up and then crashed. Never happened with any other book, but opening Symbolic Logic was like opening up a really awful virus. I deleted it off my device as soon as I got it working again.

An unexamined Life? One must learn how to examine first, right?
Lewis Carroll {a.k.a Charles Dodgson} ... used to teach this 'stuff' to 14-year olds... with the new advent of media-entertainment: from playstation to blu-ray and everything between... all hand-eye coordintation aside.... our intelects and ability to learn has suffered..

I won't lie; this took we the better part of a year to assimilate.... all the nuances Carroll has for 'Learners'.... he even gives instructions in his intro in how to go about just that...

In short; this book changed my life.... at the risk of sounding 'blasphemous' I would say its almost more important then the bible.... for it has allowed me to seek its truth in a whole new light...as well as any disciplined study I now find interest in...just as Mr. Dodgson in his playful way promised..

I believe it was Socrates that once said: "An unexamined life is not worth living" ; Carroll upgrades the outdated examination-tool of Magnigying Glass to Hubbel-Telescope... it really is this good if your patient with yourself{another Carrollinian-tip} and persevere with the exercises built right there into the book..

All People who read this book will be changed for ever.
All People changed for ever will in turn change others for the better.

All People who change others for the better, will be changed for better.

Though this may sound like a good, moral argument... it is not a sound one.... I hope you look me up sometime and tell me why... details awaiting inside....

Symbolic logic still useful
Probably is not often taught any more as it has been replaced by other methods, still has use because it teaches alternate methods and formats of solving logic problems.Since this book was not written recently the language can be a bit confusing, but otherwise is a quick and somewhat enjoyable read.

This ain't Wonderland

Some books you read to relax, some to learn, and some...well, some will make you think and wonder and grow. This is one of those.

The problems here have been around for more than a century, and yet they are still as effective in teaching logic as the day they were written.

If you are getting ready for the LSAT, this is not a bad place to start. If you just want to tease your intellect, this is a great source for hours of amusement.

Content 5 Stars, Format 1 Star - Averages out
Lewis Carroll's contents timeless and fundamental and should be interesting to anybody with interest in Symbolic Logics or even simple logical problem solving.

However, I am kicking myself for not looking at the published year and having been fooled by the snazzy cover into assuming that the presentation would be of contemporary standards. It is ditto reproduction of fonts and pagination from the original, which a contemporary reader would have a tough time keeping up. Just look at the Table of Contents befor you buy.

... Read more

Product Description
THIS 102 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Hunting of the Snark, A Tangled Tale and Phantasmagoria, by Lewis Carroll. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1419139797. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1898. ... Read more

Product Description
Alice In Wonderland - The Classic by Lewis CarrollAmazon.com Review
Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture,Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children purepleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll'sputative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate hisalleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through therabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Ofwonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, theQueen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among amultitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplacecreatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathomthe meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be"curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral orsense.

For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfullynon-moralistic, non-educational virtues of thisclassic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at hertraditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that hetook the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, andbranches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, andDerision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were asimportant as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; themasterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (Allages) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Customer Reviews (148)

A magnificent classic.But beware of this KINDLE edition.
I last read this magnificent book many moons ago (1962) when I had some time on my hands.I was fascinated by the story and the logic inculcated within.So now that I have a Kindle and some time I thought why not read this gem?

The book of course is superb.No complaints there.The Kindle edition however is a different matter.There are NO ILLUSTRATIONS as in the hardcopy versions of this book.With a story saturated with visual metaphors this is an unforgivable sin - even though the book is offered for free.Sometimes "free" is really NOT free because this version can drive away some of the younger crowd from reading the book.That is the highest of sins.

One of my desert island desirables
Blood and Sunlight: A Maryland Vampire Story

The sheer lunacy of Alice is so incredibly imaginative. Carroll was creating worlds long before the likes of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett.Definitely a must read. What gets overlooked is the amazing characterization of Alice. She's curious (of course!), but also pragmatic, determined, and wickedly unflappable. She might be the maddest of all of them! Definitely set aside some time to read this edition.

This was interesting to read
The pictures of the characters are cool. But I thought they change the story a bit and add some different parts, instead of hearing the same lines and speeches again. but I still liked it.

Classic Boredom
I read this as a kid, and hated it.But thought that maybe age, maturity, and increased intellect might give me a different perspective.Bored me as much today as it did yesterday.It's indeed a classic, and that's wonderful for enduring literature and the amazing allegories it contains.But for me it means snoretime, not wonderland.

Not so special
Entertaining, but not so special. Maybe in its time and era it was, but for me it was no more than 3 stars. It was a free Kindle book though, so no money lost here. Thank you, Amazon :)) ... Read more

Product Description
When Alice follows the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole she has no idea of the adventures in store for her and soon discovers that things in Wonderland never behave quite the way you expect them to. This tape is read by Jan Francis.Amazon.com Review
Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture,Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children purepleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll'sputative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate hisalleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through therabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Ofwonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, theQueen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among amultitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplacecreatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathomthe meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be"curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral orsense.

For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfullynon-moralistic, non-educational virtues of thisclassic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at hertraditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that hetook the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, andbranches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, andDerision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were asimportant as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; themasterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (Allages) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Customer Reviews (148)

A magnificent classic.But beware of this KINDLE edition.
I last read this magnificent book many moons ago (1962) when I had some time on my hands.I was fascinated by the story and the logic inculcated within.So now that I have a Kindle and some time I thought why not read this gem?

