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- 'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. (Abraham Lincoln)
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- Mazel Tov!
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Hitler's Niece: A Novel
Ron Hansen
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Hitler and Geli
ASIN: 0060932201 |
Amazon.com
Hitler's Niece offers the unforgettable spectacle of a tyrant in love: kneeling, shouting, groveling, sputtering with rage, posing naked for his lover with fists clenched and stomach sucked in--and that's leaving out the dog whip and jackboots. The unfortunate victim of these attentions is Angelika Raubal, daughter of Hitler's half-sister, and the only one in his circle who dares to stand up to him. "What a good game: Who's not frightened of Adolf Hitler?" Geli's friend Henny playfully asks. No one, as it turns out, but Geli--the one who should be most afraid.
Ron Hansen's tale begins with the most gemütlichkeit family gathering imaginable: a Sunday-afternoon party celebrating the infant Geli's baptism, with a pale, peevish, and hungry young Adolph as one of the guests. Geli's father Leo teases the would-be painter ("Rembrandt's only rival!"), the Monsignor needles him about his ancestry, and finally Hitler leaves in a huff. This is, truly, a new view of der führer--the 20th century's greatest villain as the embarrassing relative you don't want to talk to at reunions. By the time Geli has reached her teens, however, the tables have turned. Her father is dead, her mother is an impoverished widow, and Hitler has begun his meteoric rise to power. Geli herself is no intellectual, much less interested in politics, but she's a fun-loving, good-looking girl who captivates the Nazi inner circle even though she speaks her mind more often than she should. At first, her uncle seems like a savior, sending Geli off to university and showering gifts on his "Princess." As the infatuation deepens, however, Hitler's grip tightens, until what began with a family party ends 23 years later with a gunshot.
The basic outlines of this story are true--or at least rumored to be true--and although Geli's 1931 death was officially ruled a suicide, Hansen describes a quite plausible version of events. But the real enigma here is not who killed Geli Raubal; it is Hitler himself. How did he manage to seduce her? How did he manage to seduce an entire people? In a way, Ron Hansen's novels are all mysteries: solving the murder of a prodigal son, as in Atticus, or approaching the miracle of faith, as in Mariette in Ecstasy. He is preoccupied with the big questions, and in Hitler's Niece, that big question is none other than evil.
In this case, evil wears an ordinary human face. The novel's Hitler, much like the real one, is lazy, vain, jealous, and cowardly. In his relations with other people, "he shoots for love, but the arrow falls, and he only hits sentimentality," as his sister puts it. His looks are far from impressive; until Geli sees him speak in public, he seems "wary, officious, and ordinary, like a concierge in a hotel that had fallen on hard times." But what Hitler has is the most powerful seduction tool of all: the ability to inspire fear. By the time his niece has learned to fear rather than to pity him, it is too late--for her, and for the German people. In this heartbreaking portrait of aggression and complacency, Hansen has created a Hitler all the more frightening for how much he looks like us. --Mary Park
Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Combining fact with supposition, Ron Hansen's audio novel tells the story of Adolf Hitler's relationship with his half-niece Geli. Beautiful, flirtatious, and 19 years his junior, Geli charms her uncle along with his inner circle, but is found dead at the age of 23 with Hitler's gun by her side. Hansen's glum characterization of the German leader is given stern voice by Tony-winning stage actress Janet McTeer, who excellently approximates male speech. She is equally adept at the accents of the numerous characters, and since the audiobook takes place over a span of 23 years, allows the voices to age. She takes Hitler from bitter to fanatical, and Geli from giddy to heartbroken. McTeer's vocalizations team with Hansen's abridged words to probe how this humorless and repulsive man was able to seduce his niece along with a nation. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs
Book Description
Hitler's Niece tells the story of the intense and disturbing relationship between Adolf Hitler and the daughter of his only half-sister, Angela, a drama that evolves against the backdrop of Hitler's rise to prominence and power from particularly inauspicious beginnings. The story follows Geli from her birth in Linz, Austria, through the years in Berchtesgaden and Munich, to her tragic death in 1932 in Hitler's apartment in Munich. Through the eyes of a favorite niece who has been all but lost to history, we see the frightening rise in prestige and political power of a vain, vulgar, sinister man who thrived on cruelty and hate and would stop at nothing to keep the horror of his inner life hidden from the world.
Customer Reviews:
'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. (Abraham Lincoln) .......2006-06-27
What a dreadful book! Wildly inaccurate historically, the author uses what little facts he's gleaned to insert salacious cliches in keeping with today's market demands. Should the subject interest you read "Hitler and Geli", Ronald Hayman's book.
