Last Seen in Massilia: A Novel of Ancient Rome

Last Seen in Massilia: A Novel of Ancient Rome
Average customer rating:

Stellar!

Last Seen in Massilia

The Eighth Book in the Sub Rosa Series

My God this author is excellent

Exotic and compelling

Last Seen in Massilia: A Novel of Ancient Rome
Steven Saylor
Manufacturer: Minotaur Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Saylor, Steven | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312209282

Amazon.com

In this mystery set in Marseilles in 49 B.C., master detective Gordianus the Finder is on a personal quest to learn the truth about his missing son, Meto. Plunged into the midst of the bloody Roman civil war, the well-connected Gordianus and his son-in-law Davus survive adventure after adventure as they penetrate the Gaulic city Massilia, which is walled against Roman invasion. From the first pages, author Steven Saylor is on sure ground with his distinguished protagonist. Gordianus's careful, thoughtful musings are infused with real pathos as he seeks out information about the lost adoptive son whom, he has been informed, is dead. There is some speculation that Meto betrayed Caesar and that death was his punishment. Lacking a corpse, Gordianus cannot bring himself to believe that Meto is really dead.

Indeed, bonds between fathers and children--their betrayals, promises, and legacies--play a key role in the twisting plot of Last Seen in Massilia. Literally the title refers to Meto, but the motif extends to other key characters as well. Apollonides, the imperious ruler of Massilia, has a peculiar bond with his horribly deformed daughter. And the city's "scapegoat" Hieronymus lives out the legacy of his parents' illegal double suicide by being the human repositor of Massilia's collective sins. He is expected to hurl himself from Sacrifice Rock to appease vengeful gods.

Sacrifice Rock is central to the book, the site of a tussle between man and woman that ends, provocatively, in the woman's death. Was it suicide or murder? The three witnesses--Gordianus, Davus, and Hieronymus--are sharply divided on exactly what they saw. Gordianus pursues the truth of this mystery almost as a diversion from the more compelling mystery of his son's weird disappearance.

Fans of Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series, of which Last Seen in Massilia is the eighth installment, will be pleased by the author's consistent tone. Saylor has proven that he knows how to season a good plot with lively historical details, and this book is perhaps even more gratifying than previous installments. --Kathi Inman Berens

Book Description

In 49 B.C., a bloody civil war between the forces loyal to Pompey and Julius Caesar has engulfed the Roman world and no one is allowed to be neutral. With Rome itself in turmoil, Gordianus the Finder receives an anonymous message informing him of the death of his son Meto, who lately has been acting as a double agent for Caesar. In search of the truth about Meto's fate, Gordianus journeys to the beseiged seaport of Massilia (modern-day Marseilles) which has sided with Pompey and is now stubbornly holding out against Caesar's troups camped just outside it's gates and harbor.

Using his wits, Gordianus discovers a way past the seige troops and into Massilia. But once there he finds himself in a city where famine and slaughter threaten the populace, and intrigue and recriminations has taken over a city that cannot hope to stand out much longer against the troops outside it's walls. His only friend is Hieronymus, the doomed scapegoat chosen by the priests of Artemis to bear the sins of the population and save them from annihilation. When Gordianus witnesses the fall of a young woman from a precipice called Sacrifice Rock, he becomes entangled in finding out what exactly happened - did she fall or was she pushed? -- and where, in all of this, is the truth about his missing son.

Customer Reviews:

Stellar!.......2007-07-19

This series is totally superior and this eighth installment is just wonderful! The story is set in Massilia (Marseilles) in 49 B.C. Gordianus and his son-in-law Davis find themselves in Massilia behind a blockade. Massilia had declared for Pompey, and Caesar's troops are at the gate. Gordianus is trying to find out what happened to his son Meto who he had been told was dead. He finds himself in a political hot pot, and he and Davis have no idea how they will ever get out of a blockaded city. These books are beautifully written, and the stories are based on actual historical happenings. I absolutely love the series, and I highly recommend it. I am only sorry that I have only 3 more published books left.