The book of course is superb.No complaints there.The Kindle edition however is a different matter.There are NO ILLUSTRATIONS as in the hardcopy versions of this book.With a story saturated with visual metaphors this is an unforgivable sin - even though the book is offered for free.Sometimes "free" is really NOT free because this version can drive away some of the younger crowd from reading the book.That is the highest of sins.

One of my desert island desirables
Blood and Sunlight: A Maryland Vampire Story

The sheer lunacy of Alice is so incredibly imaginative. Carroll was creating worlds long before the likes of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett.Definitely a must read. What gets overlooked is the amazing characterization of Alice. She's curious (of course!), but also pragmatic, determined, and wickedly unflappable. She might be the maddest of all of them! Definitely set aside some time to read this edition.

This was interesting to read
The pictures of the characters are cool. But I thought they change the story a bit and add some different parts, instead of hearing the same lines and speeches again. but I still liked it.

Classic Boredom
I read this as a kid, and hated it.But thought that maybe age, maturity, and increased intellect might give me a different perspective.Bored me as much today as it did yesterday.It's indeed a classic, and that's wonderful for enduring literature and the amazing allegories it contains.But for me it means snoretime, not wonderland.

Not so special
Entertaining, but not so special. Maybe in its time and era it was, but for me it was no more than 3 stars. It was a free Kindle book though, so no money lost here. Thank you, Amazon :)) ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Mathematical recreations; Logic, Symbolic and mathematical; Logic, Symbolic and mathematical; Mathematical recreations; Games / Puzzles; Philosophy / Logic; Science / General; Fiction / General; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

bad copy
It might be the copy I got or something, but all it was was ones and twos. Every time I click on the book, I get something different. One time it is numbers and another time it is just a whole bunch of words that don't make sense the way they were put together.

Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free (Roger MIller)
The Kindle version is a great disappointment, due to the flagrant abuse of the formating that is essential to Carrol's presentation. My "for fee" Kindle books do respect formatting and they are a joy. Indeed, when color is not an issue, I prefer Kindle to print (variable font, auto dictionary, search, etc.). Perhaps I am old fashioned, but for me, "for free" does not excuse sloppy performance. This sloppiness carries over to many of the "for free" poetry books as well, rendering them worthless as well.

In my mind, this tarnishes the whole Kindle experience. What is worse, the Amazon reviews (usually a powerful guide to quality or lack thereof) are dragged in as co-conspirators. To wit: The Game of Logic is a delightful book and the print edition certainly deserves several stars. The Kindle edition is a mess, as I and others have explained. Averaging the star ratings for the book with the star ratings for this Kindle edition provides deceptive guidance. I refrain from judging if this deception is intentional or just further sloppiness. I had come to have higher expectations of Amazon and of Kindle Books. This experience is a bit of a thud.

Diagrams not included
Very interesting and informative, but the diagrams are not included, making it a little hard to interpret, as it leans heavily on the diagrams for explanation.Some can be reconstructed from the description, but it makes it difficult to know if you have understood correctly.But hey - it's free so who can complain!

Great little logic textbook -- for a victorian child
This is a short little text Carroll wrote to introduce children to logical reasoning, specifically set logic of the "Some Cretans are Liars" variety. At the time, it was probably an excellent work for this purpose. There are two reasons why it's not that great a text for that today, though, at least not in this kindle edition.

The first is that Carroll's tone here has aged pretty badly. To begin with, his overall tone is at times painfully precious, in a way that would probably put off any modern child reading this text; beyond that, the examples he chooses are. . curious by modern standards -- for example, the second set of extended examples centers around the two propositions ""All Dragons are uncanny" and "all Scotchmen are canny."

The bigger problem is that the whole mechanism of the book revolves around a square grid diagram that simply doesn't translate in this kindle edition -- it just appears as a set of ||||'s next to each other. Which makes the book's arguments comparatively difficult to follow, for all Carroll's wit and charm.

Those two issues aside, Carroll's text does a good job of explaining basic logical theory in a way that children can understand. But, unfortunately, this edition is more a historical curiosity than it is anything else.

Carroll the mathematician
The Game of Logic by Lewis Carroll

The Game of Logic by Lewis Carroll is a great brain teaser for readers of all ages. The ebook allows you to learn the basics of logic in a funny and natural way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (148)

A magnificent classic.But beware of this KINDLE edition.
I last read this magnificent book many moons ago (1962) when I had some time on my hands.I was fascinated by the story and the logic inculcated within.So now that I have a Kindle and some time I thought why not read this gem?

The book of course is superb.No complaints there.The Kindle edition however is a different matter.There are NO ILLUSTRATIONS as in the hardcopy versions of this book.With a story saturated with visual metaphors this is an unforgivable sin - even though the book is offered for free.Sometimes "free" is really NOT free because this version can drive away some of the younger crowd from reading the book.That is the highest of sins.

One of my desert island desirables
Blood and Sunlight: A Maryland Vampire Story

The sheer lunacy of Alice is so incredibly imaginative. Carroll was creating worlds long before the likes of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett.Definitely a must read. What gets overlooked is the amazing characterization of Alice. She's curious (of course!), but also pragmatic, determined, and wickedly unflappable. She might be the maddest of all of them! Definitely set aside some time to read this edition.

This was interesting to read
The pictures of the characters are cool. But I thought they change the story a bit and add some different parts, instead of hearing the same lines and speeches again. but I still liked it.