Disgusted, but far from Disappointed.......2006-02-25
By virtue of his already classic "Mariette in Ecstasy" and "Atticus", his two novels with Catholic themes, Ron Hansen must already be viewed as one of the great Catholic novelists writing in English. He's also one of the few, judging by a recent interview in Sojourners, who doesn't cringe at the description, bless him. Given my lifelong fascination with the history of the Nazi era, therefore, it was with a great deal of eagerness that I picked up his 1999 "Hitler's Niece : A Novel".
And I wasn't disappointed-shocked, horrified, fascinated, disgusted, yes, often all at the same time, but hardly disappointed.
Since not all the facts surrounding the short life and violent death of Hitler's niece, Angelica ("Geli") Raubel can be known with certainty, the book must be categorized, strictly speaking, as a novel. "Creative non-fiction" might be a little closer to the truth, however, since much is known, and more information has come to light recently pointing to the probable accuracy of Hansen's conclusion, which he shares with a growing number of historians: i.e., that Geli Raubel was not only sexually abused by her famous uncle, but ultimately murdered by him as well.
Unfortunately, the event occurred in 1930, three years before Hitler's rise to the Chancellorship of Germany, but well after this evil genius and perfectly sick individual had already gained enough power to get such potentially damaging incidents tidied up by a whole army of slavish underlings. Alas, there was no brilliant (or at least sufficiently courageous) detective on this case to risk the wrath of the SA and SS, and catch his man. Had there been, the world might have been spared an expensive object lesson in the price ultimately paid when an entire country hands the Devil a blank check.
And I don't use the D-word lightly. One of the surprising elements in this book was the light Hansen shines on the goofy occult, neo-pagan and anti-Christian (as well as anti-Semitic) beliefs and practices of Hitler and his inner circle--something too often blown off by secular historians as of little importance. And yet it was in many ways the heart and soul of National Socialism, and certainly of Hitler's otherwise inexplicable hold on so many, even well-educated individuals. As Jung once wrote, a religion can only be replaced by another religion, and in the case of the Nazis, they were not only providing Germany with a flashy new religion to replace a stale Christianity, but a new Aryan god to replace a too-Jewish Christ.
Caveat lector: This is at times a very difficult book to read. Hitler's well-known sexual pathology raises the Ick-factor to an unusually high level in this book, but it is not in the least gratuitous. If Hansen feels it necessary to sketch in some of the darker shades in Der Fuehrer's personal psychology, it is in the service of giving us a valuable and disturbingly three-dimensional portrait of a possessed and possessing individual.
Highly recommended.
Mazel Tov!.......2005-07-06
I was So blown away by the photo I found of Adolf and Geli when I Googled them, that I tried to find a website containing Hitler/Geli Fan Fiction... to no avail. However; THIS book showed up. I ordered it and read it in less then a day! So amazed and compelled by the story... I wrote my own version. And this one is free! Do check it out if you're over 18 and PLEASE leave a review! Good or bad!
(...)
My Review on Hitler's Niece.......2004-12-03
I really liked this book a lot. I have never seen Hitler portrayed so dependent on someone else. Though he maintained his ruthless status to the world, inside he did have a weakness, not only from his past, but for Geli. Geli in this novel was 19 years younger than Hitler. She was smart and not like most women. She was strong inside and probably the only person who wasn't afraid of her "Uncle Alf". Her mother was his half sister and also one of the most important women in Hitler's life. In fact, Hitler only really had women in his life growing up and that is why he had so much respect for them.
But even when I thought she wasn't afraid of him, I found that she did have to watch herself at times because he could be so unpredictable with his moods and affections. Often times in the novel I found it hard to decide if Geli was interested in her uncle or not. She would get jealous at times like when Henny spoke of Hitler's attention to her. But then her interests in other men such as Emil led me to believe it might of been her love of his love for her. Maybe she was intrigued by all his fame, power, and access to nice things. Whatever the case, I do not wish to give away the whole story and ending, but this was definately a page turner. At times the two would come so close and you could just feel the tension and the feelings inside you fought between the wish that they were together and the realization that it was rather inapropriate. He was sort of like a father to her, protecting her, yet he only loved her. His ways of getting her nearer without revealing his sole motive was heart warming. He admired everything about her and it would make one think that Hitler did have a big heart and he was truly a brilliant man, with the wrong dream.
This book seemed to have a lot of historical facts in it, and I want to believe that this is how Hitler truly was. It spoke of how he affected people. He could sway decisions of non-supporters by insisting his views upon them in such emotional force that they fell under his spell. Women fell in love with him as he spoke. Sometimes his speeches lasted almost 2-3 hours. A good quote from the book that I highlighted describing him throughout his life in short: "And I realized, 'What a fantastic imagination! Others' wildest dreams are reality to him!"- Kubizek, pg. 9.