Last Seen in Massilia.......2007-03-13

A wonderful book by an author who knows his Roman
history and how to insert a colorful, detailed, and
suspenseful story into it. I am now hooked on Stevan Saylor's
serious of novels about the adventures of 'Gordianus
the Finder's' adventures as a hired-out investigator
in the post era of Sulla's dictatorship. Told in the first
person, the novels are reflective of what we now find in the
mordern versions of the private detective....

The Eighth Book in the Sub Rosa Series.......2006-12-23

Steven Saylor's fascination with Ancient Rome began at an early age. A history graduate and former newspaper and magazine editor, he lives in Berkeley, California. His series of books about Ancient Rome and featuring Gordianus the Finder are extremely popular both here in England and also in America. Anyone who is a fan of Lindsey Davis will love these books too. Steven Saylor brings Ancient Rome to life, so much so that the reader can lose himself in the sights and sounds of the ancient city.

Gordianus the Finder, the investigator of crimes, a man whose skill and integrity have made him much sought after by some of the most important men in Rome. Men who may need a secret to be kept, men who need to know that when Gordianus is working for them he will be discreet and not susceptible to bribery.

The civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great is threatening to engulf the whole of the Roman world, neither man will give an inch and in the middle of all this Gordianus the Finder receives word that his son has died. Gordianus begins an immediate investigation into how his son came to die and during these investigations he witnesses the fall of a young woman from a precipice. All is not as it would seem to be and strange events begin to puzzle Gordianus . . .

My God this author is excellent.......2006-09-03

I have read 62 books in the last year, and this book stands so high above them it makes one almost want to weep that other authors can not maintain the vibrancy and intuition that Saylor manages in book after book.

Not every book in this series is excellent, but every one is good, and a few (Catalina's Riddle, The Judgement of Caesar, and Last Seen in Massilia) are simply some of the best reading that there is on the earth at this time and in this language.

Every book of his studies deep philosophical problems. In this novel the question of responsibility and redemption are scrutinized. What does it mean to accept the sins of others? If you love someone truly, but are repelled by them physically, is there any form of redemption?

The backdrop of the siege lends an air of desperation to the city, and admittedly the Gods are a bit generous with Gordianus in his accessability to truth- but only in the sense of the mystery of the murder, in the sense of the mystery of this world we live in, Gordianus is riding straight to the heart of the questions.

There is no other author I have ever read who has consistently written such excellent books and I am saddened there is only one more of Saylor's works I haven't had the pleasure to read. Many other authors pen a few excellent books but eventually wear out. Saylor gets better and better.

If you are thinking of reading the series, start at the beginning and commit to reading at least three of the books. (The first book chronologically is good, but does not grip you until you get further into the series)

Exotic and compelling.......2006-07-23

LAST SEEN IN MASSILIA is a lively melodrama that hooked me immediately. This is a colorful tale of ingenious espionage, featuring spectacular battle scenes, disguises, narrow escapes, unexpected plot twists and theatrical recognition scenes. It's a lot of fun. Gordianus goes in search of his presumed-dead son Meto who is rumored to have survived his plunge from a cliff and is now alive and in hiding. His search takes him to Massilia (now Marseilles) a Greek colony on the Gallic coast of the Mediterranean. It's an exotic and cosmopolitan culture that is currently under siege from none other than Julius Caesar as well as undergoing its own internal political struggles. While searching for his son, Gordianus and his son-in-law Davus become involved in a mystery involving a missing Gallic beauty who has been repudiated by her social-climbing lover so that he can marry the hideously deformed daughter of the city's Greek ruler. Gordianus and Davus witness a veiled woman and man struggling on a rock overlooking the sea before the woman goes over the cliff. Did she jump or was she pushed? Who was the woman? Was she the missing beauty? Who was the man? Was he the lover who had spurned her for social advantage? What really happened and why? And how is Meto involved in this?