Classic Boredom
I read this as a kid, and hated it.But thought that maybe age, maturity, and increased intellect might give me a different perspective.Bored me as much today as it did yesterday.It's indeed a classic, and that's wonderful for enduring literature and the amazing allegories it contains.But for me it means snoretime, not wonderland.

Not so special
Entertaining, but not so special. Maybe in its time and era it was, but for me it was no more than 3 stars. It was a free Kindle book though, so no money lost here. Thank you, Amazon :)) ... Read more

Product Description
Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) is famed for his magical stories, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, here illustrated throughout the inner pages by Sir John Tenniel's much loved drawings. However, inspired by the insatiable Victorian appetite for party games, tricks and conundrums, this eccentric and polymathical Englishman also wrote many other works of a humorous, witty, whimsical and nonsensical nature such as the mock-heroic nonsense verse The Hunting of the Snark, as well as dozens of other verses, stories, acrostics and puzzles, all of which are included in this volume. Oxford scholar, Church of England Deacon, University Lecturer in Mathematics and Logic, academic author of learned theses, gifted pioneer of portrait photography, colourful writer of imaginative genius and yet a shy and pedantic man, Lewis Carroll stands pre-eminent in the pantheon of inventive literary geniuses. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Missing Pieces
No "The Hunting of the Snark".

Otherwise, decent for the price. The complete illustrated 'Sylvie & Bruno' is worth the price in hardcover alone.

librarynon
Even more beautiful than in the picture.Have already read things of Carroll's I had never seen before.

Excellent!
Excellent book for those who love Lewis Carrol...young people and not so young!
Extremely Recommendable!

Perfect for any Lewis Carroll fan.
There is just so much in here and it's great fun to make your way through it all!Very enjoyable to read and reread.

A classic in classic format
I love this book. I haven't read these stories in a long time and forgot how wonderful they are. The book is nicely put together and it very complete. Glad I bought it. ... Read more

Product Description
Carefully chosen collection contains 34 of Carroll’s most appealing verses—nonsense verse, parodies, burlesques, more—including such unforgettable pieces as “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” “The Mock Turtle’s Song,” and “Father William,” as well as such lesser-known gems as “My Fancy,” “A Sea Dirge,” “Brother and Sister,” “Hiawatha’s Photographing,” “The Mad Gardener’s Song,” “What Tottles Meant,” “Poeta Fit, non Nascitur,” “The Little Man That Had a Little Gun,” and many others.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

I suppose it is what it is.
This is a rather shy little collection of some of Lewis Carroll's poems, but certainly not complete. I had been hoping it would have included "The Hunting of the Snark" but it did not. Other than that I suppose it's nothing more or less than what it claims to be.

I love this little book
I love the poems especially the Jabberwocky which is why I bought it.However during the shipping process (I think it was just too small compared to all my other books in the package) it was bent by one of the cardboard flaps and I had to do some re-enforcing with book tape to try to keep the book in at least good condition.I am curious though, if the poem was about a boy who had to slay the Jabberwocky, Why is there a girl, presumably, Alice that slays it?Is it just the time period where girls and women were second class and couldn't fathom being a heroine?

Delicious ;)
It's great to have all these Lewis Carrol's poems in one tiny boook.
It is very entertaining and enjoyable!

If you have small children, or grand-children...
If you have small children, or grand-children, you owe it to them to read "Jabberwocky" to them. Every day. Ideally, with the lights off, in a low and menacing voice. Hopefully you know it by heart (and you remember that it's "borogoves" WITHOUT the "r", not "borogroves"). If not, you'll need this book. It's more convenient than lugging around a "Complete Works", with or without Martin Gardener's annotations. As a bonus, you'll get some of Lewis Carroll's less well known (but still delightful) poems. I recommend "You are old, Father William", which is the perfect opportunity to really overact.

"And the mome raths outgrabe." And don't you forget it!!

Quoth the Jabberwock...
Lewis Carroll is best known as the warped mind that brought us "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." He was also a poet. Not an introspective, pensive, or anguished poet, but someone who spun up little nonsense rhymes.

Several are selected from Carroll's best-known books, such as "The Mouse's Tale," where the content isn't too interesting... but the poem itself is shaped like a mouse's tail. Another is "Jabberwocky," the famed poem about a young man who slays a monster. At least half the words are made up. ("Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!/ Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun/the frumious Bandersnatch!")

There is also a selection of his early poetry and his non-Alice poetry, such as the "Mad Gardener's Song," where a gardener spends most of his time hallucinating: "He thought he saw an Elephant,/That practised on a fife:/He looked again, and found it was/A letter from his wife.'" Okay, whatever. Poems are included from the little-known "Phantasmagorica," "Sylvie and Bruno," and other collections.

"How shall I be a poet?/How shall I write in rhyme?" Carroll inquires in "Poeta Fit, Non Nascitur," a pleasant little poem about writing poetry. His poetry tends to be comedic, but there are a few that are halfway serious, such as "Sea Dirge," a poem entirely devoted to Carroll's aquaphobia. No, it's not downbeat, but it isn't exactly goofball poetry either.

The whimsical insanity of Carroll's poetry is what makes it so appealing. Technically it's pretty ordinary, with the flaw of making up words to insure rhyme schemes. But somehow his poetry is so colorful and funny that the flaws aren't much of a downside -- especially "Jabberwocky," where the whole appeal of the poem is that it's utter nonsense.

