Pasquale's Nose: Idle Days in an Italian Town

Amazon.com

"If you live in Sutri for a hundred years, you won't have a friend; if you live in Sutri for five hundred years, you'll have a friend, but you'll regret it." So runs a proverb from the Tuscan city in which Rips, a sometime attorney and full-time student of the good life, sets his narrative, a place that defies guidebook description and most of the rules of logic. There, a first-class idler in a town where no one is in much of a hurry, he encounters such figures as a diviner who heals sick tractors by touch; a Calabrian outsider who gauges people by the smell of their feet; a chef whose favorite dish is porcupine; and an illiterate postman, plus a bewildering array of secrets and strange encounters that test the innocence of our innocent abroad.

Tinged with the bittersweet, Rips's extraordinary memoir will please Italian and armchair travelers alike. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In this lively book, an American expatriate tries to make a new home in a small Italian city famous for its clannish ways. He succeeds in many ways, but not without plenty of gaffes and cultural misinterpretations--all of which make Michael Rips's memoir that much funnier."If you live in Sutri for a hundred years, you won't have a friend; if you live in Sutri for five hundred years, you'll have a friend, but you'll regret it." So runs a proverb from the Tuscan city in which Rips, a sometime attorney and full-time student of the good life, sets his narrative, a place that defies guidebook description and most of the rules of logic. There, a first-class idler in a town where no one is in much of a hurry, he encounters such figures as a diviner who heals sick tractors by touch; a Calabrian outsider who gauges people by the smell of their feet; a chef whose favorite dish is porcupine; and an illiterate postman, plus a bewildering array of secrets and strange encounters that test the innocence of our innocent abroad.Tinged with the bittersweet, Rips's extraordinary memoir will please Italian and armchair travelers alike. --Gregory McNamee

Customer Reviews:

Zen Italy.......2006-12-31

Michael Rips described himself as a lost soul who has no useful skills and can find no direction in life. This is the author, lawyer and writer Michael Rips, speaking about a character, "Michael Rips," who bears no more relation to the author than the character "Woody Allen" bears to the famous film actor and director.

I was pleased to learn in another review that the town of Sutri actually exists. Although that other reviewer states that this town is perfectly described by Rips, I had my doubts whether there was such a town, or, if there were, it bore about the same relation to Rips "Sutri" that Rips the author bore to his character. In any event, it would not matter, because despite the local color it lends to the book, the place is not in itself of great importance. Quirky people can be found making a life together everywhere, and that is what this book is ultimately about.

The book consists of short chapters composed of shorter vignettes. The first chapter establishes the character "Rips", the setting "Sutri", and the situation that brings Rips and his wife to that town: the author's inability to do anything useful. The character then hangs out in cafes and tries without much success to engage the locals and understand them.

Unlike the authors of Italian Neighbors (Tim Parks) and A Small Place in Italy (Eric Newby), Rips never succeeds in penetrating the town, and his character descriptions of the locals are mere anecdotes describing their incredible eccentircities. As one friend expresses it, the Sutrini are "mad, mad".

But about halfway through the book, this premise sufficiently established, Rips stretches out. The eccentricities are replaced by genuine paradoxes, and each anecdote becomes something of a zen koan. Reflections on these may be highly amusing, but will not yeild to rational understanding.

By the end of the book a convincing world of paradox, a zen world, is established. In creating their town, the Sutrini have relied on collective myths (many not merely mythic but demonstrably false) which over time have affected the being of each of the residents as they strive to fit in and make sense of their lives. In this way the town is more than the sum of its parts, and each resident is less an "individual" than a living "particle" in this larger whole. It is impossible to live in this world as a rational autonomous "individual" or to understand the Sutrini one by one as individuals.

Thus the portrait of the town comes to its own sort of wholeness and completeness, not merely despite the absence of penetrating character studies of the locals, but because of it.

