Product Description
The moving, inspiring memoir of one of the great women of our times, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and advocate for the oppressed, whose spirit has remained strong in the face of political persecution and despite the challenges she has faced raising a family while pursuing her work.

Best known in this country as the lawyer working tirelessly on behalf of Canadian photojournalist, Zara Kazemi – raped, tortured and murdered in Iran – Dr. Ebadi offers us a vivid picture of the struggles of one woman against the system. The book movingly chronicles her childhood in a loving, untraditional family, her upbringing before the Revolution in 1979 that toppled the Shah, her marriage and her religious faith, as well as her life as a mother and lawyer battling an oppressive regime in the courts while bringing up her girls at home.

Outspoken, controversial, Shirin Ebadi is one of the most fascinating women today. She rose quickly to become the first female judge in the country; but when the religious authorities declared women unfit to serve as judges she was demoted to clerk in the courtroom she had once presided over. She eventually fought her way back as a human rights lawyer, defending women and children in politically charged cases that most lawyers were afraid to represent. She has been arrested and been the target of assassination, but through it all has spoken out with quiet bravery on behalf of the victims of injustice and discrimination and become a powerful voice for change, almost universally embraced as a hero.

Her memoir is a gripping story – a must-read for anyone interested in Zara Kazemi’s case, in the life of a remarkable woman, or in understanding the political and religious upheaval in our world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

unsatisfying.
Iranian judge and activist Mrs. Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.

In 2006 Ebadi narrated her story to collaborator Azadeh Moaveni and published the biography Iran Awakening. This book briefly runs through her life story; childhood happiness and security, education, love for her family and country. She describes the Islamic revolution, its changes upon Iran and her life specifically. She was shut out of her career as a judge and subsequently imprisoned for her human rights work.

A vague, sketchy lack of detail permeates this book. I found the descriptions of her activist work equally vague and detached--almost without exception legal cases described in the book went unfinished, without giving the reader a sense of knowing what resulted at trial.

I finally felt a great sense of frustration and hypocrisy at the angry and xenophobic sentiment expressed throughout the book. She exhibits sheer audacity at suing the US Treasury dept to get her book promoted and sold, thus nullifying economic sanctions and profiting from a country she so strongly dislikes.

I would not recommend reading this book because to me, Iran Awakening is incomplete and uninteresting.

Why Shouldn't I Believe Her....
... as easily and dispassionately as any other source of cultural insight into Iran? She's not belaboring facts and figures. She's not campaigning. She's telling her own life story in fairly humble and very simple terms. Still there are some, including a few reviewers here on amazon, who accuse her of being disingenuous and evasive, and there are many who will not be pleased with her nuanced criticisms of: 1) the Shah's regime, 2) the course the Islamic Revolution has taken, especially after the war with Iraq, and 3) the United States. In short, she finds much to dislike and reject about all three, and those who want a good vs. evil account will inevitably interpret this book as favoring the wrong side of things. But that's exactly what inspires a certain trust in me toward her reporting of conditions in contemporary Iran.

Loyalty and love of "home" are Ebadi's strongest commitment. No conditions, however terrifying or repugnant, seem ever to have shaken that commitment. And she has her religious faith, as well as faith in her religion, if you can see the distinction. She believes in an Islam that can adapt, reform itself, commit its energies to modern conditions and new human values... foremost among them greater equity for women and children. In fact, she sees 'progress' in the status of women under the current clerical dictatorship precisely as a result of the needs of the theocracy to involve women in public life.

There's not much excuse, in Ebadi's opinion, for the dismal conduct of the USA in its relations with Iran, beginning with the greatest blunder of the century, the CIA putsch against Mossadegh. Confrontation now would be counter-productive, and direct intervention would be catastrophic. In many ways, despite the posturing and rhetoric on both sides, positive engagement between the USA and the clerical regime are distinctly possible. This book was written before the election of Barack Obama, of course, and we are all waiting with bated breath for signs of such positive engagement.

It's interesting to note that "Iran Awakening" was initially banned from publication in the USA under George W Bush, even despite Ebadi's Nobel Prize, and that a lawsuit was required to overturn American censorship. Want more details? Read the book.