Anyone who has read "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" can't help but notice Carroll's whimsical, creative poetry. And "Jabberwocky and Other Poems" is a pretty good introduction to his kooky verse. ... Read more

Product Description
This commemorative oversized volume of the complete collection of stories and poems of Lewis Carol showcases his ingenious use of word play, inverted logic and satire. Lewis Carroll was the pen name and, it could be claimed, the alter ego of the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematician, writer and photographer. His creations, especially Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, have been translated into countless languages and are as loved now as they have ever been. His neologisms ("curiouser and curiouser") and turns of phrase have forever infiltrated and enriched our language and culture. ... Read more

Product Description
Through the Looking-Glass is a work of juvenile fiction written by Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865. Through the Looking-Glass is set in a mirror-image world of Wonderland, and often uses changes in physical size for a surreal effect to the mind of the reader. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (10)

A Product of Victorian England
Jenny Woolf interprets the life of Charles Dogson, known to the world as Lewis Carroll. She examines far flung letters and diaries and recently discovered bank account records. From these she pieces together his story, noting gaps and speculating on how and why these gaps exist.

She concludes that the innuendo that surrounds Carroll is not deserved. She presents him as a pious eccentric with wide ranging interests. He was a Renaissance man for his time with accomplishments in photography, mathematics, and medical studies in addition to his famous children's novels.

His stammer may be a reason for his bachelor life or it could be the restrictive economics and career options of his time.As the oldest of 11 brothers and sisters (only 3 of whom married), upon his father's death he became the head of his birth family. His teaching position provided room and meals. If he married, he would lose his faculty position and would need to become a minister, most likely in a rural parish.

While he had many adult friends, it appears his closest friendships were with young children, mostly girls. When they became adults, most remained his friends. Woolf contends that these childhood friendships and the nude photographs (1% of his photographic output) that resulted from them are the root of Lewis's tarnished reputation. She says that there is no evidence that the girls' Victorian families had any reservations about the photos for reasons that she explains as an extension of the period's views of women and children. She presents Carroll as a deeply religious and repressed Victorian man, trapped by the morals and class system of his time.

The book is arranged by topic which had me flipping on a few occasions to understand the time relationship of the photos, the bank records and other topics.

a tad apologetic
Woolf has created the Carroll/Dodgson she wants him to be, beginning with the use of the nom de plume in her title. One look at the four surviving Dodgson photos of naked girls, housed at the Rosenbach Foundation in Philadelphia and sometimes publicly displayed, will dispel notions that Dodgson wasn't a pedophile. They are posed in ways, e.g., on divans, that remind one of French pornographic postcards of the period! This does not mean that Dodgson ever touched any of his girl "friends," but to deny that the attraction was devoid of sexuality seemspreposterous. In this regard, especially, Cohen's biography is a more reliable guide. In "Alice in Wonderland," consider the figure of the Mad Hatter, who hovers over/around Alice with his hands almost, but not quite, touching Alice. Here, I believe, is Dodgson's avatar.

The Real Carroll Rescued From Darkness
In the century since his death, the life of Lewis Carroll became ensnarled in dark innuendo.Biographers and commentators have unleashed modern psychological theory on him to accuse him of pedophilia and other perversions.Jenny Woolf's fine new biography rescues Carroll from the darkness and describes the kindly, shy and admittedly eccentric man as he really was.

Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the oldest son in a large family fathered by a clergyman whose means never kept up with his expanding brood of children.Dodgson grew up surrounded by loving siblings then endured a difficult education at Rugby School.At Oxford his gift for mathematics blossomed, and he became a professor at Christchurch.He was not successful teaching college men since his shyness, stammer, and general diffidence did not inspire respect among the upper class hearties with whom he was afflicted.He did much better teaching young women at a private school in Oxford.This seems to have been the general pattern of Carroll's life: a preference for the company of young women and girls with whom he could let his gift for being droll and even nonsensical develop.

In our era a man who prefers the company of children, especially young girls, is viewed with suspicion.In the nineteenth century, as Woolf ably points out, attitudes were different.In a number of remarkable and illuminating chapters Woolf describes Carroll's love for children, chronicling his celebrated friendship with Alice Liddell and her siblings among others and linking it to his interest in photography.Seen in this light, his "fairy photos" of scantily clad children have a much more innocent explanation than is commonly given them today.Woolf also describes Carroll's abundant generosities and other kindnesses to his family and friends, which eventually led to financial embarrassment.The picture that emerges is of a gentle, not very practical man who lived in a dream world in which reality intruded only rarely and usually painfully, as when some of his young friends or their parents turned their backs on him.Knowing the story behind them gives his stories and poetry new meaning and delight.

The Likeable, Peculiar Man from Wonderland
It has become part of our received knowledge that Lewis Carroll, author of the Alice books, liked being with little girls, and liked photographing little girls without their clothes, and that for all we may enjoy Alice's adventures, we have to wince at their author's being a pedophile.I have heard a presenter classify him in that category in a medical presentation on child abuse, for instance.I want to put quickly into this review that such accusations are not true, even though clearing them away is only one of the many insights within _The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created Alice in Wonderland_ (St. Martin's Press) by Jenny Woolf.Woolf is a reviewer of children's literature, and has written about Carroll before.There are plenty of other biographies of the famous author, but she says, "The more closely Lewis Carroll is studied, the more he seems to slide quietly away."(She doesn't mention it, but this is rather like Alice trying to put her hands on items on the shelves of the sheep's shop.)Some of the problem is that the original source documents we would like to read about Carroll have disappeared, like diaries from certain years that seem to have been deliberately cleared away by his family after his death.Part of the problem is that very few of the people that knew him, even close friends, wrote about him or talked to biographers after he was gone.Part of the problem is that there was gossip about Carroll while he was alive (and the gossip was about subjects other than his relationships with little girls).Part of the problem is that his times and his locale in academic Oxford were peculiar viewed from our own time.And a big part of the problem is that he was very peculiar himself.Not naughty, not sociopathic; just very odd, an oddness you might expect of the author of Wonderland.Woolf's thoughtful volume is not a chronological biography, but an examination of different aspects of Carroll's life, aspects which give a satisfyingly full portrait.