--Helene Vollbracht
Wow!.......2004-10-25
This book is remarkable. Most of it was either fact or speculation and the authoro certainly brought the specualtion to light. I saw sides of Hitler that made me pity him and see the other side to him that most certainly, could have been there. I felt so sorry for his niece, Geli, who wanted ultimately to feel from him, the love of a father..but never received more than appeasing him and through that..his scorn. I think it is very likely that Geli's story ended the way this book mentions.
This book was well worth the read and I recommend this book to anyone who is into learning more information on Hitler and that era.
Book Description
Lady Brandice Townsend stands miserably on the threshold of womanhood. Not only must she bid good-bye to the man she's adored since childhood as he sails off to war, she must embark on her dreaded debut into London society. Restless and disheartened, Brandi is drawn back to Emerald Manor, the fairy-tale cottage whose lush gardens are her own private haven. Abruptly, tragedy strikes, wresting away all she holds dear, leaving naught but a dark and uncertain future.
Lord Quentin Steel is torn from his brilliant military career in Wellington's army by news of a shattering family disaster. Returning home to the Cotswolds, he is confronted by two staggering discoveries: that the death of his parents was no accident and that the Brandi he left behind has blossomed into a rare and extraordinary woman -- one who inspires feelings he can neither allow nor control....
Together, Brandi and Quentin must unearth the agonizing truth behind his parents' demise and in the process reveal a love more precious than all the facets of Emerald Garden.
Customer Reviews:
No historical realism, transparent mystery.......2006-11-30
This is the 4th Andrea Kane book I've read (picking up the lot in a used book bin). While the back cover blurb is interesting and brief excerpts look good, overall the book like her others are sadly lacking.
1) Historical Period: Kane has no grasp of the period in which she writes. For the Regency time setting, servants are far too familiar with their employers, as are the characters with each other. There's lip service done to Regency landmarks such as Almack's and the ton but no real understanding of the perceptions of the day or what society's demands were. Her most grevious error is part of the main plot complication: titles could not be willed away! I highly doubt Ms. Kane does any historical research before she writes.
2) The intrigue plot was so transparent I felt myself thinking the hero and heroine were complete idiots for not figuring it out sooner. By chapter 4 even I was asking the questions they should have. This is not a complicated story but one of blind ignorance.
3) The romance and characterization read like a children's novel. Every feeling is revealed by the characters in such sacharine sweetness and textbook transparency, it just can't be real. There's no drama between the characters or a smooth revelation of their characterization. If a character feels anything, they tell each other (and the reader) in a long dialogue diatribe resembling a psychologist's diagnosis. You never feel their anger, frustration, fear, desire or ultimately love yet you are told in explicit detail that they feel that.
Other books of hers I've tried are the Black Diamond series and The Music Box. Only the Music Box had a remotely comfortable feel for history, which leads me to think Ms. Kane envisions all her historicals as a late Victorian piece with modern sensibilities.
Good!.......2006-03-22
I really liked this book. I do not read a lot of historical setting books, but this one was good. I liked how they were childhood friends and then it grew. The mystery of who killed their parents was fairly easy to figure out. But the characters personal relationships keep the story going.
ok but not great book.......2004-11-16
I've read other Andrea Kane books and they were so much better than this one. The characters were kind of 'blah'. They aren't very interesting. Brandi "Sunbeam", I disliked. Her character was very immature. She thought and acted like a child in the book. Quentin was the type of guy that was to good to be true.
He had no annoying traits at all. Which made him bland. This could have been a good book if the characters had more depth.
Emerald Garden.......2003-05-30
This book started years of reading, and gave me the passion to read everything that she writes. I read it when I need to be comforted or reminded that not all men are idiots.
Thoroughly enjoyable!.......2001-09-26
I've read about 10 of Andrea Kane's novels, and I find each one better than the last! "Emerald Garden" is no exception, and the characters are so perfect for each other. It's the classic story of two friends who suddenly realize that they are in love. Quentin is the ideal hero - romantic and charming and passionate. The only thing that I missed is the party scenes that Ms. Kane usually incorporates. Enjoy!
Product Description
Emerald's Garden is about discovering hope after suffering loss such as death, disaster, divorce, or disease. Emerald's Garden is a road map to recovery providing practical suggestions on how to grieve, mourn and recover from loss.
