Product Description
Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in his Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on its psychological damage. He dramatizes the internal destruction inflicted by tyranny. The work is also one of the rare pieces of literature to bring alive the complex and overpowering feelings associated with the great game of chess.

Travelers sailing from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess. He is, as they soon discover, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They gather together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig’s story, which is also a meditation on the burden of memory and the ways in which resistance and vulnerability are entwined in the human spirit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Chess poisoning
This long story is called a `novella' in the original version. It is one of Zweig's most famous works, and rightly so. I am not Zweig's hottest fan, but this text is blameless.
Chess provides the frame for the story, but the core is something else: the fight for survival and sanity under psychological torture.
The hero of the story is Dr.B, from a well known Austrian family connected to church and court circles. Dr.B had worked as a lawyer dealing in asset management, which meant in the 1930s: hiding wealth from the rapacious claws of the Nazis. After the Nazis take over Austria, Dr.B is among the first arrestees, but he is not submitted to camp treatment. Rather he is put under a kind of luxurious isolation torture and also patiently and time-consumingly interrogated about the whereabouts of his clients' assets.
Luckily he finds a book with 150 chess cases, which keeps him sane for some months. After he has replayed all the 150 matches countless times, he dives deeper and deeper into chess and finally submits to a mental breakdown, following months of playing chess in his mind against himself.
He becomes useless to his captors and is let go. He emigrates.

The story finds him on a steamer from NY to Buenos Aires, where he meets our narrator. Now we are into present tense chess. The star on the ship is the current chess world champion, a youngish and boorish man from Hungary. A wealthy chess amateur from the US is willing to pay the champion for games on board. Dr.B accidentally stumbles into the scene and interferes in a match. He shocks the champion and surprises the others. He accepts the challenge to play `just one' match against the champion, the next day.
In the meantime he tells his story to the narrator, and we also learn that he is under medical instruction not to play chess any more, for the sake of his mental health. Imagine something like Chess-aholics Anonymous.
A perfect story. The chess matches on the ship are a suitable frame for the captivity and interrogation scenes. The language is simple and tense, very suitable for the purpose.

(Personally I can relate to the poisoning, if obviously not under the same harsh conditions. As a student I tried to use chess for relaxation during exam times, but that was a disastrous idea. I gave it up and started playing darts.)

A Lethal Game
Just before he committed suicide in 1942, Stefan Zweig completed this short novella for publication. Although it is oblique in manner and relatively light in tone, it is the only book in which Zweig directly addresses the methods of the National Socialists, who in the Anschluss of 1938 took over his country, Austria, from which Zweig himself had fled some years before.

The framework is deceptively casual. One of the passengers on an ocean liner from New York to Buenos Aires is the world chess champion, Mirko Czentovic. Something of an idiot savant, knowing nothing but chess, Czentovic has become arrogant and mercenary. But one of the passengers on the ship pays him to take on a small group of amateur players. They are unexpectedly joined by a unassuming man emerging from the shadows, who offers advice that forces the champion to a draw. How the man, known only as Dr. B, became so proficient at chess, is the subject of the long revelation that is the centerpiece of the story. It is an oblique denunciation of the methods of the occupiers of his country, but also a testament to the powers of the human spirit necessary to survive them. The match between Dr. B and Czentovic that ends the book becomes a kind of proxy for the war on freedom then being waged in Europe, and its outcome is by no means a foregone conclusion.

I got a lot of pleasure from reading this in the lovely NYRB edition, with a most readable translation by Joel Rotenberg, a fine preface by Peter Gay, and an intriguing cover by Katy Homans. But I am perhaps at a disadvantage from having recently read and reviewed Zweig's novel THE POST-OFFICE GIRL, another posthumous publication from the same press. By comparison, CHESS STORY is both less personal and less real. It cannot match the verve and depth of character of the first part of the novel, and although it avoids the dark tone of Zweig's description of depression-era Austria in the second part, it also lacks its sense of authenticity. By using chess almost as a metaphor for political oppression, Zweig (as in some of Kafka's stories) moves from physical reality into the realm of ideas. I found it fascinating, but I didn't quite believe it, and felt too little connection between the chess game on the liner and what was really happening in occupied Europe. But maybe this was as much as Zweig could manage to write openly at the time. The true depths of despair could be shown only in the taking of his life.