The events in Carroll's life were not complicated or exciting, and we would not care anything about him if he had not written _Alice in Wonderland_ (1865) followed by _Through the Looking-Glass_ (1871).The lack of a moral to the tales is regarded by some as a strike against the author, evidence that he was bad in other ways.Those who get carried away by such thinking accuse him of being an opium addict or being Jack the Ripper.The more moderate of the calumniators say that he was having an affair with Alice's mother, or with Alice's governess, or with Alice's elder sister, or, of course, with Alice herself.Part of the "evidence" against Carroll is that he took pictures of naked little girls.We think this shocking now, and even parents have been summoned to court when pictures of their children sunbathing show up at the developers, but Carroll and his proper Victorian contemporaries held a different view.His fascination with little girls was, in fact, a rejection of sexuality - they were seen as non-sexual and pure.He was loved by his child friends, and it gave him an emotional foundation without any hint of carnality.Naked girls were not at all the main theme of his photography; of nearly 3,000 negatives this enthusiastic hobbyist took, around 1% are of children partially or completely nude.All of his pictures of children were taken when the children wanted to, and when the parents consented, and anyone had a veto."There are no assertions, no reports of gossip, and no hints or suggestions that any parent of any young child portrayed nude by Carroll felt threatened by anything he did," says Woolf."Nor did any of the children themselves, after they grew up, suggest that they had been upset by their encounters with him: the opposite seems to have been the case."

There are those who charge that Carroll was too innocent to understand the pedophilic crimes he was committing, but Woolf is justifiably proud of a scoop she has on all other Carroll biographers: his bank account, which she discovered in a financial archive, and which she calls "the only major document about him which is both factual and completely unaltered."Carroll did know of the problem of child exploitation, and supported organizations like The Reformatory and Refuge Union, The Society for the Suppression of Vice, and The Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants.He did not boast of such support, nor can the case be made that singling out such causes indicates a guilty conscience, for Woolf goes on to show that they were a mere part of a larger system of giving to many good causes.It was said that Carroll was rich from his books, and they did produce a respectable income, but he was rather busy giving it away to charities and as support for family and friends.He paid little attention to material wealth, and specified when he died that he was to have the cheapest of funerals "consistent with dignity."He was no saint; he was exasperatingly fussy with his contemporaries, and he showed little interest in what ought to have been his life's work, teaching math to undergraduates.He did have many adult friends, and that they were of less emotional support to him than were his child friends is decidedly peculiar, but far from criminal.Woolf does more than debunking the pedophilia claims, taking chapter-by-chapter views of Carroll's life at Oxford, family relationships, literary life, and more.Such an approach gives a full picture of the strange and likeable man who gave us the imperishable Alice books and whose life needs no apologies.

The Mystery of Lewis Caroll
I am thoroughly enjoying reading this account of Lewis Carroll's life and, am very pleased with the condition of the book.Look forward to purchasing more books when budget allows. ... Read more

Product Description
Long before he published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll" to the world) took up photography as a hobby. Unlike most of the other amateurs in his circle, he persevered to become a dedicated, prolific, and remarkably gifted photographer, creating approximately 3,000 images during his twenty-five years of photographic activity. This handsomely designed volume makes clear the remarkable extent and complexity of Carroll's photographic art. It publishes for the first time the world's finest and most extensive collection of Carroll photographs, many of which have never been reproduced before and are unknown even to committed Carroll enthusiasts.

Roger Taylor's thorough and sophisticated discussion of Carroll as a photographic artist and as a prominent member of Victorian society reveals the man as never before, illuminating his relationships with the children he photographed in light of the idealism and social conventions of the day. This text, illustrated with exquisite tritone plates, is followed by Edward Wakeling's fully illustrated and thoroughly annotated catalogue of the entire Princeton University Library collection. It features, in addition to a trove of loose prints, four rare albums made by Carroll himself to showcase his work to friends, family, and potential sitters. Reproduced in album order, these images offer new insight into how Carroll thought about his work--and how he wanted it to be seen.

Compelling portraits of Alice Liddell and other children are presented alongside those of eminent Victorians such as Alfred Tennyson and William Holman Hunt, as well as evocative landscapes, narrative tableaux, and wonderfully strange studies of anatomical skeletons. The catalogue is followed by a chronological register of every known Carroll photograph--a remarkable resource for anyone studying his career as a photographer.

This sumptuous volume is the definitive work on Carroll's photography. All who admire Carroll and his writing, as well as everyone interested in Victorian England or the history of photography, will find it both essential and irresistible. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

G-RATED. SUITABLE FOR COFFEE TABLE OR KIDS
The photos of the kids are remarkable,All are lovely, and some show faces filled with determination, as the one of Alice as begger girl or another child as little Red Riding Hood.There is a single, dignified semi-nude of a 20 plus year old girl by another phoographer.

