Book Description
Elizabeth Wurtzel published her memoir of depression, Prozac Nation, to astonishing literary acclaim. A cultural phenomenon by age twenty-six, she had fame, money, respecteverything she had always wanted except that one, true thing: happiness.
For all of her professional success, Wurtzel felt like a failure. She had lost friends and lovers, every magazine job she'd held, and way too much weight. She couldn't write, and her second book was past due. But when her doctor prescribed Ritalin to help her focus-and boost the effects of her antidepressants -- Wurtzel was spared. The Ritalin worked. And worked. The pills became her sugar...the sweetness in the days that have none. Soon she began grinding up the Ritalin and snorting it. Then came the cocaine, then more Ritalin, then more cocaine. Then I need more. I always need more. For all of my life I have needed more...
More, Now, Again is the brutally honest, often painful account of Wurtzel's descent into drug addiction. It is also a love story: How Wurtzel managed to break free of her relationship with Ritalin and learned to love life, and herself, is at the heart of this ultimately uplifting memoir that no reader will soon forget.
Customer Reviews:
This book should kill itself ..........2007-10-13
Elizabeth Wurtzel is desperate, all right -- desperate for attention, desperate for a decent editor, and obviously desperate for new material. This 333-page book is at least 250 pages too long, replete with filler in the form of selfish, shallow rants. It should be in Roget's under "delusions of grandeur" or the explanation of "Histrionic Personality Disorder" in the DSM-IV. While the chance of an unknown writer getting published today is less than zero, Doubleday curiously publishes a one-hit wonder who doesn't have anything else to say.
Nowhere in these 333 pages did I see evidence of empathy, nor even a nod, to the 15 million other Americans suffering from major depressive disorders, stastically half of whom express a desire to die, the majority victims of trauma or abuse beyond a bad hair day. Here's a shocker: more folks than just Elizabeth Wurtzel are walking around drugged, dazed and depressed in this country, and few can afford the therapeutic resources she has.
Every reader knows errors, annoyances and questionable writing here and there are a given. But a few hundred pages of of them, written by someone who declares herself the best non-fiction writer (page 146) and smarter than anyone else on the planet simply adds up to insufferable. An example from my mountain of annoyances, in addition to the incessant name-dropping of oh-so-cool authors, CDs, books and films pretty much all of us know, is the misuse of italicized monologue. The whole thing is a monotonous monologue. Looks to me like an attempt at using this literary device to mask unremitting redundancy. Seriously, how can someone summon Harvard pseudo-superiority when she turns out sophomoric stuff like this? Everyone sick of East Coast literary incest and self-aggrandizement raise your hand. We're laughing here in Big Ten country--home of Wurtzel's beloved Prozac.
For God's sake, Elizabeth, step outside yourself for once and do some volunteer work or something. Seriously consider a career move far from writing, perhaps cashier at Bloomingdale's or Starbucks barista. Listen to the Waitresses' "No Guilt" a billion times. If you can't survive in New York, and clearly you cannot, move to LA, move to Montana. Pick a Dakota and just go. Whatever. Anything to put an end to both your torture and ours.
here's some MORE elizabeth wurtzel, so read it NOW if you don't mind reading the same kinda stuff AGAIN.........2007-09-20
this book is basically prozac nation, part 2. elizabeth is still every bit as rich, self-absorbed and dramatic, and whiny. but hey, just because i wouldn't want to be her best friend doesn't mean i can't like her books! if you didn't like prozac nation, this one certainly won't change your mind. if you did like it, you'll like this one.
for some reason i just can't stop reading her books when i start them.. i guess it's her way of laying all her emotions completely bare and hiding nothing
Great read, controversial voice.......2007-06-25
I could not put this book down. Elizabeth Wurtzel's description of her experience with crack is mesmerizing and horrifying. She writes well and her books send me reeling.
However, I am torn in how to review this book, because she is so narcissistic, it becomes annoying. She is also racist in how she describes people she encounters. (I was disgusted when she needed to point out her Chinese taxi driver, whom she found annoying (seeming due to his race?) to the point where she demanded him to stop talking to her. Did she own slaves at one time?) (The man who worked on her mother's house in Ft. Lauderdale was also Asian. Her feelings toward his ethnicity seemed to drive her to the edge with even more desperation.)