On Skies Being Green, Trees Being Blue
A good writer makes you taste red, an excellent writer can convince you that tomorrow our sky may be green and our trees blue.Stefan Zweig is a good writer.How triumphant I felt when Dr. B was first introduced and how pained I felt whenever the book was set aside and thoughts came to me, thoughts about his imprisonment. The book, oh it was a joy to read.Stefan Zweig is a good writer.For the first thirty five pages of the eighty four, I was watching a thriller, hearing a moving piece of music beckoning me to battle.It seemed, at the time, that I would read the text and reread it in an hour, maybe an hour and a few minutesan incredible feat for somebody who loves to stop and ponder.And then came the line, "If you will bear with me for half an hour...."Crushed.The pace of the story halted and, like Dr. B near the end, this reader felt increasingly impatient as time passed.

Stefan Zweig, at least in CHESS STORY, is not an excellent writer; in a climatic momentI do not want to spoil itthe veil was lifted and revealed the magician with no pants, ineptly struggling to capture the escaped white pigeon.Suddenly it seemed to me that CHESS STORY was absurda story of far too many coincidences.What are the chances, after all, of two individuals with exceedingly rare histories meeting one another on a boat?What are the chances, after all, for many of the story's events to truly happen?Often in fiction, unlikelyalmost impossibleevents occur, but an excellent writer can remove the disbelief.Such was not the case here.

Yes, I acknowledge that Zweig offered much to toss around mentally.I was almost compelled to declare the short piece brilliant because of how dense the themes were for the amount of space they were exposed.However, the more I thoughttossed around mentallythe more I realized how much effort it was to expound each theme, how many of my own interpretations I was forced to push onto the story in order to reach a satisfying conclusion.Alas, I am compelled to say that CHESS STORY is too short for the matters it deals with; if it were longer, perhaps one of the many ideas could have been fully explored.It is an exciting read, a very satisfying read.I would have to argue, though, that it was not a very deep read.Perhaps I should try once more another day, another year?Chess enthusiasts would enjoy the work.It is short, easy to read, and at times has remarkable statements to make about the game.I wanted to love this one, I didbut I didn't.

Much more than a "Chess Story"
The somewhat vaguely titled "Chess Story" is as much a product of its time as was its author, the Austrian born Stephan Zweig. The concept at it's core, however, remains as timeless as the deceptively simple board game that serves as its muse.

Perhaps Mind Games would have been a more appropriate title as Chess, at least in its strategy and particulars, is mostly just a device for the narrative. The real story takes place in the confines of the human mind, and is one of refined cruelty in the form of sensory deprivation and the struggle of an unstimulated mind as it battles the downward spiral of insanity.

Set just after the second world war, but with the central event occurring during the war itself, we learn that the cruel captors in this tale are Nazis. Zweig himself was forced to flee Nazi occupied Europe and later took his own life while in exile. His suicide note told of a soul tormented by what his countrymen had done. It is no surprise then that Chess Story is one of his finest and most widely known works, as these inner torments and demons come vividly alive on the pages of the book.

This small "novela" can easily be read in an afternoon. Highly recommended.

Quick read. Good feel.
This is a short story and develops quickly. I almost wish it was a little bit longer, but oh well. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to add to their chess fiction library. ... Read more

Product Description
When Scrooge pursues the treasures of Circe, sorceress Magica De Spell pulls him into Carl Barks' "Oddball Odyssey," a classic long adventure! Then Gyro Gearloose finds foul play at "Funworld," Scrooge's not-so-amusing amusement park. Donald and his nephews must keep a suitcase of Scrooge's secrets out of Beagle Boy clutches in John Lustig's "Filthy Rich!" Scrooge battles a phantom snowballer in "The Fowl is Fair," then relives a scary Klondike toboggan race in "The Blazing Trail's Tale!" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

so-so
This comic contains a Barks classic where Scrooge and the nephews go in search of the sorceress Circe's treasure but are fooled by Magica. The other stories are mostly forgettable. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