Children who read or have read to them the story of Alice (God forbid the
horror by Disney) may look upon the face of the real Alice as child.The book is quite suitable for children.There is not the slightest hint of
the lurid.

When children have the stories explained as logical absurdities, in an unacademical way, they remember.Dodgson was at least highly talented, perhaps a genius; his genius or talent shows up in his photographs.I only wish I had such an eye and ear for creating (writing) and catching (photos) beauty and wonder.
To me Lewis Carroll always seemed much like Dante.I used to read my little sister both when she was small to show her that Dante was just stories, not to be taken seriously (as having any truth)and that Carroll was reason turned upside down and fun.Dante had his Beatricci, and Lewis Carroll had his Alice.Both men were much older than the beloved; both men gave apotheosis to the beloved; both had imagination hard to equal.

This book provides a link to the mind of Lewis Carroll, and it is beautiful in places.Most of the most beautiful photos are to be found free on the www.

The Photographs of a victorian pedophile
Some years ago an"expert",a respected college professor,put out a revisionist history of the notorious political corruptor William M.Tweed,in which his"research"alledgedly "proved"that the old crooked boss was,of all things,a victim of the new york times and the good-government forces of that time period..Not many people bought that novel theory,and even fewer will buy the notion that Lewis Carroll,writer,oxford don,photographer,was not also a closet pedophile..One need only look at the man's work,wherein he poses little girls in naked and half-naked situations designed to appeal to the more lurid aspects of one's imagination..Sure,other photographers of the victorian period also took naked pictures of little children,but this neither excuses them nor does it excuse Lewis Carroll..pornography is pornography,and this stance is not mitigated by the fact that a lot of people are involved in it...The fact that this is the same fellow who also wrote"Alice in Wonderland" also does not excuse him...One need only take a long,hard look at this man's private life,and then consider that,out of all of the subjects he chose to photograph,little girls in half naked poses were his favorite,to dismiss the one or two current,revisionist voices who insist that Carroll was not a pedophile..
There is also the incident which ended the long-standing relationship between Carroll and Oxford dean Liddell,father of several small children,one of which,Alice Liddell,happened to be Carroll's model for his own"alice"of "wonderland"fame(in point of fact Carroll did not use the term"wonderland"but instead called his book"Alice through the looking glass)to further be convinced of Carroll's misdeeds..Although no definitive evidence exists which can say exactly what the incident that destroyed thier relationship was,Alice Liddell herself hinted,in later life,that it involved something Carroll did with her sister..Given that both Carroll and Dean Liddell were upper class,and therefore horrified of any hint of scandal,especially scandal involving a subject that might in any way involve pedophilia,it is no wonder that today,more than 100 years after the fact,there is so very little "evidence"to pin down exactly what happened..Alice Liddell was not the only little girl that Carroll like to photograph,and some few of the others were not so reluctant to hint rather broadly at Carroll's peculiarities,and these hints tend to over-shadow all of the revisionist twaddle that today not only passes for scholarship,but is used to "redeem"Carroll..
This volume shows off Carroll's pictures,including the many that he took of naked and half-naked little girls..Taylor's text is definitive in a way that no revisionist balderdash could ever be.

Squeamish and out of date
The trouble with this book is that in trying to address Carroll's
photography of children it uses perspectives and arguments that were already defunct and discredited before the book went into print.

The best defence pf Carroll's relationship with the nude child has been offered by Hugues Lebailly and Karoline Leach, who both have shown that we have misunderstood Carroll by failing to set him in the correct social background of his time.
Basically, during the Victorian age EVERYONE as making nude studies of children, and Carroll was merely being trendy when he did the same. The mistake as been to forget this and see his actions in isolation.

This revelation of the 'Victorian Cult of the Child' has revolutionised our understanding of Carroll, but Taylor in this book makes almost no use of it at all.

Instead he revives very weak and illogical arguments to 'defend' Dodgson, claiming, for example,that Dodgson didn't take many nude pictures, as if this initself precludes the suspicion of paedophilia.

It doesn't. In fact it's a pale and dishonest argument. The only thing that defends Dodgson against paedophilia is the research of Leach and Lebailly which Taylor so oddly refuses to use to any extent. The result is muddled, dishonest and already out of date.

For the only serious analysis of Lewis Carroll's relationship with the nude child see Leach 'In the Shadow of the Dreamchild'. But if you just want to look at nice pics, then enjoy this book.

The Time has Come....Finally!
I've been waiting for this very book for quite some time now.Carroll's photography has never been collected in a full form like many other photographers.Previous books have been light on material and all too heavy on the photographs of young child-friends.This book gives a more even account of Carroll's photography---even going so far as presenting the photographs as he did so in his own albums.Rather than classify his photographs, his albums show a wondrous variety of images---a skeleton of a fish, a landscape, a child-friend, a famous painter, a sculpture, etc....Though it concentrates on Carroll's one hobby, Roger Taylor's essay is as good as any biography, being a hundred or so pages long.Edward Wakeling contributes insightful captions to each photograph in the Princeton Collection---for all are included!What more could one ask for?Wakeling, one of the leading experts on Carroll with a database of information, even offers his list of all photographs taken by Carroll, a list that will be continually updated.He even gives his email address for those who may have lost photographs.
An indispensable book for the researcher and a delight for the casual photography fan. ... Read more