Customer Reviews:
Really loved it.......2006-09-13
Reviewed by Audrey Hauser for Reader Views (9/06)
When I read the preface of "Emerald's Garden" telling that it was from the author's journal I thought I might be getting into the day by day details of her life path and it would get tedious. This book is anything but boring. Marsha Johnson uses words masterfully as she tells the story of her niece Emerald Alexis Watson. I actually felt like I was with Marsha and Emerald the week-end of their last visit. There was the absolute joy only a child can bring to us. When word came of Emerald's sudden illness and her brief fight for life I felt the same disbelief as Marsha did. I asked the question why?
Marsha's Lessons in Death were something I could apply to myself for I too have lost someone that I loved dearly. Her feeling that it is something we all must face was enhanced by the deep feeling for Emerald and the short time that Emerald was in her life. Some of those simplest things in life are brought out by association with a child and are remembered even when there is heartbreak. As if Emerald's death wasn't enough to cause heartfelt grief, Marsha also had to come to terms with the death of her co-worker and friend, Crystal and Crystal's baby soon after. It was these second deaths that caused her to take stock of her life. Was she really a success or was she a failure? The insight came through God that she must find her purpose no matter how long it took. After all, Marsha was not just planning her life but her eternity. She learned that even though her hopes were for the best things that she must prepare for the worst of things.
In preparing for the worst, Marsha used her skills of organization to put her life in order. Planning for the future meant planning for the crises that would come. All during her grieving she questioned her spiritual life was what it should be. A voracious reader, Marsha went through books on everything that she thought would help her. She was emotionally drained but at the same time realized that by keeping her mind healthy she would also help her emotions to heal. With not only the deaths, but also a divorce to contend with, Marsha stresses the importance of not taking on too much. Easier said than done, Marsha learned that by helping others she was on the road to better health. She just needed to learn to limit herself. Her finances were in disrepair and she looked to a goal of cleaning them up without setting a definite time period. Her reasoning was what it took to get there and equally would take time to get back on her feet. Preparation to grieve could not be complete without looking at preparing physically. That meant healthier eating and exercise.
The section on Compassion was the most thought provoking for me. I've long known that a burden shared is a lighter burden, but like Marsha, it took me awhile to learn that it really doesn't matter to others how much we know, but it does matter how much we care. Is laughter appropriate in the grief period? Definitely. The adage that laughter is good medicine is even truer in times of grief. Marsha gave us lessons in how to put people first, before things. Her story helped me better understand that showing compassion is showing our Christian testimony to those around us. It is important to show love and not hide it. By doing this we risk rejection and pain but it is still important not to withhold our love. Loving unconditionally is true love, and it is a language understood by people everywhere. Sometimes all we can do is to hold someone who is suffering The Biblical passage referring to Titus took on new meaning as I thought back to the Titus` in my life. I realized that even in my worst times God had sent me a Titus too. I finally realized that to have gained compassion for others I had to walk the path of suffering myself and I have done that.
The dos and don'ts of mourning were included in a helpful way and frankly are something worth printing out and keeping handy. The ways of showing our grief, also outlined, are guides to help those going through that period. Everyone has a different way of grieving and a different schedule. I especially thought the chapter on children's grieving was well put. We sometimes don't realize that children are affected by death too. Every one of us has to go through grieving and mourning before we can start our recovery. There will be suffering and tears and this is a real part of the process. If we find God in our lives we need to be thankful and give praise. We need to learn the act of forgiveness. All of these things will guide us to the recovery stage and help us to the time when we can say good-bye to our grief and go forth with living.
This book taught me a lot about myself and called for me to do some soul searching. I have walked many of the same paths as the author and while I did not follow the same guidelines I believe I have become the person I am today because God was there with me. Because of "Emerald's Garden", I revisited my past and saw that had some of these things been pointed out to me then my road would have been easier to walk.
A Simple, Clear Message of Hope.......2006-07-18
In the days following the tragic death of her four year old niece Emerald, Marsha Johnson realized she was not ready to face grief or crisis in her life. She began to journal her journey to recovery.
Johnson developed sound principals in her journals and organized them into steps for preparation for crisis: death, divorce, and disease. These journals were then expanded to become lessons for her children in preparing for life, physical, emotional, and financial.
Marsha was encouraged to pass these lessons for life on to the reader through this book. The early chapters deal with the reality of death, preparing for the worst, and lessons Marsha learned on compassion. She then goes to share insights into the do's and don't of mourning manners. The final chapters deal with the grieving process, including sensitive help in dealing with grieving children, pain, recover, suffering, and saying goodbye. In saying goodbye Marsha moved on to finding fulfillment in finding God's purpose for her life and the transformation that followed.