WebSphere Portal Portlets Programming Reference
I bought this item because I work as portlet developer in WebSphere Portal. For this objective it's a great book, but if you're trying to find a general book about portlets programming I don't recommend you this book. This book give you a good idea of portlets developing using WebSphere Portal services, but I think that have weakness in facts as portal themes, the services that you could use in your portlets such as Puma or Credential Vault and a reference of integration with Web Content items.

Introduction to WebSphere Portal
This book covers much of WebSphere Portal features in an overview sense but cursory on the portlet programming aspect which is lacking in the beginners attempt to understand the JSR186 API and doesn't differentiate it with IBM'sown API approach. It has several typo errors but nothing that is significantly non-readable. Overall, I would recommend it for getting to know WebSphere Portal if the online WebSphere's redbooks appear daunting by lack of direction and large volume.

An Excellent Read
Having "played" with WebSphere Portal since v4.1, I thought I knew quite a lot about portlet development - I mean to say; I started with WebSphere Studio Application Developer ( not quite NOTEPAD.EXE and JAVAC.EXE but ... ).

However, I found this book to be absolutely excellent - you can dip into it, or read it cover-to-cover. The sections on WebSphere Portlet Factory were especially relevant; I can now talk about parametric design and CAD in the context of application development.

Would strongly recommend to anyone interested in portlet development, or simply interested in WebSphere Portal ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (23)

Olfactory Effects.
All I can say is...wow! This book hits all senses like a Mac truck, intentionally and unintentionally by Sagmeister. I love that this book is a design piece in itself...but wait...I'm taking off the red sheath/condom, paging through --- WTH! I'm tripping out in an auto showroom filled with new car tire aroma downwind from a super glue factory!

Every page turn is a whaft of the God knows what alchemy that made the red cover and/or the metallic page trim. So I've got the book airing out, pages fanned open, then I can sit down and indulge in this work. I know from a brief glance through it it's fabulous.

hmm...
i read david cho's scribblings with much more ease than this book.

i still have ways to go, but seriously, i have a difficult time forcing myself to read into what he is thinking.

i Feel like im squinting all the time when im reading this... and im friggin ASIAN!

This book is a MUST HAVE if you are a designer who loves good inspiration
This is a fantastic collection of works By Sagmeister. The insights and commentary are one of the big sellers of this book. You can also see the changes in style that he went through during the course of the beginnings of his career to where he is today.

The greatest graphic designer of the late 20th century!
Maybe a year ago i got my hands into his second book, so i was eager to meet the designer behind the ideas, so i finally got this second print of his first book, MAKE YOU LOOK. I was beyond amaze, the book comes in a red case, just take it out and BOOM! first impression, you'll be mesmerize, then you try to open the book and BAM! second impression, this book is full of surprises!

The good thing about this second edition is the messages that Stefan Sagmeister wrote as a quote on every page, about his own book! He is truly one of the greatest graphic designers of all times.

Truly innovative thinking
Sagmeister is a true artist and thought-provoking designer. His ideas are fresh, unexpected and sometimes shocking. He's an industry hero and this book is filled with so many wonderful examples of his work. His solutionswill inspire designers and make non-designers do a double-take. ... Read more