Product Description
The latest edition to the Charming Classics series includes a paperback edition of Alice in Wonderland and an adorable gold-tone rabbit charm and necklace. Join Alice and her fascinating friends in Lewis Carroll's extraordinary world of Wonderland! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Charming Book and Recommended For All Ages!
I had been searching for my first copy of Alice in Wonderland for the longest time and finally found this one. This is rather a richly designed edition to the Carroll classic. It comes with a necklace too! Alice in Wonderland is one of the few books that have rarely charmed both children and adult readers. The talents of John Tenniel are amazing. The way he draws those detailed pictures is fabulous. AMAZING! There's an illustrator if you had one. The story is so well written. I read this book to my little brothers who love little Alice. They think it is just so joyful. They like the characters, the White Rabbit and the Queen of Hearts. They think they are so funny. I like little Alice and the Rabbit myself, if you'd ask me.This is such an excellent book. Grab it while ya still can! ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Through the Looking Glass is complete and unabridged, written by legendary author Lewis Carroll is widely considered to be one of the greatest books of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Through the Looking Glass is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Lewis Carroll is highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, Through the Looking Glass: Complete and Unabridged would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Even better!
I personally liked Through the Looking Glass even better than Alice in Wonderland. Though I first picked up this book with apprehension, (how could anyone possibly come up with still more nonsense after a previous book so chuck full of it) I was soon grinning with delight. It is every bit as weird and crazy as the original, but in a slightly different way. For it is not Wonderland that Alice visits this time, but a larger-than-life chessboard. Alice becomes a pawn and begins on her journey toward Queen-hood. Along the way she runs into many nursery-rhyme creatures, a few of which I recognized, and many more that I did not. Someone more well versed in this area will most likely find the book even funnier than I did. In fact, I liked this book so much, that I have just finished reading it a second time, and it remained every bit as funny as the first time. So, Wonderland lovers, go ahead and read this book. You will not be disappointed.

Alice through the Looking Glass
I loved reading this book. Although not as wonderful as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it was a fun read. I'd recommend it to any one of any age.

Excellent artistry
The book was good reading and the pictures brought the characters to life better than I could have imagined the characters to be.

About the Heritage
This review relates to the Heritage Press edition, as released in the 1940's and re-released in 1969.

One of Heritage's most successful designs - a classic, playful, but elegant piece of work with relatively large (18 point type) and two color printing throughout.

The Tenniel drawings are all here, banded by blue, and reproduced with a beautiful amount of detail on lovely cream-white stock with a vellum finish.

Designer W. A. Wiggins has bound the book in blue linen with details in stamped indigo and silver binding foil.

In silver slipcase with an introduction by John Winterich and Carroll's preface, 200 pp.

About the Mid-Century Heritage Press Edition, Illustrated in Slipcase
This review relates to the Heritage Press edition, as released in the 1940's and re-released in 1969.

One of Heritage's most successful designs - a classic, playful, but elegant piece of work with relatively large (18 point type) and two color printing throughout.

The Tenniel drawings are all here, banded by blue, and reproduced with a beautiful amount of detail on lovely cream-white stock with a vellum finish.

Designer W. A. Wiggins has bound the book in blue linen with details in stamped indigo and silver binding foil.

In silver slipcase with an introduction by John Winterich and Carroll's preface, 200 pp.
... Read more

Product Description
The sequel to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." ... Read more

Product Description
Under the pen name Lewis Carroll, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson became a legend for his children's books, which broke the constraints of Victorian moralism. Thirty years in the writing and drawn from a voluminous fund of letters and diaries, this exemplary biography conveys both the imaginative fancy and human complexity of the creator of Alice in Wonderland. Photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Comprehensive standard work, now rather outdated
I don't think anyone can fully understand Lewis Carroll without reading Prof. Cohen's book. He is just enormously knowledgable, has edited countless books on Carroll and done a great deal of original research.His approach is painstaking, thorough and methodical.This book has to be the standard work.

Having said that, it's rather outdated, most notably in Prof. Cohen's attempts at psychology. He does make several unwarranted assumptions about Carroll's life, and sometimes plays down aspects of it (and of the source material) which do not seem to fit his personal theories. This is particularly notable where it comes to the idea of Carroll as a sort of closet pedophile.Carroll's view of little girls was indeed unusual but nobody saw anything wrong with it in his own cultural context.If he had been born in 1932 or 1982 instead of 1832, every single aspect of his life would have been very different from what it was, and inevitably he would havehad a different attitude to the opposite sex, and one which was appropriate for his times (just as the little girls were appropriate in the Victorian age).

The secret of a really great biography is to not only give the facts but to reveal the human being behind the cultural trappings, and this is what Prof. Cohen does not quite manage to do.That's why I have given his book four stars instead of the five that in some ways it deserves.Jenny Woolf Author, The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created "Alice in Wonderland"

Very comprehensive biography
Everything you ever wanted to know about Charles L. Dodgson, and more. The "more" is Cohen's firm belief that Dodgson was a pedophile, but did not act on his inner desires. He was in all ways a Victorian, a chaste and very gifted genius. The book is extremely well written, well researched, and easy to read. Whether or not one agrees with Cohen's view of Dodgson's inner desires, this book is an outstanding addition for any Lewis Carroll fan, from an author who clearly admires and is sympathetic to his subject.