Saylor's attention to historical detail and his believable and clearly-motivated characters make this very compelling reading. I was ready to pronounce it the very best of the series up until the next to last chapter when suddenly Gordianus exhibited behavior that I found extremely uncharacteristic. My feeling is that it is somehow a setup for the plot of the next book in the series, but without that knowledge LAST SEEN IN MASSILIA was a disappointment to me, even though I had been enthralled throughout up until that point. This may not bother other readers, but I didn't buy it. But I'll still give the book four stars. It's extremely entertaining.

Last Seen In Massilia - A Novel Of Ancient Rome

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Last Seen In Massilia - A Novel Of Ancient Rome
Steven Saylor
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000IWZTRY

Book Description

Honored by Native Americans and other tribal peoples as a protector and persecuted by generations of Europeans and Americans, the wolf is one of the world's most misunderstood-and feared-animals. In Wolfsong, Catherine Feher-Elston examines why the wolf has provoked such intense emotions in human beings, emotions that resulted in a campaign of extermination so long-lived that, until recently, the wolf has teetered on the edge of extinction. From famous "outlaw" wolves of the early twentieth century like Ghost Wolf and Snowdrift (who had bounties on their heads) to the archetypal Father Wolf of Native American religion, Wolfsong considers the complexities of humans relationship, to the wolf.

Customer Reviews:

Myth and Science delightfully balanced!.......2005-03-25

A veritable feast for nature-lovers in general and wolf-lovers in particular!

Feher-Elson combines the best of ancient and modern perspectives to honor that most numinous creature: Wolf. In so doing, she demonstrates the power and balance of respecting both points of view. The result is a beatific vision of a creature that deserves the utmost reverence, despite being reviled by a barbarous segment of Western society.

Together with Feher-Elston's "Ravensong," Wolfsong moves in the direction of restoring much-needed balance between scientific understanding and spiritual values. If only their wisdom could prevail in the attitudes and policies of current policy-makers at the local, national, and global level!!

Dave

Wolfsong a powerful and moving tribute.......2004-12-08

Wolfsong:A Natural and Fabulous History of Wolves,is a moving and powerful tribute to wolves and those involved in the struggle to protect them.
The author, Catherine Feher-Elston begins with mythic interpretations of wolves and moves on through wolf evolution, wolf and human relationships and tries to help the reader understand why so many Europeans hated wolves while peoples of the Western hemisphere honored them. Wolfsong is the second in her Naturesong series--the first work, Ravensong: A Natural andFabulous History of Ravens and Crows was a beautiful work--a lyrical analysis and interpretation of the world through human and corvid relationships. Her approach integrates myth, religion, science and animal behavior and is truly powerful. Let's hope to see many more books in the Naturesong series.

Wolfsong (American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series)

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Wolfsong
superb
Loggers, miners and environmentalists in a literary novel.
Howl over what could still happen in the Cascade Mountains!
An intense first novel by an Indian who loves the Cascades.

Wolfsong (American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series)
Louis Owens
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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Nightland

ASIN: 0806127376

Customer Reviews:

Wolfsong.......2003-05-27

This is not a politically correct book.

It challenges ideas of Native "authenticity" and gives short shrift to out-of-town environmentalists (rather shorter shrift than I entirely agreed with, in fact). When Tom decides to act against a copper mine, he does so not out of simplistic ideological purity but because of a complex of reasons, largely having to do with his own identity. (And he was uncritically working as a logger before that.)

Nevertheless, this is a profoundly environmentalist novel, with intensely beautiful descriptions of wilderness. It's an environmentalist novel because of the unbreakable connection it creates between humans and their environment and because of its challenge to the ideals of short-term profit. (At the same time, the problems of poverty are never glossed over.)

Owens wrote beautifully and incorporated stunning passages of magic realism. Tom is a believable character--confused, irresponsible (college drop-out), lonely, fierce, and ultimately heroic in the same way animals are in those old Western novels where wolves and mustangs leap off cliffs rather than be captured.

superb.......1999-05-20

This book combats the usual conservative white male destruction of the enviornment, and offers instead a compelling look at the incredibly brave and noble traditions of Native Americans and their conservation efforts. Copper mines are not usually something I could care about, but this book challenges the assumption of the domineering white patriarchal culture, and I for one am grateful.