Product Description
In diesem Band erscheint zum ersten Mal die bisher unverffentlichte Korrespondenz zwischen zwei Dichtern, die ihre literarische Laufbahn im Wien der Jahrhundertwende einschlugen. Der Briefwechsel dokumentiert die wachsende Freundschaft zweier Menschen aus grundverschiedenen sozialen Verhltnissen: der eine kannte das Proletarierelend der Hauptstadt aus erster Hand, der andere geno die Privilegien seiner Herkunft aus dem jdischen Grobrgertum. Gemeinsam war jedoch beiden das Verlangen, ihren Erlebnissen, ihren Gedanken, ihren tiefsten Wnschen knstlerischen Ausdruck zu verleihen. Ein einleitender Aufsatz und umfangreiche Anmerkungen liefern den notwendigen Rahmen fr das Verstndnis der Korrespondenz.BOOK SYNOPSIS IN ENGLISHIn this volume the hitherto published correspondence between two writers who began their careers in the turn-of-the-century Vienna is brought together for the first time.It documents the growing friendship between two men who came from the opposite ends of the social spectrum.The one with bitter first-hand experience of the hardships of proletarian life, the other enjoying all the benefits of an upbringing among the wealthy Jewish bourgeoisie, but who were united in their ambition to give artistic expression to their concerns.An introductory essay and extensive notes provide the necessary context for an understanding of the correspondence. ... Read more

Product Description
Using highly specialized, advanced digital satellite imaging-first made possible in the year 2000 with the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission-this book presents an astounding collection of images of the Earth's mountain ranges carefully compiled over the course of five years by the German Remote Sensing Data Center. Now available to the public for the first time here, the most majestic peaks on all seven continents are visible as they never would be to the naked eye-in views taken from 500 to 15 miles above the Earth that reveal the entire mountain range at once, unobstructed by clouds, haze, and the refraction of light.

Mountains from Space is much more than a collection of extraordinary pictures; it is a serious work of nonfiction about every important aspect of these fascinating geological formations, from their genesis by volcanic activity to their specific sociological features. Contributions by esteemed scientists and mountaineers alike highlight this provocative study of our planet Earth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very pleased.
We were very pleased with the quick service by the vendor, and the very good condition of this used book. The book itself, however, has computer graphics that are way out of proportion, and extremely over-colored (again, no reflection on the vendor). it is still a book worth ordering, and we will look forward to ordering from this vendor again!

Carol:>

The Beauty From Above.
These spectacular pictures taken from different media (Space.cam using Shuttle Radar) are a unique collection of Earth's mountain ranges on all seven continents, some as seen from Space during the Shuttle Radio Topography Mission.Stefan Dech, professor at the University of Wurzburg in Germany where these 120 images were compiled, as head of the Remote Senisng Data Center over a five year course concludes: "distance creates clarity."

These views of Earth's "natural sculptures" taken by highly technical instruments available only to the Space program, are from a distance of only fifteen miles above the Earth to five hundred miles out in Space.Dech felt awe in processing this geophysical data into actual photographs and now is able to share the marvel for the first time.They allow us to see the beauty and vulnerabilty, and "appreciate its wholeness without boundaries."

Of all the coffee-table books of photos from Space on the market all at once, this shows our planet's craters caused by volcanoes in Hawaii and glaciers caused by global warming like the Malaspina Glacier in Alaska.The world's tallest mountain is Hawaii's Mauna Kea, and the snow is visible on Mt. Kilmanjaro in Tanzania which reaches 19,340 feet (eighty percent of its glacier mass has melted away).

Some of these scientific images are digitally enhanced to make details free of haze, light refraction and clouds.Vast panaromas taken by astronauts from the International Space Station are shown in their glory.The first photos taken during the Apollo missions, particulary 8 and 11, showed the whole Earth as seen from Space.

There is a good view of Anarctica's Vinson Massif, as are Russian, European, Australian, South American (Andes and Aconcagua), the Himalayas in India, and the Rockies and Mr. McKinley in North America.Dech is assisted in this presentation to the public by Glaser, a climate researcher who teaches at the University of Freiburg.

Accompanying the breath-taking photographs, we have some personal acounts of mountain climbers such as Alexander Huber, Chris Profit, Stephen Venables and Reinhold Messner.He holds the claim-to-fame of being the first man to climb Mt. Everest 'without supplemental oxygen.'A great admire of Sir Edmund Hillary (the original conqueror who used an ice pick to cut the last steps 'on the roof ridge of the earth,' Messner was the first to climb all fourteen of the world's 8,000 meter peaks and wrote a book about it, ALL FOURTEEN 8,000ers.He worries about global warming, calling the tall mountain ranges "ecological fever thermometers."