A Nose for Humor by Uriel Dana.......2005-06-19

"The kind of book you want to read out loud to someone.... even the stranger sitting next to you!" Uriel Dana

History, eccentric characters & dry wit synergistically arrange themselves into laugh-out-loud combinations in Pasquale's Nose.
In each chapter Rips demonstrates brilliant observational and storytelling abilities.

By the end of the book, all of these surreal characters began to develop a larger, over-soul quality. They reminded me of cultures like the Aboriginal Australians that perceive realities on more than one level. The stories and the history of this place are not only extremely interesting and funny, but they left me pondering the possibilities for hours.

The place is for real..........2004-09-16

Having read and greatly enjoyed this story, I later found myself at Sutri enroute from Rome to Tuscany. My wife and I stopped to stretch our legs and see the town. It is as described, and so are the people. When Michael's name and/or book were mentioned, most people rolled their eyes (lovingly). This book made a visit to Sutri infinitely more enjoyable, and made it a special place among places on the Via Cassia (SS2).

Nice Stories: Disjointed, Sometimes Funny, Meandering.......2003-05-13

Read the rave reviews and then read the book yourself. Pasquale's Nose is a big disappointment and not tied together well, chapter to chapter. Michael Rips flits from subject to subject, character to character without developing anything enough to make you care and there is a rich seam of stories about the residents and history of Sutri to be told here. The book is unsatisfying and unfinished and attempts to be philisophical at the end with a discussion of Adam and Eve and the question "Where Are You?". Even so, I am glad I read the book because it opened up the village of Sutri, Italy -- and surrounding area -- for my further investigation. It whetted my appetite. I'll give Paquale's Nose that.

Hilarious.......2003-02-07

This book had me laughing out loud. Sparsely written but very much to the point. Rips captures the Italian character precisely.

Customer Reviews:

A necessary book.......2005-08-04

Sterling Price is one of the better CSA General Officers in the West. Maybe not the best general or the easiest one to deal with, he stands head and shoulders above many of his peers. This is an excellent military biography of General Price during the Civil War and while over uses is a "warts and all" story. The author pulls no punches in saying where Price was wrong and where he was ill served by superiors and peers. Very even handed, it is clear that price had many admirable qualities coupled with some quirks but he did care and he did try his best.

A second plus of this book is the excellent introduction to the war in the West. Price was at almost all the important battles and each is covered. The overview of his 1864 Missouri Campaign and almost unique, most histories do not mention it. Price usually disappears after Corinth but here we follow him to the Trans-Mississippi and defeat.

Castel's appraisal of Price is very fair and worth the price of the book. Couple with the battle histories this is an excellent buy. The maps are sufficient for the book and tend to be at the campaign level. However, I did not find that to be a problem when reading about any of the battles. The writing is crisp, to the point and moves. Overall, this excellent book will increase your knowledge of the war in the West and needs to be in your Civil War library.

General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West

Average customer rating:

General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West
Albert Castel
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IBI4HW

Average customer rating:

General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West
Albert Castel
Manufacturer: Louisiana State Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PIECPQ

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Phi Delta Kappan, published by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. on September 1, 2003. The length of the article is 5454 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: DEMOCRACY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT - More Than a Symbol Of Freedom: Education for Liberation and Democracy.
Author: Charles M. Payne
Publication: Phi Delta Kappan (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2003
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.
Volume: 85 Issue: 1 Page: 22

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

Earth Education is the answer
A few good points, but narcissistic
Environmental education at its best...magic and clarity...

Earth Education: A New Beginning
Steve Van Matre
Manufacturer: Institute for Earth Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0917011023

Book Description

For over twenty years the public has been led to believe that there is a serious educational response underway regarding the environmental problems of the earth. It is not true. The environmental movement has been led astray: + trivialized by mainstream education + diluted by those with other agendas + co-opted by the very agencies and industries that have contributed so much to the problems

This book proposes another direction--an alternative that many environmental leaders and teachers around the world have already taken. It is called The Earth Education Path, and anyone can follow it in developing a genuine educational program made up of magical learning adventures.