In this current polarized climate of fanatical and fatuous demonization of Islam and of Iran especially, I welcome a somewhat soft, feminine, warm-hearted account of a culture that is not monolithic, that has aspirations I recognize as worthy and humane, that can modulate its fervor without losing its vigor. Fanatics of all sorts, I fear, will find this optimism of Ebadi's hard to believe. I do believe she is genuine, and I do sympathize with her points of view, and I have some slim hope that some of her expectations may not be utterly futile. What I mean is that fanatical right-wing fear-mongers will be so outraged by Ebadi's 'optimism' for long-term reform that they will label her an apologist for the hard-liners, while at the same time the hard-liners will label her as a tool of 'western' meddlers. She is saying, basically, that the Islamic state has the potential to eschew some of its human rights abuses and to enter more productive relationships with Europe and America, and we all know that some people prefer to deny any such potential.

Really interesting and eye opening book
When I travel to countries I like to read its authors.. I was in Dubai and unable to find literature of the Emirates (sure exist, I could not find it in English. in the bookshops of Dubai and Abu Dhabi) so I was looking for a Middle East author... I finally find this one... I had never heard about Shirin Ebadi before (even though I like Persian culture) so I bought the book and start reading it....

Fascinating, interesting, amazing... It give me a view of Iran by someone that lives and works in Iran... someone that believe the Revolution will bring equality, freedom and independence to the country... some one young and provably naive that have seen all her dreams, family and friends leave the country she loves.... she has lots of courage and she is a true believer of democracy, equality and freedom, ready to fight for it.... even in such a place like Iran with its tolitarism regime...

Iran: Internal Reform, not External Regime Change
[...]

Shirin Ebadi's Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope is a very easy, compelling read. Of course I heard about Khanum-e Ebadi, but I had never actually heard her speak or read any of her writings.

My big fear whenever I read a memoir is the possibility that it is pure propaganda and promotion. (Witness the slew of memoirs from former officials of George W Bush's government who distance themselves from its policies. Where was your conscience when you were implementing them?) While no memoir will be free of these elements, I felt that Khanum-e Ebadi's shows a real human being who finds herself in events that teach her to stand up for justice and think about how oppressive governments, religious beliefs and cultural habits manipulate and coerce decent people into compliance.

Khanum-e Ebadi begins her career as a judge during the last years of the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi. Her naiveté at this stage of her career is surprising to me, since I would assume that a judge is by nature a political animal. (Perhaps I'm too wrapped up in George Bush judicial appointments.) At any rate, this naiveté prevents her and others from seeing that the Iranian revolution of 1979 would turn ugly. I think it's this regret over her mistake of uncritical support of the revolution which caused her to become a much more sophisticated student of government and revolution later in life.

The bulk of the remainder of the book describes her participation in various cases involving defense of the rights of women, children and political prisoners. I believe this narrative will help people answer the following questions (or at least guide them to better thinking about them):

1. Is U.S. military intervention a good idea?
2. Is a government based upon religion generally, Islam specifically, compatible with a just society?
3. What should an individual do when faced with an oppressive society and government?

1. Is U.S. military intervention a good idea?

The short answer is "no." And Khanum-e Ebadi gives a lot of good reasons for this. I think one of the most important reasons is her conclusion about how to achieve positive change, which I address in point 3. The U.S. support for the 1953 coup and for Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s means that most Iranians interpret covert and overt U.S. military intervention as attempts to control Iran, not free her people.

2. Is a government based upon religion generally, Islam specifically, compatible with a just society?

Without explicitly saying so, and I hope I'm not putting words in her mouth, I believe she would say, "Yes, it is possible for a religiously-based (including Islam) government to promote a just society, but there are so many ways it can go wrong that it is better to base the government on secular principles." I derive this conclusion based on her discussion of her attempts at reforming Iran's personal status laws and her impressions of the quality of people who rose in the government of the Islamic Republic.

She realizes that within the religious interpretive project, it is possible to support liberating and oppressive interpretations. So more important than the specific religious texts involved are the ethos and character of the people with the authority to impose their interpretation on society. In the case of Iran, the revolution elevated the most patriarchal elements of Iranian society to power, and their interpretations of Islam were imposed on all others, even those of recognized and authoritative religious scholars.