Regardless, as she is not one of my friends, I am not reviewing her as such (or maybe I shouldn't be). But her writing is so real, I felt like she was in my life.
If you want a good yet disturbing escape, read this book. As in Prozac Nation, Wurtzel is a human and sometimes poignant writer. As much as she annoyed me as a person, I enjoyed being inside of her mind.
Drugs: first. Recovery: later........2007-06-23
I couldn't put this one down. I randomly came across it in the library, and having heard that her first book "Prozac Nation" was a big hit, I was looking forward to finally reading some of her work. By virtue of being a memoir, the book is extremely self-involved, but hey, I'm self-involved, too. I was pretty much blown away. She has the unique ability to make people feel understood by reading about her own experience. She describes my world better than I ever could.
"This is how you become an addict. You have no inner resources, you drive people crazy with all your neediness, years go by, you don't grow up, people lose patience, and all that's left is whatever gets you through. Lots of people will go out on a binge if they get fired or if their girlfriend leaves, but not me. That stuff, I can handle. For me, it's the broken shoelaces that have got me hooked. It's the stuff that most people can handle that makes addicts get high. We get high over nothing.
I am an addict and I like it, try and stop me.
It's nice to cry over something or somebody who isn't me. Or aren't all our tears really for ourselves anyway? When we cry with joy at weddings, aren't we really sad that such happiness belongs to someone else? All our emotions, even the generous ones, even empathy, are really just a way of bringing the woes of the world closer to home. It's all one big opportunity to feel, to feel more.
Of course, everyone here thinks they have something in common, we are all addicts, and we are all the same. But that doesn't work with me. The desire to be seen as superior and singular -- and, conversely but similarly, inferior and individual -- is a big topic in AA and NA and addiction recovery of all sorts. They even have a term for the syndrome -- it is called terminal uniqueness. We refuse to be a part of the crowd, to walk in the middle of the road in the safety of others. We all think we're special. Of course, I know that all addicts think that. Whatever they've got to show for themselves, they all believe in some way that they are unique -- they think their emotions are special, their inner life is one of a kind. And if they have not achieved much, they believe they are hampered by addiction. Everyone I have ever met at an AA or NA meeting is a genius, despite the evidence or lack thereof. Everyone has artistic talent that was discouraged by their mean, misunderstanding parents. Everyone is misunderstood.
But by the time I empty out my boxes of belongings into my bureau and shelves in the Cottage, the thrill is gone. I am, at heart, still an addict, and for people like us, the thrill is always gone. It's leaving before it has even arrived. Every time my dealer dropped off my fix of cocaine, I was already trying to figure out when he would bring more -- and this was before I'd even gotten started on what was there. And pretty soon it becomes a way of life: there are no moments of joy, because you are always anticipating when the next possible moments of joy might arrive. As soon as tomorrow? As late as next year? Maybe in a week or two? Not that it matters, because you would not enjoy that joy either, you'd be too busy wondering where the next fix of fun would come from. Addiction is, in essence, an inability to live in the moment."
Probably not recommended for people who don't suffer like Elizabeth Wurtzel has. Only then can you appreciate a story like hers.
TRUST ME -- the book is EXCELLENT.......2007-02-28
What prompted me to write a review for this book was how much I love it, and how many bad reviews its gotten. People say Wurtzel is selfish, narcissistic, self-centered, and completely focused only on herself and her own life. YES folks, it's a memoir about HER life and HER drug addiction. What people don't understand is that depression and addiction are two VERY self-centering things. Depression is, in its nature, the inability to get out of onesself in order to exist in the world. I am, like Wurtzel, an only child. I was also an addict and I also suffered from depression. I think you need to really understand what it is like to endure these things before you can truly comprehend that she is not a bratty woman, still looking for her mommy and daddy's affections -- as critics will have you believe -- she was suffering, and she bleeds her heart open to you, the reader, in ALL her books. She spares nothing, she embarasses herself, humiliates herself, she is not saying I am Elizabeth Wurtzel and I have no flaws, I am perfect. She is saying, I am Elizabeth Wurtzel and THESE are my flaws, THESE are my imperfections, perhaps you can learn from them. It's a MEMOIR folks, it's ALL gonna be about HER life and HER gripes, and HER suffering. That's not narcissism. That's honesty.