I personally, was challenged in the areas of compassion. Marsha illustrated the themes of this chapter by sharing her own discovery of the burden for compassion, caring, laughter, and putting people first. By sharing from her own pain and suffering, Marsha has added a dimension that makes the message of the book authentic and real.
Johnson stated her desire in writing was to bring a clear message of hope to the grieving through the pages of this book. She has successfully empathized with and offered comfort to the reader. Her work is well organized, clearly articulated.
This is a book that fits into the genre of "self help" (in preparation for crisis) or in "grief" as related to the loss, of a loved one, through death, divorce, or other losses.
This is a valuable resource for grief counselors, pastors, or individuals reaching out to comfort those needing the promise of "hope."
Living, Loving, and Saying Goodbye.......2006-07-12
Marsha shares with us a very personal journey through loss and growth. Every parent's nightmare, the loss of child, was the catalyst that caused her to write Emerald's Garden after the loss of her little niece. Life, for all of us, is a journey of living, loving and saying goodbye, and with Marsha's inspiration, we come away with the assurance that the world is still a beautiful place. This book is well written, and inspirational. Emerald's Garden is a book that will help you over the loss of loved ones.
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The Emerald Garden
Manufacturer: Harlequin American Romance
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSGLOU |
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Emerald Journey: A Walk Through Northwest Gardens
Carolyn Starner
Manufacturer: Greenstem Press
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ASIN: 0974890103 |
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- Thoughtful and Interesting
- Builds momentum, but leaves you unsatisfied.
- I love the writing, but this is definitely an early work
- Great writing, however, not much depth or elaboration.
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The Eyes of Heisenberg
Frank Herbert
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Hunters of Dune
ASIN: 0765342529 |
Book Description
A New World in EmbryoPublic Law 10927 was clear and direct. Parents were permitted to watch the genetic alterations of their gametes by skilled surgeons . . . only no one ever requested it.When Lizbeth and Harvey Durant decided to invoke the Law; when Dr. Potter did not rearrange the most unusual genetic structure of their future son, barely an embryo growing in the State's special vat-the consequences of these decisions threatened to be catastrophic.For never before had anyone dared defy the Rulers' decrees . . . and if They found out, it was well known that the price of disobedience was the extermination of the human race . . .
Customer Reviews:
Thoughtful and Interesting.......2005-09-04
This book, as others here have said, is not on the same scale and not the same quality that Herbert's Dune books are. It is a very interesting book, though, that deals with several themes that Herbert would later revisit. The strongest point in the book is the characterization. It is very complex for most of the characters, especially, to me, the Optimen, the governing immortal races in the novel. There is a mix of playfulness and disinterestedness about them that is unusual, especially when they gradually and then suddenly shift late in the novel. I will not disagree that the ending is rushed and there is almost too much technical talk in the book, but to me it kind of represents the aspect of being shown this world and revelling in it, for only a short amount of time and then being whisked away again. You can see in the references to the past in the novel that there was quite a lot of backstory that we will never know and that kind of makes it more interesting and distant. But it is enough to take the themes and questions in the novel about genetic manipulation and immortality and apply them to ourselves in our own age with history and backstory each alike.
Builds momentum, but leaves you unsatisfied........2004-02-02
(This was the first Herbert novel I had ever read. So, in writing this review, know that I took the book for what it was and that I am not making any comparisons with his "Dune" series.)
His presentation at the beginning reads like many sci-fi novels: assigning labels to various groups, depicting society as a regimented perversion of control via technology, addressing some sort of ethical issue or issues (in this case, genetic engineering), etc. These devices tend to work for sci-fi and create a sort of natural appeal by tapping in to the subtle emotions anyone feels who has ever felt that society was attempting to "regulate" them in some way. Add to these devices some half-way decent character development and you have yet another sci-fi novel hot off the press and ready for mass consumption. Herbert fulfills his role by providing such character development but fails in his wrap up of events. Typical sci-fi endings are either preceded with some sort of major plot twist (like Ender's Game) or conclude with the protagonist(s) evoking some sort of mass "awareness" by removing a social illusion that has preserved control in the past for the current ruling body, class, or person in power. Without giving away the ending, this novel concludes in a way that does not translate into emotional sense. The events surrounding the conclusion are hinted at as the story progresses but that does not make up for the fact that they are not congruent with the way certain characters (or groups of characters) are portrayed during the journey. Rather, it is almost as if Herbert worked on this story as a side project, grew tired of it, wanted to end it simply to be done with it, and did so without concern for providing any pay-off for the reader.