The second problem with religiously-based governments is that religion has instruction for both the outer and inner dimensions of a person, and the people on whom governments rely for support can more easily and quickly judge a person's outer dimension than inner dimension. This promotes hypocrites and social entreprenuers (in the most negative sense), who are able to make end runs around those who trouble themselves with the inner dimensions of religion.

I should add here that the United States certainly shows that you don't need a relgion-based government to promote hypocrites and social entrepreneurs.

3. What should an individual do when faced with an oppressive society and government?

Khanum-e Ebadi is against emmigration (although she eventually agrees that her daughter leave for Canada) and against violent revolution, such as the Mujahidiin-e Khalq Iran. I think she has a gift for recognizing the cracks and weakpoints of an oppressive system, and she believes focusing on those cracks causes effective, long-term change. For example, when an eighteen-year old woman lectures her about Islam in the Iranian countryside, she realizes that the same process which transformed this rural girl from a peasant to an ideological functionary for the Islamic Republic will later turn her and her daughters into a thinking opposition. When people emmigrate, they turn their back on attacking these weakpoints in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and she cannot hide her disappointment.

Additional links:

* Iranian Children's Rights Society

Ebadi is a shining star
I join those admirers who have called Nobel Peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi a woman of steel. Her intelligence, tenacity, and courage to bring justice to women, children, and dissidents over the years is amazing!

She used her creative juices to organize a public funeral for one little girl who'd been left in the custody of her abusive father, after his divorce from her mother. In divorce cases, the law automatically gave custody to the father, no matter if he had an abusive history and/or was a drug abuser. Ebadi helped to bring change in that unfair law with the help of friends/colleagues through that public event as it stirred the public to speak up, and even one man came forward with another child that had been left to the whims of his abusive father, though the boy had wanted desperately to live with his mother. That was just one of many cases where she tried to effect change in unjust laws and bring justice to victims and their families, most of whom had been severely abused by their country's legal system. Or more precisely perhaps, by whoever's whims they happened to be dealing with at the moment. She has written articles that brave editors published, thereby raising the ire of government hard-liners. And she has exhaustively researched through musty old religious texts, to better argue her cases; she hasn't always won, but when she's in the courtroom, she seems to the reader to be steadfast and unafraid of any religious hard-liner, and not afraid to speak up if she thinks they said something totally unrelated to the case (which often appears to be a condescending reprimand to her).

Her belief and hope in Iran is truly admirable, though I think she comes down rather harshly on her friends and colleagues who fled the country over the years, especially during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

Her recollections of clients and friends who were abused by the powers that be are heart-wrenching. Some cases kept me on the edge of my seat, such as when a writer friend of hers was en route to attending a literary conference in Armenia and the bus driver twice abandoned the bus full of 20 or so writers on the high, winding mountains of northern Iran. The second time he abandoned it, the nose of the bus had just slipped over a mountain cliff (he jumped out in time, of course). Or when a classmate who was a judge was travelling with her fiance and two male friends to visit her mother--and was stopped by the "morality police"; they were held and interrogated for three days. It is painful to learn what little freedom of expression the Iranian people have, and the extent of intolerance the hard-line members of their government harbor towards women's rights, dissidents, and activists like Ebadi.

As Ebadi herself writes, this isn't a political memoir or political analysis of how and why events came to pass. It's her personal story and how events in the last half century have affected her life. Her strength radiates throughout the book, especially when she recounts her time in jail. Before she reported to the judge, she left a note to her family:

"My dear ones, By the time you read this, I will already be in prison. I want to assure you that I will be fine. I will be released and unharmed because _I have done nothing wrong_ (italicized in book). Can you please do something for me? I want you to imagine for a moment that I've suffered a heart attack and have been rushed to the hospital. Wouldn't that be terrible? It would be much, much worse than my arrest. So please keep all of this in perspective. Love to all..." (pp. 161-162)

Shirin Ebadi had open-minded parents, who treated her, her sisters and brother equally. What a fortunate beginning, as well as having an open-minded husband who "let me be myself from the beginning, and encouraged my work as part of me, rather than a hobby or indulgence" (p. 29)! She maintained her domestic responsibilites at home, while managing her writing and legal work. I can only marvel at how she stayed focus as mom, wife, judge, and then as human rights lawyer/activist! Her memoir will surely be an inspiration to human rights activists everywhere. ... Read more

