Customer Reviews (112)

A literary tour-de-force
Azar Nafisi's memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, is the sort of book you should pick up if you want to assure yourself of how well-read you are, or perhaps to remind yourself that you are not well read at all. In the back of Ms. Nafisi's book is a list of recommended reading, some of which deals with Iran, but much of which is the fiction about which she writes in the book.

Having only read some of the novels about which Ms. Nafisi writes, I don't think I can adequately discuss the literary criticism woven throughout the book. The story of the book club itself is often not the main focus, as Ms. Nafisi gives a crash course in Iranian revolutionary history and delves into her personal life as well as that of the women in her book club. The combination of the three is an intriguing and potent conceit; learning how everyday life in Iran affects these women is compelling and evocative. Intertwined with commentary and comparison of some of the great books of western literature makes it even more so.

It would be had to say that one does not learn one thing, if not many things, from this book. Certainly it inspires you to read some of the books Ms. Nafisi writes about, if only to re-read the book and access a new level of understanding.

Reading Lolita in Tehran : A Memoir in Books
Nafisi details her experiences in Iran from 1979 to 1997, when she taught English literature in Tehran universities and hosted a private seminar on Western literature for female university students. Born and raised in Iran, the author offers readers a personal account of events in the postrevolutionary period that are often generalized by other writers. She was a witness to compulsory veiling, the "cultural revolution" that closed and purged the universities, the Iraq-Iran war (including missile attacks against Tehran), and the Ayatollah Khomeini's death. Nafisi provides readers with a view of Tehran during these tumultuous two decades and describes the ways that individuals resisted and defied the new regime's restrictive policies concerning both women's and men's behavior and dress. Readers interested in Western literature and the ways that key works could be interpreted by those living in different settings and times will find this book fascinating. Specialists on Iran, the Middle East, and Islam will also find the work unique, controversial, and informative. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Most public and academic collections and levels.

Classical Celebration
<br /> Through turmoil, heartbreak and heartache comes the courageous and celebrated life of women. This will be one of the classics that will be handed down through the generations to come. A beautifully written and prolific book for all to read. <br /> Other reads are: Nightmares Echo by Katlyn Stewart,A Paper Life by Tatum O'Neil <br /> ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American literature   2. Biography   3. Biography & Autobiography   4. Biography / Autobiography   5. Biography/Autobiography   6. Books And Reading   7. English literature   8. English teachers   9. Ethnic Cultures - General   10. Iran   11. Study and teaching   12. Women   13. Women In Islam   14. Women's Studies - General   15. Biography & Autobiography / Women   16. Reading Group Guide   

Customer Reviews (19)

An excellent Book, the Best I have ever found
Definitely, it's the best book I have ever read about English Grammar, as an English Teacher in Honduras, I found a very clear an easy way to explain one of the matters that usually are bothersome for students, Grammar. I strongy recommend this book for every person who really wants to learn English Grammar. Hector Reynaldo Acosta Espinal San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Central America roboplex@yahoo.com

Simple, clear explanations, examples, and practice!
I am a professional ESL teacher and this book is probably the most popular one with both the students and the teachers. The grammar points are divided up very well and there are good explanations and examples for most points.

The reason this book is so popular is that the exercises are very simple, something like this:

The children (is/are) playing in the yard right now.

You simply have to choose the right answer from the two. This simplified approach makes learning grammar very easy, but many students want something more difficult and some complain that the book is a little boring. But when has grammar ever been exciting?

Clear and easily understandable
The geniuses that controlled my education decided that I should skip fourth grade reading because they caught me reading Mark Twain in third grade. I can't imagine what in the WORLD they were thinking, as I came to learn years later that in fourth grade reading they taught - you guessed it - grammar! And boy, did I suffer. My written grammar was absolutely horrendous for years, and even though I continued to be placed in advanced or honors English classes throughout high school, whenever my papers were returned to me the "concept" side came back with an A, and the "grammar" side came back with a D or an F.

There's no substitute for learning young, but this is the closest thing to it. I've never seen a grammar book that's easier to understand than this one. Forget the Idiot's Guides or Dummies books, and invest a little more in this one and the accompanying workbooks. If you're really interested in boning up on your grammar skills, this will be of tremendous assistance.

Also, if you're looking to buy the workbooks, remember that this is the THIRD edition, that it is in blue, and so you should conduct your search for the accompanying workbooks by first identifying those that are blue, and make sure that they're for the third edition. There are several editions available here on Amazon, so buy wisely. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. English as a Second Language   2. English language   3. Grammar   4. Language   5. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy   6. Linguistics   7. Problems, exercises, etc   8. Textbooks for foreign speakers   9. Foreign Language Study / English as a Second Language   

Customer Reviews (7)

Correctable errors to Make the Book more Perfect
Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics is the Bible of ortho surgeons.But there are a few errors which are repeated in the editions.As an example,in the figures for neurorhaphy the direction of vasanervosa is incorrect. They face each other as if two separate nerves are sutured with their distal ends together!