Loggers, miners and environmentalists in a literary novel........1997-01-29

It is the "forks" in the river and the road for the citizens of Forks, a small town which perviously had logging money running throughits veins, but now it is considering an infusion of mining dollars as the mills close down. Native American Tom Joseph returns home toattend his uncle's funeral and to unconsciously assume the mantle of trickster and to learn what drove his uncle to acts of ecoterrorism and monkeywrenching. Readers will get a true feel for the temperate rainforests of Western Washington while reading this novel, and may betempted to don a slicker or their climbing boots by the time it isfinished. Owens lets the reader decide many of the outcomes inthis novel, though the meaning is always clear, the humor is rampantand the small town was probably a role model for Northern Exposure,right down to troubled sexy waitress and a fly bouncing aroundin the pie case.

For wilderness supporters, this book is a horror story. The book isbased on the very real possibility that a copper mine couldbe opened with the attendant roads and carnage, on Miner's Ridge,north of Glacier Peak in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area. Congressleft a loophole big enough to drive a front-end loader through when the Wilderness Act was passed. The road isn't there yet,but Owens' vision is remarkably clear. Take heed, and enjoy

Howl over what could still happen in the Cascade Mountains!.......1997-01-17

Wolfsong is a cautionary tale of what could potentially happenin the North Cascades. Congress conveniently neglected toban mining in wilderness areas where old claims were established.This is Owens' cry of alarm: don't even consider mining inplaces like this. Wolfsong is told through the eyes of a localNative American, Tom Josephs, who inherits the mantle of protector of this sacred place from his uncle. Funny, insightful, true to the environment and the community, this book deserves a place on the shelf next to Desert Solitaire and the Monkey Wrench Gang

An intense first novel by an Indian who loves the Cascades........1996-01-29

Anyone who fears the possibility of mining interests encroachinginto the wilderness will understand the real threat thatfaces the Native American "hero" of Wolfsong. With an Abbey-like view to Monkeywrenching when the time is right, Tom Joseph learns to set his priorities and do some great backpacking up the Suiattle River in the process. This is Owen's first novel, begun in 1975 when he was a Wilderness Ranger in the Washington Cascades. There still is a valid copper claim on Miner's Ridge, north of Glacier Peak. This is a scary story; it could really happen.

Average customer rating:

Entertaining reading
Uggh, I hated this book!

Wolfsong (Blood of Ten Chiefs, Vol 2)
Richard Pini , Robert Asprin , and Lynn Abbey
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0812503775

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining reading.......1999-10-25

I was fascinated by this book and the others in the Blood of Ten Chiefs series, even though I hadn't (and still haven't) read any of the Elfquest comics. The stories, by various fantasy writers, are mostly complex and absorbing.

I was even inspired to go on a lengthy search for an unavailable title in the series (this was several years ago).

A good read.

Uggh, I hated this book!.......1998-11-05

This book is a collection of short stories set in the World of Two Moons. The main characters of the stories are mostly chiefs of an elf tribe. Each chief is a decendant of an earlier chief. This book started out so bad, I almost put it down, but I hate starting a book and not finishing it, so I struggled through to the end. A few of the stories were actually pretty good, but they didn't make up for the ones that weren't.

Average customer rating:

Wolfsong
PLAYING HAMLET
Wish she wrote more books.
Dancing werewolves great!

Wolfsong
Traci Briery
Manufacturer: Zebra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

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The Werewolf Chronicles

ASIN: 082175288X

Customer Reviews:

Wolfsong.......2006-02-25

Loraine is a werewolf who would kill for a normal relationship with a man. Others have...
MOONDANCE
Another murder victim has been found on the streets of L.A. For Detective Peter Thomas, it's another dead end. There are still no clues, no suspects...and no trace of blood-outside or inside the body.
What killer strikes so swiftly, so viciously, and escapes so easily? Loraine Turner knows that all it takes is a full moon and a voracious appetite. She also knows that the killer is a renegade pack member with a taste for human flesh.
Now, wanted for a crime she didn't commit, Loraine flees L.A. and heads for the wilds of Wisconsin. With Thomas on her trail and a mortal lover in her bed, she must outrun a full-moon rising to trap a savage beast.