Product Description
Sir Norman Angell, pioneer both of international relations as a distinct discipline and of the theory of globalization, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and one of the twentieth century's leading internationalist campaigners on both sides of the Atlantic, lived the great illusion in three senses. First, his 'life job', as he came to call it, was founded upon and defined by The Great Illusion, a best-seller whose original version appeared in 1909: it perceptively showed how economic interdependence would prevent great powers profiting from war; yet it made other, less felicitous, claims from whose implications he spent decades trying to extricate himself. Second, his magnum opus and all his best work derived, to an extent unusual for a public intellectual, not from abstract thinking but from an eventful and varied life as a jobbing journalist in four countries, a cowboy, land-speculator, and gold-prospector in California, production manager of the continental edition of the Daily Mail, author, lecturer, pig farmer, Labour MP, entrepreneur, and campaigner for collective security. Third, he fostered many an enduring illusion about himself by at various times giving wrongly his age, name, nationality, marital status, key career dates, and core beliefs.

By dint of careful detective work, this first biography of Angell reveals the truth about a remarkable life that has hitherto been much misrepresented and misinterpreted. ... Read more

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Product Description
In 1912 Lawrence Bragg explained the interaction of X-rays with crystals, and he and his father (William) thereby pioneered X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. They then led the latter field internationally for 50 years, when most areas of science were transformed by the knowledge created: physics, chemistry, geology, materials science, electronics, and most recently biology and medical science. This book charts how this humble pair (William English, his son Australian) rose from obscurity to international prominence and then back to current, undeserved obscurity. Attention is also given to the crucial roles of both father and son during the dreadful years of the First World War, and to William's early and unshakeable belief in the dual wave and particle natures of radiation and his eventual vindication.
Unlike earlier studies, the book highlights the intimate interactions between father and son that made their project possible, emphasizes personal, family, and wider human relationships, and offers new insights into teaching and research in a British colonial setting. ... Read more

Product Description
As a young girl in Kenya, Wangari was taught to respect nature. She grew up loving the land, plants, and animals that surrounded her -from the giant mugumo trees her people, the Kikuyu, revered to the tiny tadpoles that swam in the river.Although most Kenyan girls were not educated, Wangari, curious and hardworking, was allowed to go to school. There, her mind sprouted like a seed. She excelled at science and went on to study in the United States. After returning home, Wangari blazed a trail across Kenya, using her knowledge and compassion to promote the rights of her countrywomen and to help save the land, one tree at a time.Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace brings to life the empowering story of Wangari Maathai, the first African woman, and environmentalist, to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Engaging narrative and vibrant images paint a robust portrait of this inspiring champion of the land and of women's rights. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Wonderful!
I found this book to be a wonderful mix of art, history, prose and environmental awareness.My grandchildren LOVED it!! I hope the author and illustrator will create another one soon.

Beautiful Book for Young Children
I bought this book for my two-year-old son. He loves pointing out the images on the pages as I read the words. He especially loves learning the parts of the trees and the names of the fruits and vegetables shown in the illustrations in addition to identifying the emotions on the faces of the people. This beautiful book teaches important life lessons and offers a message of hope for the next generation. It's a perfect bedtime story.

An Important Change
Jen Cullerton Johnson creates a vivid picture of a brave woman who defies society's boundaries and helps save her environment. Children and adults should indulge in this bright and bold tale of one woman's journey from thinker to doer.

Great book and author for classroom read alouds!
My school recently had family literacy night. We thought it would be a great idea to have a real author at one of our stations. Jen Cullerton, author of Seeds of Change,came and held three sessions which included; the reading of her book, a wealth of information regarding the main character of her book and the environment, a bag of seeds for the kids to take home, a demonstration of how to plant the seeds, and what she did to become an author. The kids and parents loved it! They were so engaged and had so many questions to ask Ms. Cullerton. Ms. Cullerton is fluent in Spanish and English so it was great because she could speak both languages for the students and parents who did not speak English.