Further, typical sci-fi novels have some sort of "point" or agenda they are attempting to address by raising ethical issues of any kind (the various Star Trek series have made their living on this). Thus, when an ethical issues is raised, one comes to expect that the author will attempt to persuade the reader towards a certain viewpoint. In such cases, appreciation of the story tends to depend on the relevence or the power of the argument made regardless of whether or not you happen to agree with the premise. This is not so with this story. It does attempt to portray attempts to control nature on a basic level as having negative consequences but the ending does not successfully resolve the issue. Thus, one feels somewhat cheated for having invested time in hopes of coming to a satisfying conclusion.
Overall it builds some momentum and you do find yourself investing some emotion in the main characters but ultimately it leaves you feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled.
I love the writing, but this is definitely an early work.......2003-10-01
Yes, the great author behind the Dune series also wrote other books. In The Eyes of Heisenberg, he investigates a world made up of normal humans and eternal beings.
This was an earlier work, so you can see a number of themes that Dune explored so well in their infancy here. Normal humans are being genetically manipulated by scientists to help keep society running smoothly. Occasionally a 'super human' is created who can live forever. It is these "optimen" who really control society.
Everybody thinks the optimen are naturally intelligent and wise - but they are actually no smarter or dumber than normal humans. They simply have thousands and thousands of years with which to refine their points of view and educate themselves as they wish.
Of course normal humans begin to rebel against the restrictions in their life and by the end of the story, a male and female want to have a baby the "old fashioned way".
I found a number of flaws with the story, and the ending was rather abrupt and made you feel like it was rushed. The beauty of the story is with the character development and the interactions. Having worked for a biotech, the techno-babble about the DNA was interesting, but it unnecessarily confused things for most readers, and the intriguing events brough up are never resolved. It's as if Herbert originally intended to make a hard core story, but then wandered off into a personality drama and at the end wasn't sure what to do so sort of tied everything up randomly.
If you're wondering what Heisenberg had to do with all of this, he's the Quantum Mechanics physicist who came up with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle - "The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa." In essence, when you try to focus too closely on one thing, you aren't able to focus on other things. You can only give a probability of WHERE something is if you're focussing on HOW FAST it is going.
Another way of looking at this is that by focussing on something, you are altering it. So while you then may figure out what it is you are examining, you have changed other aspects of it. If you bounce a light beam off of something to see how far away it is, you might actually move it or alter its course with that bounce.
In any case, a good story to see more of Herbert's work, but not a classic like Dune.
Great writing, however, not much depth or elaboration........2003-07-10
Having already read the original dune series, I've seen how his writing matured (It began good) and this short novel is written in the exciting style of the first dune book. Some of the themes that were prevalent in his later dune books can be seen here in primative form; Like manipulated genetics and a creation of a seemingly optimum human like the great worm (although flaws do show later and lead to their demise). Also, his literal style of conveying the character's thought processes like in dune is present here. Most of the character are well developed considering the length of the book. Some of the characters' even use secret subtle hand movements to commicate quite effectivley like the bene geserate. These are the things that I was comfortable with.
There are only so many themes and I believe that it is not WHAT the writer is writing about as much as HOW he writes it. I reprove the arguements about the book's hackneyed BNW theme because its a different world, different society with different characters and ultimatly - a different story.
On to the disappointments. He never expounded at all on the unexplained influence that produced a potential optiman. This was admittedly annoying - as in the last dune book before he could finish the series he hinted at the two old people in the garden of duncan's dreams that somehow influenced the universe.
Ok one less star for that.
The ending - hmmm, very odd and not too satisfying. The last 20 pages I was wondering if there was a second book that continued the story because of where he was going. At the climax it went 90 degrees in the down direction as if he chose an ending out of a hat because he was interested in something else - maybe a similar theme he could use in another book. Subtract star here.
All in all, I would still recommend reading it because its just fun most of the time and a quick read.
Aborted Brave New World.......2003-06-06
I was not impressed. I am a huge Frank Herbert Fan, rapid even. I have been reading some of his lesser known work and this one was not all i had expected. It was decent over all but do not think that it is really fleshed out. It seems to be like an aborted Brave New World. The ideas are not fully explored and the ending left a bad taste in my mouth. I would not recommend anyone reading this. If you want some good Frank Herbert books other than the Dune Series try...Hellstorm's Hive and Direct Descent.