Earth education aims to accomplish what environmental education set out to do, but didn't: to help people improve upon their cognitive and affective relationship with the earth's natural communities and life support systems, and begin crafting lifestyles that will lessen their impact upon those places and processes on behalf of all the earth's passengers.

If you care about the health of our troubled planet, then you should read what this internationally known educator has to say about how we lost a whole generation of teachers and leaders and what you can do to help them find their way again.

Customer Reviews:

Earth Education is the answer .......2005-10-28

I borrowed this book from a highschool teacher while I was teaching grade 5 in an international school, hoping to find some new ways to get across to students important aspects of environmental systems. What I came away with was a totally new and oh so comfortable way of looking at the world. More importantly, I was teaching it to children in a way that I hope will stay with them forever. Environmental education always seemed too clinical for me. Here was something that resonated and created a paradigm shift in me as a person sharing this planet with countless other forms of life. It is a view I now show my own children who happily express their wonder and reverence for nature. Thank you for this book!! I have recommended it to others and would love for it to be required reading by all educators.

A few good points, but narcissistic.......2005-10-07

I can't totally bash this book because Van Matre did have several ideas that should be incorporated into Environmental Ed (especially 'avoid twenty questions' and 'removing disguises'). But it was so tiring to slog through his ego trip. The first chapter does nothing but denigrate every existing EE program that Van Matre could think of. Nothing is good enough for him, and he doesn't even allow that many of these programs do have positive points as well as negative. The second chapter basically says, "thank goodness I have come along, for you were all wandering blind without me!" Finally, starting in about the third chapter, VM starts to expound on his ideas. Scattered throughout are distracting anecdotes that, taken together with the first 2 chapters, only make him appear more egotistical. He included several cute gnomish illustrations and fancy fonts, so the book does have some visual appeal. However, for an environmentalist, there was one thing about his book that puzzled me... Why did he leave a 2 1/2 inch margin along one side of the text? To make the book look longer? Many times there is just one illustration in this huge blank space. Shouldn't an environmentalist be trying to save paper by using as much of a page's surface as possible? If you are interested in EE, I think you should definitely read this book AFTER the first 2 chapters. But don't bother buying it if you don't have to. Look for it in a library first. Failing that, buy it used for as cheap as possible.

Environmental education at its best...magic and clarity..........1998-02-16

Everyone working in the field of environmental education should read this book as a foundation for methodology, philosophy and the true spirit of why we do what we do.

Steve Van Matre is a visionary, with a deeply rooted commitment to teaching children how to love nature and act responsibly in it's honor. His books create an understanding that EE is not just science education, nor is it just holding hands and singing the garden song. EE is about a relationship with and responsibility to the ecological systems and their magical life giving, spirit renewing mysteries.

This book provides insight into the author's sometimes abrasive, usually entertaining and sometimes painfully honest view of how EE should and should not occur. Van Matre gives simple descriptions of natural systems and the educational process called earth education.

Earth education is a series of carefully crafted outdoor learning experiences with lots of theatrics, teaching tools materials, and clearly defined outcomes. The author strongly protests "activity" based programs like Project Wild and Project Learning Tree, and the idea of integrating EE into classroom curriculum is without value or success in his view. Van Matre's program promotes immersion into nature, carefully designed learning experiences using hooks and experiential activities with goals and teasers that inspire children to return and learn more.

Van Matre's ecological concepts, teaching style and strong opinions are a foundation for many environmental programs world wide. I see his influence within programs that don't realize they are using his materials.

Not only is this book inspirational and timeless, but an important reminder to not give in to all the pressures that would cause us to integrate, white wash, compromise and otherwise lose track of our goals.

Average customer rating:
Beginnings of earth and sky;: Stories old and new, (Beacon books in religious education. Children's series on beginnings)
Sophia Blanche Lyon Fahs
Manufacturer: The Beacon press, inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Christianity | Religions | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Religions | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00086V01E

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books