The next day I read the book, Seeds of Change, to my class of first graders and they loved it! It immediately caused them to start asking questions about what we could do to help the planet.It was also interesting to see students of this age really be moved by the idea of something starting with something and someone who was considered to be so small grow to such a huge agent of change.Due to the engaging writing and the detailed pictures the students were able to comprehend the deeper thinking this story causes and ask themselves so critical questions and then feel the need to answer those questions.

I would highly recommend this book to all teachers and parents of students of all ages. This book can be used for so many different objectives and/or lesiure reading. I look forward to Ms. Cullerton's next book!

A Wonderful Biography
This is a wonderful picture book biography on Wangari Maathai the first African woman and environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize

When Seeds of Change begins when a young Wangari Maathai is learning the importance of trees from her mother. Though many Kenyan girls didn't get an education at the time, Wangar's parents allow her to go to school.

"Wangari walked the long road to a one-room schoolhouse with walls made of mud, a floor of dirt, and a roof of tin. In time she learned to copy her letters and trace numbers. Wangari's letters soon made words, and her words made sentences. She learned how number could be added and subtracted, multiplied and divided. Animals and plants, she discovered, were like human beings in many ways. They needed air, water and nourishment too."

Johnson doesn't waste a line or word, everything leads to another fact. The author gives a reader (of any age) a great sense of who Wangari Maathai is, a woman who loves her country and believes in the power of trees to save, enough to go to jail for. I liked Sadler's use of color. Though the illustrations didn't enhance the text for me. After the first few pages my focus was on Johnson's words.

"America had changed Wangari. She had discovered a spirit of possibility and freedom that she wanted to share with Kenyan women. She accepted a teaching job at the University of Nairobi. Not many women were professors then and even fewer taught science. Wangari led the way for other women and girls. She worked for equal rights so that female scientists would be treated with the same respect as male scientists."

There was another picture book biography on Wangari Maathai released this year called Mama Miti: by Donna Jo Napoli - I liked it but I was left wanting to know more. These biographies probably shouldn't be compared since the authors took different approaches but its inevitable that they will be. So all things being equal, Seeds of Change is my favorite.
... Read more

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A Nobel Prize–winning cancer biologist, leader of major scientific institutions, and scientific adviser to President Obama reflects on his remarkable career.A PhD candidate in English literature at Harvard University, Harold Varmus discovered he was drawn instead to medicine and eventually found himself at the forefront of cancer research at the University of California, San Francisco. In this “timely memoir of a remarkable career” (American Scientist), Varmus considers a life’s work that thus far includes not only the groundbreaking research that won him a Nobel Prize but also six years as the director of the National Institutes of Health; his current position as the president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and his important, continuing work as scientific adviser to President Obama. From this truly unique perspective, Varmus shares his experiences from the trenches of politicized battlegrounds ranging from budget fights to stem cell research, global health to science publishing. 8 pages of b/w photographs ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

not what I was hoping for
This book was published "mainstream" and the title is intriguing, but the vast majority of the pages are devoted to a recap of the author's scientific career.He isn't particularly successful at dumbing down for a regular audience and to be frank, a lot of it is just boring.I was interested to learn that Varmus was the guy who started to allow NIH scientists to consult for industry (Big Pharma, etc), which led to huge problems that are still lingering.Previously any interaction between an NIH scientist and an industry representative was a huge nono.

an advocate for open publications
I came to this book by chance - a secondhand bookstore in Philadelphia, and it was signed by the author!
The cover told me this was written by someone energetic - (the creases on his shirt look like he has just showered and changed after a long cycle ride or run in the gym). It took me a little while to get into the first few chapters but then picked up pace. I had little knowledge of his research beforehand and his huge impact at the NIH to double its funding. He dealt very quickly with the Nobel prize (I would have liked more on his reaction to this and how his life altered afterwards). The book was incredibly rewarding but the biggest surprise was the chapters on his promotion of open publications (public library of Science, PLoS). For those unaware of the debate I am sure this will lead to a more informed public - basicallythe argument goes: the major scientific journals monopolize the key research and to access it readers have to pay to download the paper or subscribe etc. PLoS and other open journals make the papers free and instead authors 'pay' when their papers are accepted. Thus anyone can access these free papers from sources like Pubmed ([...]). It seems that the author was a proponent for the submission of preprints to articles (funded by NIH grants) not published in open journals so that these could be made available as well. For a time he also boycotted journals, in favor of publishing in open journals. It is unclear in the book how long he took this stance for because in the last few years he has been co-author on several Science and Nature papers as well as many open journals.

