Books by Jack Phillips Lowe

By Anne Hilton

Last week we visited, very briefly, a few of the better books reviewed in the first few months of 2006. Today we complete 2006 with some suggestions to help you decide what to buy with the book token you found under the Christmas tree, beginning, perversely, at the end of the year with Karyn Anjali Mathura-Glubis’ Trinidad Transcending Time – a reproduction of the Cazabon Album of Trinidad, 1857.

This sizeable coffee table book differs from the one reproduced in 2002 by inserting colour photographs into the Cazabon lithograph of the self-same scene, with added comments on the scene itself plus an introduction with a brief history of Trinidad and biography of Cazabon himself.

2006 has been a bumper year for locally written and, in the main, locally produced coffee table books. Immediately preceding the publication of Trinidad Transcending Time a superb coffee table book on the life and work of Barbara (Barbie) Jardine, Barbara Jardine – Goldsmith was launched at Scrip–J printers. As well as pages of photographs of exotic jewelry made from exotic materials – and gold, silver and gemstones, there is a biography of the artist written by Judy Raymond.

Counting backwards still, a mere two weeks before the launch of Barbara Jardine – Goldsmith we were attending the launch of Emeritus Professor Dr Julian Kenny’s coffee table book Flowers of Trinidad and Tobago in the Atrium of Guardian Life Building in Westmoorings. I quote now from my review of that book “There is a wealth of information for those who would know more about the flowers that bloom in sun or in shade (or both), flowers that grow beside rivers and streams, flowers that grow on cliffs, on our savannahs and on the wetlands – and those that grow by the wayside.”

We skip a month or two from November to August and the launch of The Book of People by Kelvin Poon Affat. In this book you find (again sportsmen (McDonald Bailey, Brian Lara, Stephen Ames, Sir (sic) Learie Constantine, artists of assorted genres (Alf Codallo, “Daisy” Voisin, Sir Vidia Naipaul, Beryl McBurnie), politicians and activists (Basdeo Panday, Gene Miles, Mankanda Daaga, Albert Gomes). There are Carnival people and steelband people, kaisonians, educators, architects, lawyers, businessmen, religious leaders, villains (Boysie Singh, who else?) and, of course Dr Eric Williams . . . enough said?

I back-pedal a little to remind those who haven’t already bought Constance McTair’s witty, wicked, book The Bocas and the Bulldog that, despite the unlikely subtitle The Story of Sea Communication between Trinidad and Tobago it is an absorbing tragic-comedy of the relationship between Trinidad and Tobago in the past couple hundred years.

I turn now to books from “away” that I’ve enjoyed reading for you in 2006. In the Moon of Red Ponies by James Lee Burke is a rarity in the field of crime fiction being, by turns, both lyrical and brutal. An intriguing whodunit set in Montana . . . no, it’s impossible to give the thrilling flavour of this book. Take my word for it, if you like whodunits you won’t regret spending your book token on this one.

If you prefer romance, however, as I mentioned last week you’ll find romance with a difference in “Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble.

And on the serious side, if you’ve not yet read the 2005 Pulitzer prize winner Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel you’ve a lot of reading ahead of you to catch up with why Europeans conquered the Americas, rather than vice versa.

And there’s always Hugh Thomas’ hefty, yet surprisingly readable volume “The History of the Slave Trade”. And that’s about it for 2006.

Source : http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,49783.html

By Thomas Sowell

People who dread Christmas shopping and the hand-wringing over what present to buy for which person should consider giving books. No need to know what size to get, as with clothing, or what dietary restrictions the recipient might have, as with candy or fruit cake.

One of the biggest advantages of books is that you can buy them on line, without having to inspect the merchandise personally before buying, so you can avoid the mobs in the malls.

Among the new books this year, "Londonistan" by Melanie Phillips is an eye-opening account of how the British have so succumbed to political correctness as regards their Muslim minority that even incitements to murder by Muslim extremists go unpunished.