Book Description
I crush up my pills and snort them like dust. They are my sugar. They are the sweetness in the days that have none. They drip through me like tupelo honey. Then they are gone. Then I need more. I always need more.
For all of my life I have needed more.
A precocious literary light, Elizabeth Wurtzel published her groundbreaking memoir of depression, Prozac Nation, at the tender age of twenty-six. A worldwide success, a cultural phenomenon, the book opened doors to a rarefied world about which Elizabeth had only dared to dream during her middle-class upbringing in New York City. But no success could staunch her continuous battle with depression. The terrible truth was that nothing had changed the emptiness inside Elizabeth. Her relationships universally failed; she was fired from every magazine job she held. Indeed, the absence of fulfillment in the wake of success became yet another seemingly insurmountable hurdle.
When her doctor prescribed Ritalin to boost the effects of her antidepression medication, Elizabeth jumped. And the Ritalin worked. And worked. And worked. Within weeks, she was grinding up the pills and snorting them for a greater effect. It reached the point where she couldn't go more than five minutes without a fix. It was Ritalin, and then cocaine, and then more Ritalin. In a harrowing account, Elizabeth Wurtzel contemplates what it means to be in love with something in your blood that takes over your body, becomes the life force within you -- and could ultimately kill you.
More, Now, Again is an astonishing and timely story of a new kind of addiction. But it is also a story of survival. Elizabeth Wurtzel hits rock bottom, gets clean, uses again, and finally gains control over her drug and her life. As honest as a confession and as heartfelt as a prayer, More, Now, Again recounts a courageous fight back to a life worth living.
Customer Reviews:
Mostly a Download.......2005-09-17
If a book can be written in "real time," this one was. There isn't really any direction: It is simply a download written in whatever order things happened to occur. Actually, I liked this book; I thought Elizabeth Wurtzel had something to say, and she did a good job of getting her thoughts down in writing. However, I would be slow to recommend More, Now, Again to anybody else. I do not think it is a book that would appeal very much to the majority of people.
This is my favorite book of all time!.......2005-08-30
I have read this book about twenty times and love it as much each new read as I did the first time. Elizabeth is a phenominal writer and takes a person to the depths of addiction, through her dispair, and pain, and brings you back to her normalicy which is only normal in the way an addicts life can be. You feel her misery and hold your breath with each twist her story brings. I'm too tired to write a longer review or I would. Just read it and you'll understand what an addicted woman goes though when she's in the trenches and how hard it is to get sober no matter what you have. I'm a recovering addict and she told my story minus the Harvard education. Elizabeth is great and so is her book. It's entertaining as hell even if you could care less about addiction.
Poor Little, 6itch Girl.......2005-07-31
Okay, so at least this was better than "Prozac Nation", but seriously Miss Wurtzel, can we put away the ego and inferiority complex for one minute?
The recount of her slip into addiction was interesting, not Wurtzel's story, but the process of her transitioning into a full-blown addict. The sad part is that once she got clean, I couldn't stand her.
I would recommend borrowing this from the library, but not buying it. It was just okay.
Not for earthlings...........2005-05-30
First of all, Wurtzel is an excellent writer. More, Now, Again is a memoir of her addiction. So like most memoirs, if you haven't actually lived through similar experiences, you are only getting the story while "attempting" to understand the feelings. Addiction is a very complicated thing, and most likely if you are not an addict yourself, you will not ID with Wurtzel. Now, for those in recovery, this book is a MUST read! It dives into the true desperation and and denial of addiction, and you can feel her pain every step of the way.
I've read many memoirs, especially those of people in recovery. More, Now, Again is top notch, and provides strengh and hope to those who have lived through the dark shadows of drug addiction.
