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Average customer rating:

BEST and WORST book ever read!
la vie mode d'emploi
Written by a rich imagination
Perec User's Manual
blew my mind

Life: A User's Manual
Georges Perec
Manufacturer: David R. Godine Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0879237511

Customer Reviews:

BEST and WORST book ever read!.......2006-07-24

This book is really a rare one. If you are not ready to spend a long time with a complex book, find another one. This book takes time and patience. But as stated in the title, I think this not only my worst but also my best read.

If you are to read the book, it is nice to know that Perec was a member of the Oulipo philosophical group in France, who believed in constrained writing. Constrained writing means that by adding a constraint, the story will be "easier" to write, because you have ruled out many options. In this book the story revolves around jigsaw puzzles and this is the main theme & constraint in the book. Each chapter is like a little piece: in itself almost completely incomprehensible, but the more pieces you see, it suddenly seems to make sense. Until you understand the even greater motif and (metaphorically) see that the sea you thought you were matching together was actually a painting on the wall.

The book is very intelligently written, and very enjoyable. But at the same time is it not written in a way to make it nice to read, but written to follow the set of rules constructed.

To summarize: if you are into COMPLEX but REWARDING literature - READ THIS BOOK!

la vie mode d'emploi.......2006-06-29

[This book still ranks as one of the greatest novels I've read, so I'm re-publishing the review I put on this site nearly ten years ago. The bracketed text has been added to the original review.] This is the second most fascinating novel I've ever read [my favorite was The Possessed by Dostoyevsky], the best one I've read in twenty [now thirty] years. If you revel in complexity, this book is for you. [Check out the edition of Perec's sketches for this book, published by the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.] Perec prompts introspection on many levels. The plot(s) are some of the most intriguing anywhere. The human condition is probed to the greatest possible depth. Despite certain minor [really minor] infelicities, Bellos has done an excellent job translating, consistently capturing the atmosphere (and there is a lot of atmosphere) of the original. (The title is one of the few translating gaffes. The original French does not convey the image of a computer manual and the term "user's manual" was not in general use in English until after the novel was written.) Once you've read it you will be on the constant look-out for others who know Perec. [Read all of Perec and try Harry Mathews.]

Written by a rich imagination.......2005-12-16

It is possible to fall in love with this book. As an intellectual exercise it is a triumph as it is never stuffy and self important but infinitely compassionate, humourous and inclusive. Little touchs like the index of all the different stories contained in the book are delightful and enable you to dip back into a particular moment.
Life a User's Manual is a description of one moment in time. Perec takes you through all the rooms of an apartment block, leads you to scenarios and objects and then into their histories back through other stories and objects as if you were a ghost moving through time and space.
If you enjoy quirky eccentric characters that have been created with a rich original imagination this is the book for you. I would also recommend The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potoki for further enjoyment.

Perec User's Manual.......2005-09-19

Book arrived in on time in excellent condition. I am very satisfied with this bookseller and highly recommend them.

blew my mind.......2005-05-12

I feel like a lot of people posting about this book are clearly extreme lit nerds. I read this book as a high school student and still thought it was breathtaking. For me, I didn't really understand that there was any underlying literary theory behind it - what I liked about it was that, like Moby-Dick, it seems like several times it starts meandering and turning in on itself and you begin to question its relevance and quality, and then in the last few pages it comes together and hits you in the face with exactly how much it means. There's so much there to understand and uncover.

If I gave any advice to someone reading this book for the first time, it's to stick it out. It started to get pretty exasperating for me - so long, so many details - but ultimately it's the immersion in a foreign, detailed, and physically constrained environment that allows the book to pack such a wallop. The ending is worth waiting for.

The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life

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The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life

Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Contemporary Art | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 026220150X

Book Description

Art made to attach to buildings or to be given away? Wearable art for street demonstrations or art that sets up a booth at a trade show? This is the art of the interventionists, who trespass into the everyday world to raise our awareness of injustice and other social problems. These artists don't preach or proselytize; they give us the tools to form our own opinions and create our own political actions. The Interventionists, which accompanies an exhibit at MASS MoCA, serves as a handbook to this new and varied work. It's a user's guide to art that is exciting, provocative, unexpected, inspiring (artistically and politically), and fun. From Michael Rakowitz's inflatable homeless shelter and William Pope.L's "Black Factory" truck with pulverizer, gift shop, and giant inflatable igloo to the Biotic Baking Brigade's political pie-throwing, the art of The Interventionists surveys a growing genre and offers a guide for radical social action.