PLAYING HAMLET.......2003-01-28

For those of you not in the know, "WOLFSONG" is a followup to "THE WEREWOLF CHRONICLES". In this story, Phyllis has fully assumed a new identity as Loraine Turner, trying to jumpstart a career as a dancer. She lives under suspicion by the LA police for the murder of her roommate. The struggle continues in which Loraine tries to balance her increasingly problematic, chaotic life. It is an interesting story, though it was hard to accept the way Loraine was finally able to deal with living a dual life as a woman and a Wolf. Hence, the three (3) stars.

Wish she wrote more books........1997-12-06

I loved the book. Lots of lessons to be learned from it. Although it would have been more interesting if the characters were more detailed, I loved the story itself. I only wish the writer wrote more books.

Dancing werewolves great!.......1996-12-03

Triing to find your roommates murderer is hard enough butwhen he has already framed you, you're a werewolf, theholding cell the police have you in has a window that lets in the light of the full moon, and you just got a 'roomy' for the cell! Well, life's tough so deal with it.

The Blood of Ten Chiefs Vol 1-5 SIGNED sold as Set Only (Wolfsong, Winds of Change, Against the Wind, Dark Hours)

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The Blood of Ten Chiefs Vol 1-5 SIGNED sold as Set Only (Wolfsong, Winds of Change, Against the Wind, Dark Hours)
Richard ; Aspirin, Robert ; Abbey, Lynn Pini
Manufacturer: Tor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KK8ZFC

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Wolfsong
Enid Richemont
Manufacturer: Walker Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Wolfsong
Barbara Raffin
Manufacturer: Awe-Struck
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1587491168
Release Date: 2002-03-06

Book Description

The last place Madison Montgomery expects to find love is on a hunt for a rapist. But brooding, wolf-tracker Walker Armstrong teaches her it takes passion to free the heart.

Download Description

When Madison Montgomery joins Native American artist Walker Armstrong's wolf re-population project, he sees her as just another city-bred female dabbling in the latest trendy cause, not unlike the last woman in his life. But Madison's motives are more complex. She's hunting the man who raped her best friend. As Madison teaches Walker to trust his heart once more, he teaches her it takes passion to free the soul.

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A Wolfsong Anthology : 1994-1999
Various
Manufacturer: Wolfsong Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1891725092

Book Description

An anthology of several Wolfsong poets, including Chris Halla, Robert Schuler, Mariann Ritzer, Dave Etter and more.

Wolfsong. (book reviews): An article from: MELUS

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Wolfsong. (book reviews): An article from: MELUS
Ron Welburn
Manufacturer: The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnics Literature of the United States
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from MELUS, published by The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnics Literature of the United States on September 22, 1994. The length of the article is 1171 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Wolfsong. (book reviews)
Author: Ron Welburn
Publication: MELUS (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1994
Publisher: The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnics Literature of the United States
Volume: v19 Issue: n3 Page: p139(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Enchanting

Elfquest Wolfsong Volume 2
Pini Asprin Abbey
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JGPFPA

Customer Reviews:

Enchanting.......2007-05-10

I grew up reading the graphic novels so I was overjoyed when I got my hands on this and its companions. There are very few worlds which I find more intense than the world of Elfquest. The Pini's are a rare jewel to behold. All in all I highly recomend ANY Elfquest Novel graphic or otherwise.

On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health
Average customer rating:

Beware of Pharm Reps Bearing Gifts!

Eye opening and very informative book

TheAngryPatient

A must read, and unfortunately very accurate

One Doctor's Perspective!