Once again, if you're not an addict and are bashing this book in any way, it's simply because you just cannot understand something as deep as this without living it. Sorry to all you normal people! =D
Hauntingly beautiful.......2005-04-19
I love the way Elizabeth Wurtzel writes in this book. It's a style that's cocky and self-assured while simultaneously vulnerable and unrelentingly honest about self. I think it details the confliction those of us who tackle the task of learning about our true selves, and how to cope with our behaviors, all go through.
Average customer rating:
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Modern War on Stage and Screen = Der Moderne Krieg Auf Der Buhne: Der Moderne Krieg Auf Der Buhne
Manufacturer: Edwin Mellen Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0773442057 |
Book Description
The Second Bill of Rights brings back from obscurity the greatest speech of the greatest president of the twentieth century, to issue a stirring call for much-needed rights that were never enacted.
In 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a State of the Union Address that was arguably the greatest political speech of the twentieth century. The speech began what Cass R. Sunstein calls the Second American Revolution by giving form and specificity, for the first time, to the concept of human economic rights. Many of the great legislative achievements of the past sixty years stem from Roosevelt's proposal for a Second Bill of Rights. Yet these rights have never been written into the Constitution, and they remain the subject of passionate debate. In recent years they have even lost ground.
Using FDR's speech as a launching point, Sunstein examines the "legal realist" school of thought, which decisively refuted the idea of laissez-faire economics; describes how Roosevelt gradually developed the idea of a Second Bill of Rights; and asks why the Second Bill, which was almost enacted under the Warren Court, has never attained the constitutional status FDR sought for it. The reason, Sunstein maintains, is not anything unique to American culture or temperament but a particular historical accident: the election of Richard Nixon as President in 1968.
This is an ambitious, sweeping book that argues for a new vision of FDR, of constitutional history, and of our current political scene. The Second Bill of Rights is an integral part of the American tradition and the starting point for contemporary political reform.
Customer Reviews:
Socialism thwarted, American freedom preserved.......2005-03-19
Of all the stupefyingly idiotic ideas that, thankfully, never got passed into law, Franklin Roosevelt's "Second Bill of Rights" was one of the all-time worst. Cass R. Sunstein's billowy praise of "St. Franklin" borders on deification and is all at once laughable and nauseating. But underlying it all is the notion that this odious, detestable idea--that it's the government's job to provide people with work, housing, food, etc.--is actually something worth revisiting! That is utterly repugnant to me as it should be to every American. We are a nation of sturdy, self-reliant individuals. We are resourceful, resilient, and industrious. We look only to Almighty God for our daily bread--not almighty government! But unfortunately, history has provided us with enough Karl Marx's, Franklin Roosevelt's and Cass Sunstein's to keep these questions in continued doubt, and urge America Leftward into a European-style socialist gulag. Mercifully, FDR failed to get his attack on American freedom ratified. I can only hope CRS and his ridiculous book will meet with similar failure!
FDR's vision.......2005-02-19
The idea of the Second Bill of Rights appeared in the classic State of the Union address by Franklin Roosevelt in 1944, and is an underground current of American culture. It was also in part the inspiration for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That this speech, and the real FDR, is so little known tells us something of the times, but the birth of an idea foretells perhaps its future return. The powers that be don't wish that we realize the incomplete nature of our democracy, and the history of this speech mostly explains the apoplexy of the resurgent right wing. This book explores the history and legal background, and the way this second bill almost became a part of the American system in the 1960's. Everything was in place, and then the election of Nixon stopped the momentum as four new conservative judges were placed on the Supreme Court. The conservative tide after that is the story of our generation and the incoherence, reactionary destruction, and inequality it has spawned. An idea whose time has long since come, and whose second coming we can certainly hope and work for.
Let the Sunstien!.......2004-10-08
This was my fist Sunstein book but it won't be my last. Three chapters (2, 6 and 11) alone are worth the book's price. Sunstein's obvious constitutional experience and social acumen offers depth and insight into many social issues of the day. He caused me to critically understand the definition of "government" and "rights" better than ever. His analysis of Laissez-Faire economic philosophy is the most practical I've ever read.