Average customer rating:
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The Eyes of Heisenberg
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ES0ZZ8 |
Average customer rating:
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Eyes of Heisenberg
Frank Herbert
Manufacturer: Berkley Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000LC9YW2 |
Average customer rating:
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The Eyes of Heisenberg
Frank Herbert
Manufacturer: A Berkley Medallion Book/ Berkley Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GWR2AI |
Amazon.com
Stanley Bing's Throwing the Elephant, subtitled Zen and the Art of Managing Up, is a wise and hilarious--mostly hilarious--antidote to the extensive library of works by grim, clenched-fisted business gurus. Bing posits that power strategies cannot be "managed through rational means." Real success--corporate-niche enlightenment--comes only by embracing religion, specifically Zen Buddhism. This enables one to take "an object of enormous weight and size" (i.e. the elephantine boss) and "mold it ... like a ball of Silly Putty." In truth, he continues, senior management is "the silliest putty of them all." Bing doles out his thoughts in dozens of pithy chapters ("Playing Golf with the Elephant," "Getting Drunk with the Elephant"). He also includes many visual aids (some of which nearly make sense) and adds a sprinkling of the wisdom of others--from Martha Stewart and Jimmy Hoffa to the rock band the Doors--to make his wickedly entertaining points. --H. O'Billovitch
Book Description
A funny, transcendently simple, ultra–enlightening and very Zen guide in the model of What Would Machiavelli Do? that helps you to manipulate and control the large, grey behemoths that run the world, otherwise known as your boss.
This book guarantees personal enlightenment while providing literally dozens of helpful specific exercises and solutions to the most common problems of professional life, all in a compact, attractive package that will strain neither budget, mind nor briefcase. No one who works for anyone else should be able to live without it.
Following a brief grounding in the philosophy and practice of Business Buddhism, we are plunged into a series of pithy instructive chapters designed to walk the untutored, desperate employee through a step–by–step program that will result in total control over the elephant boss.
A comprehensive course walks even the most simple–minded through basic skills one needs to provide the simple elephant handling that makes everyday life possible, including but not limited to the primary task of following along after the elephant with a little broom and dustpan.
Download Description
Sit down. Breathe deep. This is the last business book you will ever need. For in these pages, Stanley Bing solves the ultimate problem of your working life: How to manage the boss. The technique is simple . . . as simple as throwing an elephant. All it takes is the proper state of mind, a step-by-step plan, and a great leap of faith. This humble guide provides all these and more. It is Zen that enables one to take an object of enormous weight and size and mold it in one's grasp like a ball of Silly Putty. For senior management, in truth, is the silliest putty of them all.
This comprehensive course walks budding business bodhisattvas through basic skills needed to provide the simple elephant handling that makes everyday life possible, including but not limited to the primary task of following along after the elephant with a little broom and dustpan. Serious students will then move to intermediate steps, from Polishing the Elephant's Tusks to Hiding from the Elephant When It Has Been Drinking and Feels Quite Nasty. Beyond this level lies the land of the practiced Zen masters, culminating in the ability to leverage and then throw the now-weightless elephant--and even play catch with it at corporate retreats. If What Would Machiavelli Would Do? was the meanest business book since the Renaissance, Throwing the Elephant provides the yang to that yin. Because sometimes you've got to be selfless, compassionate, and completely empty to get the job done.
Customer Reviews:
STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED the book.......2007-07-09
Please assist me as I still have not received this book and this is the second time I have placed the order and the money has been debited from my account.
Working for Peanuts is all very fine!.......2005-10-21
No really, I mean it.
Or anyway, it will be, once you calm yourself, little aphid, and penetrate to the heart of "Throwing the Elephant", Zen Master Stanley Bing's exegesis on the sublime art of applying the infinite wisdom of Siddhartha himself to the sinews, guts, entrails and viscera of the business jungle, and mastering the King of the Beasts himself.
No, silly, not the Lion. The Elephant.
You don't know about the Elephant in the room? Sure you do.
Let's step back a moment: let's meditate. Calm. Relax. Get in touch with the great infinite blackness of stars and even more stars wheeling and dancing and colliding above us and about us, and what the Hell, after a few vodka gimlets down at Dorsia, maybe even *through* us.
Did you know see that star overhead? See how it twinkles? Now imagine: the light from that star has taken thousands, perhaps millions of light-years to travel from Constellation Seti Prime, which means that by the time we see it twinkle, the star itself may very well have exploded. Or subsided into the stellar senesence of a red dwarf. That is to say, that star you're wishing upon may already be long dead.
Kinda puts the McGillicuddy Account in perspective, huh?
I could end this review with that, but I'll proceed a bit further: sit beneath the bodhi tree with Zen Master Bing. He'll teach you about the Elephant. He'll teach you about the Great Nothingness which flows around and through you. He'll teach you, as Sidhartha taught him, that desire is suffering, that there is only the dharma, and at its heart, Duty.