On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health
Jerome P. Kassirer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ethics | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0195300041

Book Description

We all know that doctors accept gifts from drug companies, ranging from pens and coffee mugs to free vacations at luxurious resorts. But as the former Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine reveals in this shocking expose, these innocuous-seeming gifts are just the tip of an iceberg that is distorting the practice of medicine and jeopardizing the health of millions of Americans today. In On the Take, Dr. Jerome Kassirer offers an unsettling look at the pervasive payoffs that physicians take from big drug companies and other medical suppliers, arguing that the billion-dollar onslaught of industry money has deflected many physicians' moral compasses and directly impacted the everyday care we receive from the doctors and institutions we trust most. Underscored by countless chilling untold stories, the book illuminates the financial connections between the wealthy companies that make drugs and the doctors who prescribe them. Kassirer details the shocking extent of these financial enticements and explains how they encourage bias, promote dangerously misleading medical information, raise the cost of medical care, and breed distrust. A brilliant diagnosis of an epidemic of greed, On the Take offers insight into how we can cure the medical profession and restore our trust in doctors and hospitals.

Customer Reviews:

Beware of Pharm Reps Bearing Gifts!.......2006-06-25

The free stuff brought in by the reps starts out innocently enough. I remember the free lunches they'd bring in during residency. Starts out as tubs of enchiladas and sandwiches. After I became staff, "free" meals improved. Now "educational" lectures are held at Ruth's Chris with an open bar. Some will bring dates to these dinners, just call them "doctor" (nudge-nudge-wink-wink).

Colleagues who are sufficiently enthusiastic about these products were then recruited to go on the road giving the lectures for lucrative speaking fees. I've seen this first-hand, but the extent of the problem not fully known to me until reading this book.

The pharmaceutical reps take great pains to gradually seduce influential doctors in the community to shill for their products. Many of these products are at best of questionable benefit (beware of papers which only find a reduction in relative risk); at worst, the products are potentially deadly.

Patients should be careful in which doctors they put their trust in. In a patient-doctor relationship, the only outcome which should matter is the benefit of the patient. In reality, the sought outcome is often the benefit of the provider in the form of prescribing dangerous medications, unnecessary procedures, etc.

Eye opening and very informative book.......2006-02-25

I was very pleased to read this book. I was very surprised at the lengths the companies go to get their products in the hands of doctors who in turn are driving the price of healthcare in the US to unafordable leves. Highly recommend this book

TheAngryPatient.......2006-02-07

Someone we know was recently incarcerated in a hospital for weeks on end for what should have been a fairly minor health concern. We firmly believe that this patient was nearly doctored2death. By the time the patient left the hospital he was on no less than 20 some pills depending upon the day. We PROMPTLY switched doctors to a D.O. and someone more interested in the overall patient, and less conflict of interest issues with pharmaceuticals and the world of internal medicine. Now, the patient is on about 7 pills a day, depending upon the day. Amazing isn't it. Thank you for this book. It helped figure things out and could have saved our family members life.

"Tragically, the World of Medi-Sin (c) has become more about a healthy bottom line rather than healthy patients." (c)
TheAngryPatient

A must read, and unfortunately very accurate.......2005-12-27

Having retired after 25 years in the health care business, I was encouraged to see a physician call it like it is. Normally doctors are protective of their profession, all while recognizing that there are a few bad apples in the field. It's the 80-20 rule all over again. Easily 80% of physicians are dedicated more to their patients than their pocketbooks. But the 20% who, in effect, take bribes from drug and technology companies to push product that too often is not in the best interest of their patient should have their licenses suspended or revoked.

Money talks, and it speaks not only to physicians. The profits that drug and technology companies make are shared with the politicians who allow this conflicted system to continue. US health care interests give $100 million per year in campaign contributions to ensure that the system remains corrupted. They like it just as it is, thank you. Get the money out of politics and you'll see this travesty fixed overnight.

But that could be said about every other issue as well: energy, immigration, corporate corruption, et al. If politicians were concerned about corruption, they'd fix it at the top and then demand fixes down the line.