Although I was interested in the conditions for and results of the "New Deal", I was unaware of FDR's 2nd BOR probably I think, because few ever really gave it its proper emphasis and analysis. Sunstein filled in the missing pieces. His writing is well constructed, logical without becoming oppressive, and flowed nicely. It is a quick read.
The book is more than a historical analysis. It challenged my understandings of the role today of government and the constitution. I've been studying these issues for several years now, so Sunstein accomplished what few others could. It was truly a fresh approach that makes me feel like I understand social issues and their complications better than ever.
His treatment of FDR's Second Bill of Rights was fair and reasoned illustrating both sides of the argument. He thankfully made the discussion relevant to the issues of today and provided tools for me to use in discussions with others.
I've added more of his titles to my wish list. You should too.
Social and Economic Rights.......2004-09-17
Franklin Roosevelt left this Earth with unfinished business. In the post-war era, he sought to acknowledge the need for social and economic rights. Although it is often referred to as the Second Bill of Rights, FDR did not intend to amend or change the Constitution. He sought to bring attention to basic human rights. Sunstein correctly asserts that progess was being made toward FDR's goals until Nixon was elected President. When Nixon appointed four conservative judges to the supreme court, the tide changed to rule against cases that sought greater social and economic rights.
Among the issues discussed in the Second Bill of Rights are a right to a job, food and clothing, health care, fair business, education, and a decent home. Some will suggest FDR's ideas reeked of socialism. I think such a phobia is childish. All people depend on the government a great deal. Something as simple as property could not exist without a government.
The wonders a correctly implemented government health care system would make life so much easier and of a greater quality. Why is the United States the richest country in the world, but also has the highest poverty rate of industrialized nations? This does not make sense! It is not a matter of redistributing resources as in communism. This would destroy a free market driven by profit, when FDR was a proponent of free market. The problem is the wealth concentrate in the rich coperations, monopolies, and other unfair business practices. FDR thought all Americans should live at a certain standard.
FDR did not seek to change the system. As Sunstein clearly points out, most modern constitutions provide the rights FDR sought in 1944. While we have made a lot of progress toward FDR's goals, we have a long way to go. Sunstein has written an excellent book that explains what most thinking men and women already know, America still has a long way to go in completely providing life, liberty, and freedom.
The Skinny on Sunstein's New Rights.......2004-07-05
In examining the "soft" new rights Sunstein champions, keep these hard issues in mind:
1. Black letter law: how should new rights read? The "affirmative rights" cases of the 1970s expressed rights (for example, the right to housing) as an affirmative duty, or at least the Courts so interpreted it. And they turned down such a right for the usual reason: it tended to bring the Court into the Executive branch, involving it in a supervisory role to determine if the right was being implemented properly. This overstepped the bounds of the separation of powers and the Court would have none of it. Solution: express new rights as negative prohibitions (this is not how the Four Freedoms or the Declaration of Human Rights are expressed, and Sunstein glosses over this vital issue). For two reasons: they tend to avoid fact questions and they tend to be self-enforcing. For example, housing: if two parties are quarreling over whether one should be removed from housing, there isn't any question as to what is housing. So this minimizes the necessity for the Court to step in and answer the question: what, in fact, is housing? Second, a negative prohibition tends to minimize the affirmative need for Government to make sure people aren't being forced out of housing. People tend to know when they're being forced out of housing. If they have an individually enforceable right, they'll squawk and take it to Court and get the threatened removal stopped.
Second area: what rights? This turns on a statement by James Madison constantly cited in the later dissents of Brennan and Marshall. Madison states, in The Federalist, that the Fourth Amendment prevents every assumption of power in the legislative and executive. This creates what I call the fatal anomaly of the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. Reasonableness suggests a balancing approach, which the Court has adopted. However, Madison does not say every unreasonable assumption; he says, EVERY assumption. It suggests that there are rights which are protected in EVERY case, somewhat along the lines of an establishment of religion where, if you find it, you ban it in EVERY case (no such thing as a reasonable establishment of religion). No one can properly address new individual rights without reaching a conclusion on this issue. Sunstein doesn't do this.