The book classifies the artists according to their choice of tactics: the Nomads, who create mobile projects; Reclaim the Streets, artists who act in public places; Tools for Resistance: Ready to Wear, artists who produce fashion for political action; and the Experimental University, artists whose work engages pedagogy and theory. The accompanying text includes essays by noted scholars putting the work in a broader cultural and social context as well as texts by the artists themselves.

Pump User's Handbook: Life Extension, Second Edition

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Pump User's Handbook: Life Extension, Second Edition
Heinz P. Bloch , and Allan R. Budris
Manufacturer: Fairmont Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Maximizing Machinery Uptime, Volume 5 (Practical Machinery Management for Process Plants) (Practical Machinery Management for Process Plants)

ASIN: 0849391792

Book Description

Fully revised , this second edition of a practical guide explains how to achieve consistently superior run lengths, low maintenance expenditures, and unexcelled safety and reliability in all pump applications. Written by two practicing engineers whose combined 80-year working careers included all conceivable facets of pumping technology, this handbook conveys in detail what facilities must do to rapidly accomplish both superior performance and low life-cycle cost for pumps of all types and sizes. Aimed at operating technicians, maintenance professionals, project engineers, reliability engineers and managers, the book is intended for every job function that comes in contact with process pumps.

Life: A User's Manual: Great Minds on the Big Questions

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For when you feel reflective....

Life: A User's Manual: Great Minds on the Big Questions

Manufacturer: New World Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1577310675

Amazon.com

Believers in synchronicity train themselves to recognize moments when a certain turn of phrase, a particular quote, or a brief paragraph can trigger a life-altering insight. Life: A User's Manual is a collection of these kinds of inspirational quotes, poems, and short essays by the world's most respected thinkers and spiritual leaders. Anthologist John Miller (Legends: Women Who Have Changed the World Through the Eyes of Great Women Writers) has organized Life, A User's Manual into five parts: "Search," "Love," "Faith," "Meditation," and "Death." Some excerpts and quotes ring familiar, such as that passage from Isabel Allende's book about the death of her daughter Paula or the excerpt from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. Nonetheless, packaged within this clean, tight anthology, each quote and essay sounds fresh and resonates with life-altering potential. --Gail Hudson

Customer Reviews:

For when you feel reflective...........1998-09-24

Some of the excerpts included in this book will be familiar to many a reader. Most of the authors have instant name recognition. What makes the book readable however is neither the familarity of the content nor the writer. It is the assemblage of thought brought together under five general rubrics: search, faith, love, meditation, death--all wonderfully provocative concepts that lend themselves to reflection. And most of us have thought about these at some point in our lives. Here the entries are brief enough for us to do a quick read (and a quick re-read if necessary), and still have time to ponder--all within a 10 to 15-minute time frame. My recommendation is to read an entry a day, and spend the rest of the day pondering the content. From Deepak Chopra to Isabel Allende, from Mother Teresa to Maya Angelou, each of the twenty-five authors shares a bit of insight, one facet of a larger jewel that we come to recognize as our self. For its inspirational aspect, this is the sort of book you might want to share with a friend going through difficult times.

The Sam Biser Save your life, herbal video collection: User manual

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The Sam Biser Save your life, herbal video collection: User manual
Sam Biser
Manufacturer: University of Natural Healing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006RS3RE

Cerebro: El Manual De Instrucciones / A User's Guide to the Brain (Ensayo Ciencia / Science Essay)

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Cerebro: El Manual De Instrucciones / A User's Guide to the Brain (Ensayo Ciencia / Science Essay)
John Ratey
Manufacturer: Nuevas Ediciones De Bolsillo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Power Dads: A User-Friendly Manual for Better Fathering

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Power Dads: A User-Friendly Manual for Better Fathering
Charles M. Sell , and T. W. Ayers
Manufacturer: Vine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers
Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 0892839791

The transition from W to M in 'Life a User's Manual.' (Georges Perec/Felipe Alfau): An article from: The Review of Contemporary Fiction

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The transition from W to M in 'Life a User's Manual.' (Georges Perec/Felipe Alfau): An article from: The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Jacques Roubaud , Dominic Di Bernardi , and David Bellos
Manufacturer: Review of Contemporary Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on March 22, 1993. The length of the article is 869 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.