Duty? Why yes: to serve and keep and feed and groom and care for the Elephant. To not annoy it. To console it when it is sad, and galumph about with it (beware the feet!) when it is joyous. To sweep up its poop, and to clean off its poopy hindquarters. To leash it, to ride it, and ultimately, to throw it.
But let's talk, quickly, about the Elephant. All offices have one, perhaps a few. The Elephant has its pen in one of the corners of the executive suite: good digs, maybe even a working fireplace up here on the 37th floor, possibly a wet bar, maybe even an in-house masseuse.
Can you smell the sweet rotten reek of straw and sweat and blood and tears and dung? Yep, the Elephant. It will sally forth, to trumpet and do other bellicose things in the jungle: the lowly creatures in its vicinity (hint: you) will keep their heads down, fall silent, try not to make sudden moves or loud noises.
The Elephant will make you fear for your career, your home, your wife, your small children, your very life. It will make you work over the weekend, or cut short the long-planned trip to Bermuda. It will force you to work long hours and give lots of face time.
Ah, yes: now there is recognition. The Elephant.
So with that, then, this quick little primer---Bing the Bhodissatva practically puts the KO in Koan---will teach you how to abide, control, and ultimately master this fell beast, without being stamped to jelly. And it's a tasty little read, that goes down like cucumber paste. How cool is that?
As the Buddha himself once said, as he sat beneath his bhodi tree: Very.
JSG
Zen References A Bit Tiring.......2005-03-24
I'm a big fan of Bing's column in Fortune, but I was a bit disappointed by this book. He offers his usual ironic insights on upper management -- but I found the entire zen-buddha framework somewhat forced and tiring. If you know a lot about "zen" philosophy, I'm sure you'll be able to appreciate more of the subtleties than I could. However, I mostly found myself reading quickly through the zen quotes and references, eager to get on to the more meaty actual business stories and anecdotes. Maybe it just wasn't the book for me. I look forward to some of Bing's other works, instead.
A book about nothing.......2004-05-06
It must have been fun to write this book. It is much better than Mr Bing's What Would Machiavelli Do? There is more humor than knowledge in this one. Even if you are a Bing fan, I would suggest you borrow it from the library.
My elephant likes to rage and stomp me!.......2004-04-29
This is going down as one of my all-time favorite books. I also highly recommend the excellent book on tape version which is read by the very amusing Simon Jones.
My employer is a self-made multimillionaire who is a elephant in the truest meaning of the what this book discusses. He will scream and spit in your face while firing off threats of how he wants to kill you if he feels pushed to far. But the man is at his worst (or finest) when he calmly and collectedly confronts someone in his lair and with smirks and onesided logic breaks them down. I have yet to learn to properly handle my elephant and so he repeatedly stomps me as he trumpets his rage. The beast is the master of browbeating.
Ironically (At this very moment of my typing this) he has summoned me to his upstairs office for most likely another stomping. This man/elephant has gone decades without someone effectively standing up to him and saying ***&&!!! this is where you get off the bus!! As the old saying goes "absolute power corrupts."
I just got back from my meeting with him. I have been granted a reprieve and will supposedly get much better treatment. But is he really trying to "rehabilitate me" or simply fattening me up for the kill later on? A part of me yearns for the axe and freedom. But I have invested so much work into what I have with him and the company.
I think he wants to turn me into an elephant "mini-me." He is in my view a generally good & brilliant human being (amazingly) but with a bad side at times the size of the Grand Canyon. The strange thing about my pachyderm is that he wishes to live forever and never have to be laid to rest in an elephant graveyard. To this end he will be frozen at death in the hope of being brought back to stomp and trumpet among the humans and elephants of the future. I hope the denizens of that time will know what they are bargaining for by bringing him back! But perhaps they will teach him the lessons he has not gotten in this segment of his life.
I have a fantasy about winning the lottery and becoming his business partner. My dreams of putting him in his place are much stronger than simply being able to go out and buy anything I want, traveling the world or even making love to beautiful women!
Best wishes to all potential elephant wranglers out there!
You will need it.
Books:
- I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (Ravenloft)
- I Wish I Had a Red Dress
- Intimate Companions: A Triography of George Platt Lynes, Paul Cadmus, Lincoln Kirstein, and Their Circle
- Leaving Cecil Street: A Novel (P.S.)
- Mal de amores
- Mefisto
- Memoirs of a Mangy Lover
- Mississippi Flyway
- Nowhere Else on Earth
- Observatory Mansions: A Novel
Books Index
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