The history of English constitutional law suggests that the state makes long-term efforts to impose certain conditions, for example a state religion or violations of what today is regarded by the Court as protected speech. These efforts are made over thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of years, so there is a long history to look at. And the conclusion is that it is simply a history of failure. In the end, governments don't succeed in imposing state religion or in violating protected speech--they simply distort the facts and cause all kinds of grotesque situations. Which suggests that these facts--freedom from state religion and exercise of protected speech--are facts of the individual. That is, they inhere in the individual and are never violated.
Myself, I think there are five about which the logic has been made clear over the centuries, even though there is no political consensus: housing, education, maintenance, liberty and medical care. So, if you were going to formulate new black letter rights, they should read something like (on the model of the 13th amendment): no individual shall be involuntarily deprived of housing, and so on. It's a negative prohibition with respect to a fact to which parties would tend to stipulate, and neither the Government nor the Court would tend to be dragged into a fact-finding or supervisory role. Is that the test for an individual right? What about other ideas, say, transportation? Is that a right? The point is that the process is endless, of discovering facts of the individual.
The third problem area is, even if you know of new rights, how on earth do you get them enforced? Whatever the new facts, it is clear that we are living in a political reaction--and have been for 30 years--which makes it unlikely, barring a crisis, that we will see the promulgation of new rights. Say we sign off on libery and housing as rights. That means the end of incarceration. How can you have a ban on involuntarily deprivations of housing (and remember, Madison says it's in "every" case) and still put people in prison? Test case: the sheriff enforcing an arrest warrant by going up to the door of a building in which both the defendant and the sheriff concede, the defendant is housed. Here you have a flat-out political problem: Joe Sixpack will not currently allow an end to incarceration. Americans ADORE incarceration. For them, it's a sport. And how can you convince them otherwise, when only 10% of Americans ever come into contact with the criminal justice system?
What about eminent domain? No road which would benefit all humanity because Grandma won't take the buyout? And is now standing on her right to housing? I sense the bulldozers waiting, purring.... I can't see the powers that be (politicians, unions, construction companies, and on and on), putting up with such a right. The reason human rights have stalled is because we have indeed reached something like a logical consensus on new facts, which new facts are slamming up against very high institutional and political barriers. Nothing stops us, however, from clearing the doctrinal ground against the time those barriers fall.
Book Description
"As the human population has increased, the marine population has plummeted, and Ellis tells the complex story behind this equation for disaster with a vast array of facts, unfailing eloquence, and bracing frankness." -BOOKLIST
"Read this book and be inspired, informed, and entertained, but watch out. The latest, most powerful tribute to the sea by Richard Ellis could forever change the way you think about the ocean, about yourself, and about the future we share with the sea." -SYLVIA EARLE, EXPLORER IN RESIDENCE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
In The Empty Ocean, acclaimed author and artist Richard Ellis tells the story of our continued plunder of life in the sea and weighs the chances for its recovery. Through fascinating portraits of a wide array of creatures, he introduces us to the many forms of sea life that humans have fished, hunted, and collected over the centuries, from charismatic whales and dolphins to the lowly menhaden, from sea turtles to cod, tuna, and coral.
Rich in history, anecdote, and surprising fact, Richard EllisÆs descriptions bring to life the natural history of the various species, the threats they face, and the losses they have suffered. Killing has occurred on a truly stunning scale, with extinction all too often the result, leaving a once-teeming ocean greatly depleted. But the author also finds instances of hope and resilience, of species that have begun to make remarkable comebacks when given the opportunity.
Written with passion and grace, and illustrated with Richard EllisÆs own drawings, The Empty Ocean brings to a wide audience a compelling view of the damage we have caused to life in the sea and what we can do about it. "
Customer Reviews:
NO MORE SUSHI FOR ME !.......2007-07-02
Richard Ellis' "The Empty ocean" reads like an encycleopedic obituary for marine life. It's an on going casualty list of oceanic life forms complete with well researched statistics designed to give the reader plenty of "shock and awe."
The book focuses on two age old problems; an infinite population versus a finite food source, and man's greedy Draconian methods used to enhance his own pocket book. Long line fishing boats with 60 to 100 miles of fishing line strung out across the waves dangling thousands of baited hooks is bound to catch "something!"