If the editor is interested,I would be happy to help in correcting the numerous similar errors to make a more perfect Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics.

This text must be revised and make it shorter, for better...
Is a good book, but it is 1-very large and editions are very long one to the other. 2- very expensive to be changed as often as desirable. 3- Canale must make a "Campbell's year book" as an apendix. Any way is a book every one in orthopaedics need at least for the beginning.

This book is very large and the up-date is bad and...
The Campbell's was a good book when it was just 2 volumes, but with 4 volumens it has became a very large and hard to up-date book, it was better when editor was Crenshaw, but with Canale it has became a "heavy" book. I personally don't like it for my residents fellows, they buy the Mercer and the Apley's, and for surgical exposures the Hoppenfeld's. It must become a 2 volumes book, getting the 6th ed. as a sample, and maybe Canale will make a "campbell's yearbook". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Medical   2. Medical / Nursing   3. Orthopedic Surgery   4. Orthopedics   5. Surgery - General   

Customer Reviews (9)

An Excellent, Useful Supplement
This is a well-organized, easy-to-understand tool for teachers and students that will serve as a helpful supplement to broad-based classroom instruction. (This evaluation of Azar's work is from the perspective of teaching EFL.)

For learning and teaching language, linguists now largely agree that "research has failed to crown any single method as superior." At the same time, researchers assert that a multi-entry program is best, one that uses as many different and varied means as possible. Therefore, if we assume that each method and tool used inside or outside the classroom for learning language is just one small piece of a large collage of methods, we will find that nearly every kind of material and method has its place.

To shrug off Azar's 'Basic English Grammar' by claiming that "It doesn't work" is to misunderstand its place in the classroom. For teaching conversation skills, it ought not in any way to be the bread and butter of a teacher's instruction; rather, interaction and dialogue that involve the five senses and (where appropriate) the whole body ought to have foremost priority. A heavy emphasis should be first placed on raw listening comprehension alone, afterwards on speaking; after that reading and finally writing. Once basic language skills have been developed in this way, teachers can introduce more formal instruction in grammar, using various exercises to practice new concepts.

And that is the place for a volume such as Azar's. The exercises are varied (from cloze passages to fill-in-the-blanks to identifying errors to oral conversation to open-ended essays and more), and the book is thick with page after page of exercises that are extensive and repetitive - exactly as language learning should be.

Because most of the exercises are written, in my case I do save this material for use only once or twice a week, or as supplementary homework for students to practice what they have already covered and practiced orally in class. In that case Azar is an excellent reinforcement for what students already know, and need be little more.

Teachers of introductory English will need to be aware that the vocabulary in the exercises may be broader than their students are presently familiar with. Also, those teaching in non-English-speaking countries should be aware that some aspects of American culture found in the exercises may be difficult for their students to understand, and therefore the instructor will need to make adjustments accordingly.

Overall, this is a helpful and enjoyable tool for training in good grammar skills.

It doesn't work
Real language is acquired through comprehensible input (see books by Krashen). All this book will do is help you take grammar tests. It will not improve real spoken or written language.

Basic English Grammar
I have been using Betty Azar's book Basic English Grammar for many years. I find it a perfect supplementary text for other series books that focus on themes and the functional aspect of the language, but do not offer much in the way of drill practice. The fill in the blanks exercises are perfect for homework assignments, especially in the initial stages where practice with the form of the grammar structure needs to be mastered in order to create a foundation for freer expression. The writing assignments are well developed and provide students with a chance to apply on a more personal level the grammar structures they have learned. I also have found that the ORAL:BOOKS CLOSED activities have saved me hours of inventing cues on my own because they allow me to interact with the class as a whole and require that the students process the structures from listening, not the written word. If delivered in a manner that the students don't know who will be responding next, you can engage everyone in using the targeted structures to make a response, even though you call on only a selected number each time. Because drills are necessary, but can become repetitive, I further challenge the students to give their responses to their partners by asking them to "look into their partners eyes" when they respond, instead of speaking while they are reading off the page. I call this "thinking and speaking" because they must use their short term memory instead of their eyes. Hopefully this endeavor will help to move the structures that they are practicing into their long term memory, where it will be available to them outside the classroom. I am especially grateful for all the thought that has been put into the development of this beginning level book in the Azar series, as it has provided me with a strong foundation for teaching the basic structures of grammar. If it were more thematic, however, I would possibly not use it only as a supplementary text. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Education / Teaching   2. English as a Second Language   3. English language   4. General   5. Grammar   6. Language   7. Linguistics   8. Problems, exercises, etc   9. Textbooks for foreign speakers   

Customer Reviews (10)

This book provides a good fundamental knowledge...
There seems to be a question as to the value of teaching students grammar from an academic standpoint. There has also been criticism of the academic nature of the Fundamentals of English Grammar by Betty Azar. I have read Stephen Krashen's books and I agree that students need comprehensible input and not just academic knowledge of English; however, from my experience as a language learner and teacher, I have discovered that students need a combination of both "form and function" of the language. Betty Azar's book, Fundamentals of the English Language, provides the "form" practice that students need to master these structures that carry meaning. After the students do the drill practices in Azar's book, I provide my own extension exercises which allow students to integrate these structures into their every day speech (function).