Mr. Dech's conclusion, looking down at those same mountains as seen from Space, agrees with Messner:"the view that extends out from a great distance is a gift."This book would make a wonderful gift.

Messner has also written REINHOLD MESSNER, FREE SPIRIT: A CLIMBER'S LIFE, THE NAKED MOUNTAIN, and THE CRYSTAL HORIZON: EVEREST - THE FIRST SOLO ASCENT.

A reminder that we live on planet Earth
These photographs of our planet Earth show an enormous view, however, the details provide an intimate look into our world.The book is a "Oh, look at that.." resource for everyone.The images will draw you back to the book over and over again.

Don't own yet
I haven't purchased this book yet.I saw just one picture, of the Hawaiian Islands, and I intend to purchase this book as a gift soon.The picture was amazingly beautiful, ethereal, what the world must have looked like at creation. ... Read more

Product Description
Our goal is to move you through the journey of love from disappointing and dysfunctional relationships to a Soul Union: a relationship filled with a great pleasure of joy and tenderness, write Ted Stefan and Liza Glazer authors of Mysteries of the Heart.

Whether single or in a relationship, Mysteries of the Heart will lead you on the journey of love from failed and dysfunctional relationships to the final destination - the loving relationship your soul has always yearned for.

In order for a relationship to be successful, it must be tended like a garden: lovingly weeding, hoeing, pruning, picking and planting, so that it does not become overgrown. Mysteries of the Heart will help you with daily maintenance without compromising your true self, but at the same time allow the relationship to move forward on the path of love and unity.

You will learn how to release emotions and beliefs that have sabotaged not only your relationships but also your life, freeing you from these destructive patterns. You will gain knowledge of how to work with dreams and the incredible benefit of this untapped source of guidance. You will be inspired by many success stories including Ted and Liza, who are a Heavenly Union in action, not just words.

In this powerful book you ll learn why your relationships have failed and what to do to make love work in your life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

fantastic
Mysteries of the Heart is a fantastic book for anyone open to change for the better.With easy to read text it goes strait to the core of why relationships work and don't.An invaluable resource that has truly helped me an incredible amount.

Heal the relationship with your soul, FIRST
I read this book with great enthusiasm. This book highlights the very important truth that before you can have a successful relationship with someone, you must first know and heal your soul. Rather than provide a laundry list of superficial "confidence building" affirmations, this book redirects the cause of unhealthy patterns back to the reader. I believe this is the only true way to achieve healing.I recommend this book to ANYONE, whether you are single or attached. The information in this book will help on so many different levels. ... Read more

Product Description
Stefan Heym was Hitler's youngest literary exile. This book, the first full-length study of Heym to appear in English, outlines his exciting career, which culminated in his becoming the major dissident of the German Democratic Republic. It focuses primarily on his journalism and his novels, some of which have been translated into over twenty languages, but also discusses his earliest, almost unknown, poetry and drama. Peter Hutchinson pays special attention to the way in which Heym's defiance of a repressive regime inspired others and paved the way for the new Eastern European literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

About an eternal dissenter
This book comes along rather cautiously and quite drily. It is a work of scholarship, not one for the huge audiences. For me, having read most of Stefan Heym's novels and essays in German, (not really realizing that hewrote all of his books in English first) it was a surprise to me to learnthat a book about him should be published in English.

Well, now it is,and it is a work well worth mentioning. The author, Peter Hutchinson,covers all the aspects worth knowing about Stefan Heym, connects Heym'slife to his writings, adds reality to Heym's relations to democracy, theNazis (and the pre-Nazis), the workers' movement, Communism, Stalinism, theUS military, the two Germanies.

Heym was not the one to compromize. Hehad his ideals, and he followed them. Even after the re-unification ofGermany in 1889 he asked his questions.

Peter Hutchinson managed todescribe Heym's life, always connecting it to Heym's works, making his booka source of information about German-German relationship.

Well worthreading. For scholars of Heym: the bibliography is a real treasure. ... Read more