This book is truly a cornucopia of resource material injected with the author's personal caustic innuendos that serve to highlight his zealous crusade against the onslaught and waste by big corporations and sea food distributors.
A good read, but perhaps an even better source of historical statistics and research for tomorrow's promising marine biologists.
Ellis has put a great deal of effort into his topic. His realism and propensity to "tell it like it is" will slice into your heart and soul, better than any harpoon ... every thrown by Captain Ahab!
What 'bury my heart at wounded knee' was for the sea........2005-07-19
Where Empty Ocean wins above a dozen other books is how it takes a bottom line approach, species by species and gives you the facts. Facts verifiable by the ever-handy Redlist(provided online by the IUCN). Ellis goes quite a bit further though, giving a historical account of each species. It is nice to know, for instance, why it is that the Sea Otter has ended up in the predicament it has; never mind that a friend of mine (oh my) was quite unaware that the Dodo was eaten out of existance.
Ellis makes each animal a story--and a worthwhile story at that. I recall sharing 'Wounded Knee' with a friend of mine who gave up after a few chapters saying he 'got the point', and while it works for literary criticism, it doesn't for historical or scientific criticism. I doubt that Ellis's book is in anyway comprehensive, but while most readers will grasp the levity of things very quickly, it deserves to be read in its entirity. I think the various species mentioned here (many in trouble, many already extinct) deserve that much.
Best yet, while Ellis does little to disguise his deep affinity for all those things that would make the sea their home, his arguments rest not at all upon this sentimentality, but rather on the instability of our marine-based economies as populations crash.
At least a dozen eighteenth century extinctions would read like this epitaph "Like the sea cow, it was ridiculously easy to kill and tasted good...", but Ellis exposes how modern methods are far more effective in decimating extant species than any whalers ever could have managed.
Possibly one of the most essential reads for an easy overview of the state of sea-going species, though readers with a greater interest will no doubt want to dig farther into the literature and on-line resources.
A win for the environment, A look at our Marine Ecosystem .......2005-04-14
As a scientist I thought the book provided an excellent edifying view of our global marine ecosystem. The book builds an extremely strong case of the devastation caused by man to the marine environment. More politicians should read this book, especially the Bush Admininstration with their imbecilic view of global warming. The power of this book can harnessed in the classroom, by planting a seed in future generations for the importance of the biodiversity of life. Great book!!!
Enlightening.......2004-03-10
I purchased this book after hearing Richard Ellis on an interview on KQED public radio here in San Francisco. Though this book is of the "doom and gloom" variety, it is a very enlightening read.
If you eat seafood and/or love the ocean, this book is a must read.
The True Tragedy of the Commons.......2003-12-05
Richard Ellis has presented in "The Empty Ocean" a bleak tale of the overexploitation of a common resource- fish and other sealife. Unfortunately Ellis has not exaggerated the problem, which will eventually cause all of us difficulties. From the collapse of the North Atlantic fisheries to coral bleaching to the destruction of turtle populations, man has caused havoc in a supposedly inexhaustible habitat.
How did this happen? Ellis points out that the reason that fisheries are collapsing worldwide is because of the super efficiency of modern fishing techniques. In essence they can catch everything, or nearly everything, in the area fished. Radar, huge nets, long many-hook lines and huge fleets of ships are used to feed the ever-increasing demand for seafood, sushi, aquarium fish, coral and rare shells. Since the resource is often less than the demand, especially for high-ticket items like tuna, the profit is high and the "commons" are overexploited for current gain. Not only this, but the number of non-target organisms that die in the process is truly staggering.
What can we do to slow down the destruction? We can try to back sound science-based fishing regulations and at least lower our demand for products from the sea, especially for those known to be overexploited. The tragedy is that, despite our efforts, the oceans of the world will probably never be quite the same again. However, if humans do not limit themselves they will soon (as Ellis notes on the last page) know for whom the bell tolls.
Read this book- it may make you think twice about current consumptive practices, especially if you value your children's future.
Average customer rating:
- A Wonderful Insight into Jewish Traditions
- A beautiful, unusual book!