From the supplier: The palindrome or mirror images of W and M in 'Life a User's Manual' form the signs of failure and impossibility, W because of the failure to complete the puzzle and M because of the impossibility of M's wish not to meet the Ocean. M is the river Meander who wants to avoid becoming part of the Ocean but cannot stop the flow into it. Both M and W fail to achieve the wished for result but W fails by not joining and M fails by joining, therefore forming mirror images in a linguistic palindrome.

Citation Details
Title: The transition from W to M in 'Life a User's Manual.' (Georges Perec/Felipe Alfau)
Author: Jacques Roubaud
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1993
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: v13 Issue: n1 Page: p108(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Student Manual to Accompany Essentials of Molecular Biology: A User-Friendly Guide for Learning Molecular Biology

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A Disappointing Introduction to a Fascinating Subject
It is to molecular biologists what DNA is to cell.

Student Manual to Accompany Essentials of Molecular Biology: A User-Friendly Guide for Learning Molecular Biology
George M. Malacinski
Manufacturer: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0763704172

Book Description

This revision retains its focus on the fundamental aspects of biomolecular structure and functions in a concise and student friendly manner.

Customer Reviews:

A Disappointing Introduction to a Fascinating Subject.......2003-04-20

Unfortunately, I could not disagree with my fellow reviewer more...

I was introduced to this text while a student in Dr. Malacinski's own molecular biology class at Indiana University. While I learned a great deal from the class itself, I found this book to be utterly disappointing in more ways than one. While he is undoubtedly a great teacher, Dr. Malacinski is a terrible author. His explanations of even the simplest concepts are confusing at best and downright confounding at their worst. Often, the book uses long, languid syntax to explain basic ideas, and in doing so, loses track of the fundamental basis of the concepts it is trying to elucidate. It seems to me as though Dr. Malacinski's purpose in writing an introductory textbook would be better served by offering his readers short, direct, and to-the-point explanations (such as those offered in the "Student Companion.") The trichromatic layout of all the book's diagrams make their interpretation difficult, and do little to provide the reader with relief from the bland nature of the prose. The text's lack of detailed color photographs is equally maddening - more than once when attempting to study one of the book's photographs, I felt as though I were staring at a "magic eye" collage rather than an electron micrograph. Additionally, Dr. Malacinski's attempts of to interject his personal opinions and imbibe his readers with enthusiasm for the subjects being treated feel trite and unnecessary. The text skims over many fundamental issues relevant to the study of molecular biology - most notably in its almost non-existent coverage of proteins and their role in molecular biology. I was equally disappointed in the book's total lack of coverage (or even introduction to) more advanced concepts in the field, particularly eukaryotic molecular biology. Although aptly titled "Essentials of Molecular Biology," students intending to pursue more advanced studies in the fields of biochemistry and molecular/cell biology will be poorly served by the book's complete omission of these advanced concepts. Altogether, while this book is one of the few molecular biology textbooks specifically designed for use in a one-semester undergraduate introductory course, many of the "more advanced" textbooks available provide a more comprehensive and easily understandable treatment of the material covered in this text. To those with a sincere interest in learning about both the concepts and breadth of molecular biology, I recommend "Molecular Biology of the Cell" (4th ed.) by Alberts et al, "Molecular Cell Biology" (4th ed.) by Lodish et al, and "Biochemistry" (5th ed.) by Berg and Stryer as alternatives to this book.

It is to molecular biologists what DNA is to cell........1999-09-13

I read this book at the library and was highly impressed with the mode of explaination and representation. The book is highly informative giving the explaination with the best lucid way and the figures too are at the right places. How so ever the book would have been still more better if the method given at many places would have been clubbed with the major draw backs and precautionary steps.

All in one it is a very useful book to be obtained by the biologists working on the field

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