I think it may have been a very interesting alternative if he had foregone the traditional publishing route and published solely online for free. I for one enjoyed reading a physical book though!

Great Read!
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the human side of how science is done and how medical research benefits us.

A Well-Written Collection of Memoirs
Harold Varmus has had an impressive career encompassing Nobel-prize cancer research, directorship of the NIH, and presidency of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (with a recent annual compensation of $3.7 million, even though MSKCC is "non-profit").This book is mainly a well-written collection of memoirs emphasizing on his pre-MSKCC experiences in these arenas.As such, the book is clearly not a full autobiography, nor intended to be.

What you get from the book will depend largely on what you came for.Personally, I'm involved in cancer research and treatment, so I primarily read the book hoping to gain new insights into solving the cancer problem from someone who's been prominent on the front lines for a long time.Unfortunately, the book greatly disappointed me in this regard.I found Varmus' views on cancer to be rather orthodox and even shallow, as though he's too entrenched in the cancer establishment to realize the true magnitude of its flaws and failures.Moreover, I was bored by the technical details related to Varmus' own cancer research, and I think this material is probably better covered in books devoted to the subject.Hence my deducting one star. (For a critique of the cancer establishment, see The War on Cancer: An Anatomy of Failure, A Blueprint for the Future by Guy Faguet and my review of the same.)

I found Varmus' discussion of his experiences as director of the NIH to be much more interesting, since he offers a unique window into the political and funding aspects of biomedical research at this highest level, and he shares plenty of personal stories which give us a feel for what it must have been like to be in his shoes.

The best chapter for me was actually the last one, where Varmus discusses open-access scientific publishing.I totally agree with his views on the pressing need and moral imperative for this, and I anticipate that his seminal contributions in this area may actually turn out to be the most important aspect of his legacy.

I can't generally recommend or not recommend this book since, again, it comes down to what you're looking for.All I can really say is that, if you're intestested in the kinds of endeavors Varmus has been involved in, or interested in his personal story itself, you might find this book worth reading.And you also have the option of reading only the chapters which interest you, since some chapters are fairly independent of others.

Read This Book While The Health Care Debate is Ongoing
The prior reviewers have more than explained why this is a stunningly powerful story of how science works. For all of those who reflexively fear the government in health care, I say: go read this book. Learn how dedicated scientists have worked with this government agency to bring about fantastic scientific progress that may save your life. Remember, 1 in 2 males, and 1 in 3 females will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes. Without the NIH and its work, that diagnosis always would be a death sentence. ... Read more

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Knopf Canada is proud to welcome Orhan Pamuk to the list with an inspiring and engaging collection of essays on literary and personal subjects–his first new book since winning the Nobel Prize.

In the three decades that Pamuk has devoted to writing fiction, he has also produced scores of witty, moving and provocative essays and articles. Here is a thoughtful compilation of a dazzling novelist’s best non-fiction, offering different perspectives on his lifelong obsessions.

Pamuk’s criticism, autobiographical writing and meditations are presented alongside interviews he has given and selections from his private notebooks. He engages the work of other novelists, including Sterne and Dostoyevsky, Salman Rushdie and Patricia Highsmith, and he discusses his own books and writing process. We learn not just how he writes but how he lives as he recounts his successful struggle to quit smoking and describes his relationship with his daughter. Ordinary events–applying for a passport, the death of a relative–inspire extraordinary flights of association as the novelist reflects on everything from the child’s state of being to divergent attitudes towards art in the East and West.

Illustrated with photographs, paintings and the author’s own sketches, Other Colors gives us Orhan Pamuk’s world through a kaleidoscope whose brilliant, shifting themes and moods together become a radiant and meaningful whole.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Jealousy
What a shame that the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk decides not to publish his essays on Turkish writers that were a part of this book when it was originally published in Turkish. Is he a petty man who can't stand being compared to better Turkish writers? The only redeeming quality of the book however is the mesmerizing language Maureen Freely creates from the broken Turkish with which Mr. Pamuk continues to write in Turkish. Time will be very cruel to Mr. Pamuk as the persona he created for himself will be revealed to be nothing but a fake.