While the Brits have gone further down this road than Americans have, we are being led in the same direction by our academic and media elites. So "Send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

The British have also gone further down the road to letting criminals escape punishment for their crimes. Here again, their experience can be a valuable warning, since Britain has gone from being one of the most law-abiding nations on earth to having a crime rate higher than that in the United States.

How was this achieved? By carrying the left-wing view of criminal justice even further than it has been carried in the United States, along with a dogmatic refusal to face the hard facts about the growing evidence of what disasters their "progressive" ideas have created.

Ann Coulter's new book this year is titled "Godless." Like her other books, it is a gem -- witty and factual, amusing and incisive, logical and angry.

It ranges across a wide sweep of political issues but its unifying theme is that liberalism is a religion, Godless but faith-based, with its faith being in a social vision that is impervious to any facts to the contrary.

For the benefit of the rest of us, Ann Coulter supplies those facts -- and they are often devastating to the liberal faith, as her previous books have been.

For anyone who has a child who is planning to go to college, the most valuable book you can give them is the latest edition of a 900-page college guide titled "Choosing the Right College."

It tells you about the campus atmosphere at numerous colleges, including which colleges have a real curriculum and which ones allow students to graduate knowing nothing about history, science, math, economics, etc.

It also tells which colleges have a suffocating political correctness and which ones still allow a free marketplace for ideas without the threat of being zapped by speech codes.

Anyone shocked by how hard it is to create a free society in Iraq might read "1776" by David McCullough, which shows how hard it was to create a free society in the United States.

Another book about history that has heavy implications for our own time is "The Gathering Storm" by Winston Churchill. It is about the events of the 1930s that led up to World War II. But the same kinds of arguments being made today about war and peace were made then -- and we now know what kinds of wonderful-sounding words led straight to catastrophe.

"Myths of Rich and Poor" by W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm is a book that shoots down many of the myths and misconceptions about income differences that are constantly being turned out by the media.

Another book that debunks much organized hysteria is "Sprawl" by Robert Bruegmann. If you or someone you know happens to believe the "open space" and "smart growth" advocates -- or even take them seriously -- the plain facts and no-nonsense analysis in this book will make the hysteria collapse like a house of cards.

My own two books this year are very different from one another. "Ever Wonder Why?" is a 460-page collection of my columns, including many "random thoughts."

My other book this year, "On Classical Economics," is frankly one that only an economist could love. But anyone who has studied enough economics to understand simple graphs and a few technical terms should sail right through it.

"Merry Christmas" -- if we are still allowed to say that.

Passengers have found a chance to study books during intracity trips on the buses, MNA reported.

The books are available in both public and private bus fleet.

Two pocket books have been put in a case fixed beside the seats.

The books are supplied by the Islamic Republic Cultural Research Institute and publishers of religious works.

People have welcomed the initiative, however, complaining they do not get enough light for reading.

Because my conservative religion prohibits the practice of witchcraft I promised myself to read the first Harry Potter book to see if I can recommend it to my child. This was because the main character of this book is a practicing sorcerer/warlock and I would have a problem recommending it to my daughter. This was also because I know there are five more Harry Potter books and the seventh is on the way, so there are a lot of related debates all around, thus it is almost impossible to keep her out of item. So, my decision was to read the book first and to have a decision

Despite of fact "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is a very well-written book, I have to stand by my original opinion after reading it . The book is gripping and I found it hard to put it down the weekend I read it. But that is part of my problem. Unlike the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien the world in the Harry Potter books is very realistic and similar to ours. Witches and warlocks are seen as just another lifestyle. The line between reality and fantasy is blurred.

And since it is the first of a series of seven, my child would spend several months absorbed in a world of beliefs that are at odds with the values we are trying to teach her. Perhaps when she will be much older and better able to distinguish between fantasy and reality ... we'll have to see.

Eva Lampard is a freelance writer. Sometimes she writes about items such as Harry Potter rumours