One Doctor's Perspective!.......2005-09-20

This book is a great read and some very valid points are made about Doctors and the companies that supply products to the medical industry (pharmaceuticals, medical devices, replacement joints and organs, etc). However, most of Dr. Kassirer's assumptions and statements about why people chose to enter the medical field are rather jaded, his opinions, and his perspectives. He did not conduct any formal surveys or provide third party references on healthcare providers motivations for entering the field. He makes the assumption that every doctor has the exact same perspectives, desires, and motivations as he. This is simply not the case. If you can see past this, however, the book is very educational and instructive. If you can't see through this, then you may feel that the book is very "left wing".

Indicting Big Pharma.(Scientists' Bookshelf)(The Truth about the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What To Do about It)(On the Take: How Medicine's ... Review): An article from: American Scientist

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Indicting Big Pharma.(Scientists' Bookshelf)(The Truth about the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What To Do about It)(On the Take: How Medicine's ... Review): An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Traditions from Around the World
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Food porn for bakers

great! Great! GREAT!

absolutely amazing

My favorite cookbook

A cookbook of global bread recipes

Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Traditions from Around the World
Jeffrey Alford , and Naomi Duguid
Manufacturer: Artisan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1579651747

Amazon.com

In books including Seductions of Rice and the award-winning Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid offered a new kind of cookbook--part anthropological portrait, part recipe source, part travel memoir (with photos taken by the pair), and in all, fascinating as well as useful. Their Home Baking is differently pitched. Though the authors have traveled to places including Russia, Hong Kong, and Australia, to bring back traditional baking formulas from their sources, they've also relied on home favorites plus other cookbooks whose recipes they admire. If the book lacks the layered scope, depth, and something of the interest of their former works, it nonetheless delivers unique goods--over 200 accessible recipes for savory and sweet goods like Nigella-Date Hearth Breads, Provincial Quince Loaf, Silk Road Non (a version of nan), Taipei Coconut Buns, and There-Layer Walnut Torte Whipped Cream. Fans of the authors, plus those new to the Alford and Duguid approach, will find much to explore and bake from here, as well as a beautiful, color-photo-studded volume in the A. and D. tradition.

Arranged by concepts such as Family Breads and All-Around-the-World Cookies, the book also offers food and travel asides such as Kisses from Brazil (about the skillet bread called beji, "kiss" in Portuguese), as well as informative headnotes that set each dish in context. (It should be mentioned that these notes and others are written in the first-person singular, but are unsigned or otherwise credited.) There are technical notes like those for bread making that guide bakers in the relaxed Alford and Duguid fashion, and where necessary, useful equipment discussion. There is also an eccentric entry or two, including a high-altitude recipe for chocolate chip cookies. But, ultimately, it's the unusual, traveled-derived formulas that make the book so worthy. --Arthur Boehm

Book Description

Home baking may be a humble art, but its roots are deeply planted. On an island in Sweden a grandmother teaches her granddaughter how to make slagbrot, a velvety rye bread, just as she ws taught to make it by her grandmother many years before. In Portugal, village women meet once each week to bake at a community oven; while the large stone oven heats up, children come running for sweet, sugary flatbreads made specially for them. In Toronto, Naomi makes her grandmother's recipe for treacle tart and Jeffrey makes the truck-stop cinnamon buns he and his father loved.

From savory pies to sweet buns, from crusty loaves to birthday cake, from old-world apple pie to peanut cookies to custard tarts, these recipes capture the age-old rhythm of turning simple ingredients into something wonderful to eat. HomeBakingrekindles the simple pleasure of working with your hands to feed your family. And it ratchets down the competitive demands we place on ourselves as home cooks. Because in striving for professional results we lose touch with the pleasures of the process, with the homey and imperfect, with the satisfaction of knowing that you can, as a matter of course, prepare something lovely and delicious, and always have a full cookie jar or some homemade cake on hand to offer.

Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid collected the recipes in HomeBaking at their source, from farmhouse kitchens in northern France to bazaars in Fez. They traveled tens of thousands of miles, to six continents, in search of everyday gems such as Taipei Coconut Buns, Welsh Cakes, Moroccan Biscotti, and Tibetan Overnight Skillet Breads. They tasted, interpreted, photographed and captured not just the recipes, but the people who made them as well. Then they took these spot-on flavors of far away and put them side by side with cherished recipes from friends and family closer to home. The result is a collection of treasures: cherry strudel from Hungary, stollen from Germany, bread pudding from Vietnam, anise crackers from Barcelona. More than two hundred recipes that resonate with the joys and flavors of everyday baking at home and around the world.