Autobiography
OTHER COLORS contains autobiographical essays which encourage the reader to explore his novels.Personal experiences inform the content but do not consume it. Journalistic reportage on the Istanbul Earthquake in August 1999 breaks into the interpretative. What comes to mind is Gaius Pliny's comments in A.D. 79 about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (Pliny, Letters 6.20). Other chapters offer literary insights into favorite authors from Sterne to Rushdi. His youthful interest in art comes out In "Black Pen". This essay with dark-ink drawings also reveals his love for Istanbul and Turkey. The miniature from Topkapi Palace Library depicts a storyteller astride a donkey with two companions on foot. Luminous colors are splashed over the scene.Another illustration points to the traditional story of Khrusraw and Sirin. Many references to color show the author's continued love of painting and architecture. Words in written composition are what colors are in paintings. The young artist changed career at twenty-two, turning to literature.He states, "writing -- if you're happy with it -- undoes all sorrows." The publication of this book coincided with Pamuk's media event on September 20, 2007 at Barnes and Noble. The free forty-four-minute presentation is still available on the internet.

Other Colors?Think Rainbow
Not a moment or detail of life and living appears to pass Orhan Pamuk by without notice.This collection is breathtaking, both in terms of the wide range of topics he tackles and how easily he transitions between what might otherwise be considered mundane vs. majestic moments. The glue here is that Pamuk brings an incredible eye and humanity to everything he touches, leaving little to get lost in translation.Few writers that I have come across over the years capture the texture and tone of those often simple daily scenes more sparingly, vividly and memorably. Fewer still write as though literally every single word on every page matters.Here, they do, in the hands of someone who clearly loves everything about putting pen to paper.You can't help but read a book like this and savor the experience.What a joy--I finished it only a few days ago and I'm already looking forward to re-reading.

Other Colors
Other Colors contains a series of stories by the author
and Nobelist-Orhan Pamuk. He was born in 1952 in Istanbul.
The family worked in railroad construction. The presentation
has a number of interesting stories which provide a window
into life in Istanbul.

As an American, this interests me because
I have never visited Istanbul. There is a moving story
about a visit to the seashore with Ruya, as well as
a home with a lonely man. The book has a very detailed
description of an earthquake during August of 1999.
The ground shook in Sedef near Buyukada and nearly 30,000
people perished. The author describes memorable scenes
on the Istanbul Ferry in places like the Golden Horn,
Bosphorus Sea and Marmara. A strength of the work is
that the author makes the scenery come alive like a
multi-dimensional movie.

The work combines a biography with short stories.
Toward the end, the author describes how a building's
hominess issues from the dreams and aspirations of
the occupants. I enjoyed the presentation due to the
variety of stories and themes enunciated.
The style of writing is simple and conversational.

This work should be on a high school or college
required reading list due to the unique multi-cultural
perspective.

Opening the Writerly Shell
"Other Colors," is a delicious, thoughtful read and a further opening of the writerly shell that insulates Mr. Pamuk from a world wanting badly for a bit order and deliberation. Perhaps this explains the scrutiny the author received as Turkey's author-on-trial-for-thinking-out-loud and Nobel laureate.

Orhan Pamuk is brilliantly able to bring that bit of order and deliberation to the fore writing handsomely from his interior. He describes his writing life with great insight and candor while discussing deliciously, authors he admires. I especially enjoyed the essays in the book about Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Nabokov among others).

Having set aside a rainy, grey Sunday to read "Other Colors," I felt a lovely, lonely empathy for the passages on book-mania. In one essay he describes dead-on, the odd reassurances that a book elicits, not merely as an escape mechanism but also as physical totem.

For those who read Orhan Pamuk, this essay collection is food for a book lover's soul.One story in the book is an evocation of his childhood memories of life with his abandoned mother. It stands out poignantly among the essays as he admits elsewhere in the book that she no longer speaks to him.

How curiously private yet opague is this important, gifted author. Hats off, Mr.Pamuk. As one of your "implied readers" I await anything your pen may put to paper.

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