- Excellent
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Empty the Ocean With a Spoon: Growing Up With the Customs, Traditions and Superstitions of a Jewish Home
Rosalie Sogolow
Manufacturer: Daniel and Daniel Publishers Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Codependency
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ASIN: 1564742938 |
Book Description
A cornucopia of culture, this book is filled with Yiddish expressions and proverbs; traditions of love, marriage, food, and children; home remedies and cooking; manners and morals; religion; folk tales; and superstitions (bubbe meises). It also includes colorful accounts by people from all walks of life, including two rabbis, a cantor who is a seventh- generation Sabra, comedy writers, and journalists--all recalling their own formative years and the Jewish influence in their lives.
Customer Reviews:
A Wonderful Insight into Jewish Traditions.......2001-02-14
This is a lovely book that I would recommend to anyone. I'm not Jewish but you don't need to be to appreciate the author's tales of family ties and tradition. There's a lot of insight into the Jewish culture and what a beautiful culture it is. After reading books like Ms. Sogolow's it's hard for me to understand why the world is so full of anti-semitism. We could all stand to learn from a culture of people that embraces their traditions with so much pride, loyalty and love.
A beautiful, unusual book!.......1999-09-23
This is such a beautiful, memorable book! It's an interesting, unusual topic and I really enjoyed reading it. If you like to read about Jewish culture, or if Jewish culture is new to you, this is the perfect book. Highly recommended by me!
Excellent.......1999-04-03
This book touched me emotionally in many different ways. It brought back a lot of memories of growing up, and the traditions that permeated our home and our life. It also made me appreciate the fact that how I was raised was not unique. All of us were raised with superstitions, customs and traditions that effect the way we live our lives today. I actually laughed out loud in a number of sections and cried in several others.
I would recommend this book to people of all ages. For some it will bring back many memories of their childhood and young adulthood. To other's it will reflect how they lived their lives and raised their children. For other's, it is a nice link to who our parents and our grandparents (and in some cases our great grandparent's) were, and what makes us who we are today. Definitely, a must read!
Average customer rating:
- LLywlelyn laces a modern tale with wonderous mythology
|
From Empty Harbour to White Ocean
Robin Llywelyn
Manufacturer: Parthian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0952155826 |
Customer Reviews:
LLywlelyn laces a modern tale with wonderous mythology.......2001-04-18
"From Empty Harbour To White Ocean by Robin Llywelyn" is a must read for anybody interested in Welsh culture beyond Tom Jones,Twin Town Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta Jones etc. Such a novel proves that the Welsh are still worthy of the label as a literary people.
The novel opens with a nervous immigrant sneaking away from his own unidentified country to another unidentified country (the Capital States) where he might be able to make a success of his life. Upon arrivals-as is the case with many real-life refugees- he encounters all the usual difficulties in seeking food, clothing, shelter and a job. He eventually lands on his feet with a job at the local "library" in the Dept of Mythology, where the tale unravels rich imagery worthy of Gabrial Garcia Marquez or Ben Okri.
As Ben Okri turned the horrors of post-colonial Nigeria into a land of magic and wonder (The Famished Road), Llywelyn does the same for Wales (one of Britains most economically derpirved areas and England's first colony), without his prose ever sounding forced or pretentious.
Read this book if you want find the magic amongst the grit of modern life in a failing capitalist system. And read it, if you think it is about time a "western writer" exercised his imagination in the tradition and to the extent of, the Magic realist writers of Africa and South America.
Average customer rating:
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The Empty Ocean.(Book Review): An article from: Underwater Naturalist
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B000ALTU4Q
Release Date: 2005-10-21 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1309 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: The Empty Ocean: Plundering the World's Marine Life.(Book Review)
Author: Peter H. Flournoy
Publication:
Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 7
Issue: 3-4
Page: 233(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on January 1, 1998. The length of the article is 762 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: From Empty Harbour to White Ocean.
Author: David T. Lloyd
Publication:
World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1998
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v72
Issue: n1
Page: p182(1)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
|
Empty Ocean
Richard Ellis
Manufacturer: SHEARWATER PRESS ISLAND PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7CCTC |
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