Inexperienced home bakers can confidently pass through the kitchen doors armed with Naomi and Jeffrey's calming and easy-to-follow recipes. A relaxed, easy-handed approach to baking is, they insist, as much a part of home baking traditions as are the recipes themselves. In fact it's often the last-minute recipes—semonlina crackers, a free-form fruit galette, or a banana-coconut loaf—that offer the most unexpected delights. Although many of the sweets and savories included here are the products of age-old oral traditions, the recipes themselves have been carefully developed and tested, designed for the home baker in a home kitchen.

Like the authors' previous books, HomeBaking offers a glorious combination of travel and great tastes, with recipes rich in anecdote, insightful photographs, and an inviting text that explores the diverse baking traditions of the people who share our world. This is a book to have in the kitchen and then again by your bed at night, to revisit over and over.

Customer Reviews:

Food porn for bakers.......2007-09-13

I kind of have to take exception to the previous review that described this as a good introduction to baking; in some ways it's a mile wide and a foot deep, covering baking from all over the world without really going in depth. I don't see anything wrong with that, but it does change the apparent focus of the book. Now, the review.

Alford and Duguid first came to my attention as contributors on Julia Child's last great series, Baking with Julia, in the late 1990s. For the most part, they were her flatbread specialists on the show, and while it's hardly their focus, flatbreads do get a whole chapter in this book (along with an entirely different chapter on skillet breads). What this book excels at is the startling variety of baking-related cultural microcosms it presents, in the form of recipes, essays, and photography -- as I type this sentence, for example, two facing pages present a roomful of loaves proofing in a bakery in Crete and a series of salt evaporation pools in France, and other parts of the book include authors' remniscences of growing up and their travels, as well as product shots of styles of baked goods as varied as Amish pies, Montreal bagels, French pissaladière, and Vietnamese baguettes.

The necessary technical data is all there, but also an entire specialized recipe index with the recipes categorized by occasion. The downside here, if there is one, is the above-mentioned diversity -- by showing a couple recipes from here, a couple recipes from there, the book does not wind up going in depth into any particular style of baking. To the extent that this is true, it doesn't really represent a real problem, except perhaps to a beginning baker who might need more of a focus on the basics. There is a lot of material in this book, and really it's all good.

So for a beginning baker, you may wish to have something else to teach you all the basics... but you'll want this eventually. It's just that good, especially if you like stories and pictures in your cookbooks.

great! Great! GREAT!.......2007-03-18

I have been working my way through this book, page by delicious picture page. The recipes and stories make me feel like I am with the author on their travels. I will definitely be getting the hot, sour, salty book from these authors. They really know food, true foodies! Not a Hollywood chef, real, substantial...a must read! One of the best cookbooks in my library of over 100!

absolutely amazing.......2006-12-02

Beautiful food, beautiful book. Try the Beirut Tahini Rolls - and everything else.

My favorite cookbook.......2005-06-24

This is a beautiful cookbook. The recipes are wonderful, and the stories and photographs that accompany them convey deep respect for the local culture. I have given four copies as gifts so far, and they have been very well received. The Russian apple pancake and Persian cardamom cookies are particularly outstanding.

A cookbook of global bread recipes.......2005-04-10

Home Baking: The Artful Mix Of Flour And Tradition Around The World is a cookbook of global bread recipes, from sweet pies and tarts to festive breads, bagels, flatbreads, a variety of cakes and cookies, and much more. Full-color photographs of not only the treasured recipes, but the daily lives of people worldwide who make them add a delightful visual dimension to this down-to-earth presentation, which walks novice bakers through the basic steps and processes involved in various types of bread preparations. An enriching contribution to any homemaker's kitchen and especially welcome for aspiring bakers who want to see, sample, and create a wide variety bread cuisines.

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