Cohen's Bio has No Peer
I am not going to review Morton's biography as it has been acclaimed for many years since it's publication.
What caused me to comment here is the statements by some readers that Cohen's book should be updated due to "new evidence" by Karoline Leach that Carroll was not in love with Alice, but her governess. She further states that the Carroll was not as attracted to children as one is led to believe and the whole "little girl" thing is a myth!

I will not comment in great length about this since I am not reviewing HER book, but I feel I must make a few points.

Nothing in the diary page that Ms. Leach quotes from proves anything, and is greatly taken out of context. She totally ignores more obvious evidence to the contrary.

While many people in Oxford thought Carroll's attentions to be for the governess, this was understandable because to think of a grown Oxford don in love with the Dean's daughter was more far fetched.

However, Mrs. Liddell and Carroll himself didn't think so....
Not only did Carroll in his later diaries admit to a long talk with Alice's' mother after her marriage, where he admits to his "foolish" ways (toward Alice) in the past, his estrangement from the Deanery. During that talk, Mrs. Liddell forgives him. (note: that with Alice's marriage, she didn't view Carroll as the "threat" he once was)

Ina, Alice's sister in letters to Alice before her death , mentions that she always thought Dodgson was in love with her sister, and when Alice denies this, Ina points out the many times she had been sitting inappropriately on Dodgson's lap and alludes to other incidents.

Then, there is the letter to Carroll's uncle, where he is upset at the news that his brother wants to marry 14 year old Alice Jane Donkin.
Carroll alludes to the similar problems he himself had gone through with "AL"..now..who could THAT be??

And why DID Alice's mother burn all of Carroll's letter to her daughter?

Because of his love for the governess?

I think not.

While it is certain that Dodgson was not the shy recluse, and had many adult friends including women, and did remain loyal to his girl friends even after they grew up.... a man who spent his time, money, and most of his life devoted to his child-friends is clearly not using it as a smoke screen to meet adult women.

If anyone still has doubts about Carroll's love and devotion to Alice, one just has to re-read the framing poems of the two Alice books again.

In Through the Looking Glass, published a few years after his falling out with the Liddell family, he wrote:
"Still she haunts me phantom wise, Alice moving under skys..never seen by waking eyes...

Yeah, he was in love with the governess all right!!!!

Read Morton Cohen's book if you seek the truth, as much as we can know, about Lewis Carroll.

Curiouser and Curiouser
Lewis Carroll: A biography

Morton Cohen's biography of Charles Dodson ("Lewis Carroll") is an insightful examination of a complex and flawed man.Dodson (1832-1898) was an English clergyman, mathematician, writer and photographer.He is better known to us as the author of "Alice and Wonderland."A prolific correspondent, Dodson wrote thousands of letters and kept extensive diaries, many of which are included in Cohen's book. But there are several gaps in the narrative: his diaries from 1858-1862 are missing, and many pages have been excised with a razor from the remaining ones.
Dodson apparently was a man whose conscience bothered him; his diaries contain countless references to "impure thoughts" and temptations, which might be traced to his inordinate fondness for pre-pubescent girls.
Dodson made no secret of his affection for children, spending hours in their company, buying them gifts, and photographing them "au naturel."Cohen writes: "ever in the company of children as he grew, he became accustomed not only to their presence but also to their childish ways.In time, perhaps through a combination of biological, spiritual, and psychological forces, this interest developed into a need, an essential component of his own happiness."But this affection, which in today's world would be ascribed to nascent pedophilia, was apparently chaste and innocent. Whatever its origin, it made for memorable literature."Alice" stands as a monument to the Victorian idealization of the child and to the imagination of one man.

What now?
This book seems dated now and we need a new edition as another reviewer has said. The commentary on Alice Liddell needs to be updated following Leach's work.Some of the claims he makes have been shown to be based on dubious data or to be mistaken, and he needs to modify his text to take account of that. But in many other ways this book is indispensible. ... Read more

Product Description
Forty-two tantalizing teasers—most by the creator of Alice in Wonderland and published here for the first time—Cakes in a Row, Alice’s Multiplication Tables, Looking-Glass Time, Arithmetical Croquet, Four Brothers and a Monkey, Hidden Names, Diverse Doublets, Mischmasch, more. Many hints and solutions. Illustrations by John Tenniel.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More gems from a master
Lewis Carroll was of course one of the greatest and most influential children's writers who ever lived.He was also a mathematics lecturer at Oxford who wrote excellent books on logic.It has been said that these were two halves of a split personality, but this book is proof that they were not.Here are some wonderful puzzles that unite the children's writer and the mathematician, and will appeal to everyone who has the slightest trace of mathematical ability.Edward Wakeling, a noted authority on Lewis Carroll and himself a mathematician, has done a good job assembling this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Charles Dodgson / Lewis Carroll's Symbolic Logic
This book has been extremely helpful to me in writing my PhD thesis on Dodgson (Carroll) and his remarkable didactic approach.Unlike many other Victorians, Dodgson used fantasy, imagination,humor and vivid visual descriptions and charts to teach logic to students of all ages - from young children (like Alice) to high school teachers in girls' schools (he promoted logic to all sexes!) and to students in college. Bartley's book presents in a clear and comprehensive manner many of Dodgson's syllogisms and graphic techniques. It also provides insight into Dodgson's methods and history in the introduction, as well as presenting information such as letters and illustrations that shed light on Dodgson's way of thinking. Students / teachers of logic / computer science will be interested in the problem set presented in the second half of the book, with various versions and solutions, including the Members of Parliament Problem and Froggy's problem. ... Read more