Steiger has discovered something called the "Maxwell-Wheeler weather-energy cycle" and, properly understood, it explains all: wars, depressions, stock market crashes, famines, riots. Messrs. Maxwell and Wheeler have gone to the great uncharted universe above but their stupendous work ("nearly two million separate pieces of information about weather in history were entered on cards and supplemented with maps and charts") is being carried on by Cyclomatic Engineering which has discovered that the great reversals of history have a definite periodicity. And if you can plough through "fourth dimensional mathematics" and Steiger's congealed prose, you'll learn that tides, sun spots and the square roots of infinity correlate with the rings of California sequoia trees, and you can then go on to "warm-wet" and "cold-dry" eras and learn, for example, that "the early 20th century American skyscraper is the best example of warm-wet architecture." Currently the outlook is not good. Cyclomatics is predicting starvation and political catastrophe for the 1980's. But then, as Bob Dylan said in another context: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0137813856
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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