I have discovered that language at the intermediate level starts to move into the realm of the intangible, which means acquiring language is no longer easy to extrapolate from mere deduction. Language acquisition that comes from the deductive process at this and more advanced levels is often highly inaccurate in both form and meaning as students erroneously try to transform it back into what is familiar to them. Consequently, achieving accuracy becomes a very time-consuming endeavor which is difficult to manage in a large classroom. Given the time constraints on language learning and the increasing demand for understanding and communicating technical information, these "academic" structures are essential for acquiring language that is concise and unadulterated.

To enhance comprehension, I always do my own presentation of the material with my own examples and demonstrations before I ask the students to look at Azar's seemingly "academic" explanation. The oral and written drill practices contained in the book allow students to stay focused on accuracy so they can achieve mastery when they are asked to produce language of their own utilizing these targeted structures. If it is only conversational language that one wants to learn or to teach, sure, try some other book.

There is, however, another reason to teach students grammar structures: grammar tests are one mode the educational institutions use to screen students from higher education. Most, if not all, of the standardized tests given as prerequisites for college study are focused on grammar. (It's what they erroneously call "writing".) I feel to deny a motivated student mastery of the language at that level is denying them the tools they need for achieving success in our present system. Betty Azar's Fundamentals of English Grammar presents these structures in a very organized fashion, and my students who learn the material do very well on these tests and are able to continue with their educational goals.

It is the best book series for teaching English to adults.
This and the other books in the Azar English Grammar series are great tools for teaching adult second language learners. It's really a system they can grow with. It makes my job as an ESL teacher a breeze.

The best book for teaching English grammars to foreigners...
I think this book is really wonderful. I have been teaching ESL/EFL for about eight years, and I have yet to see a book that is so complete. I teach English in Mexico, where everything the students have ever learned comes on a chart, so the charts are a HUGE help. What I most like about this grammar book is the oral exercises. Since I focus mostly on speaking and listening (due to my student's needs, of course) the students generally love the oral drills. I really recommend this book, especially for the oral practice of the grammar points. Any grammar book gives you boring fill in the blank exercises, but this book goes beyond that. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. English language   2. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books   3. General   4. Grammar   5. Language   6. Linguistics   7. Problems, exercises, etc   8. Textbooks for foreign speakers   

Subjects:  1. Grammar   2. Language   3. Language Arts & Disciplines   

Customer Reviews (11)

Deep thoughts
Upon reading Tolstoy, one is always stricken by a sense that the writer is a very wise man with an instinctive grasp of human psychology and behavior. This is also the case in Hadji Murad, the story about a legendary warrior of the Caucasus. The novel is full of insight, but as a story it does not quite meet expectations when one has been told by Harold Bloom that it is nothing less than the the "world's greatest".

Hadji Murad is a warrior and a chieftain, torn between the Russians and Muslim fighters following the imam Shamil. He hates Shamil personally as much as he hates Russians generally, and switches sides if necessary to gain advantage. Despite his conscious cynicism and instrumental rationality, Murad is depicted as more of a force of nature than a modern man. He is an image held up by Tolstoy to demonstrate the virtue of devotion to God (in Hadji's case, Allah), family, and loyal friends. As the opposing image of vanity, pettyness and shallow immorality Tolstoy presents the czar Nikolai. Other Russians of high standing (noblemen and -women and military officers) are similary derided as drunks, adulterers, gamblers and layabouts.

The chapter about the czar meeting the minister of war in St. Petersburg is insightful and very funny, but at the same time a complete detour with regards to the plot. The plot is actually rather insubstantial, and the story moves along without any major twists and turns. To me, this book became more of a presentation of Tolstoy's thought (which, of course, is quite interesting) and less the sublime story I was hoping for.

An excellent story.
Even though this was published shortly after Tolstoy's death in 1910 and with the Chechen war still raging today it is easy to imagine the events that unfold before Hadji Murad occurring recently. Tolstoy's flavorful writing is such that you can almost smell the smoke of the cigarettes and burning wood from the forts and aouls. I will not go over what this book is about since so many other reviews have already done a fine job, but one thing I would like to mention is the excellent introduction by Azar Nafisi. Azar Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, outlines and provides a compact analysis of Hadji Murad as well as some historical information. It is worth reading the introduction before AND after you finish Hadji Murad.

Courageous Warrior
The action takes place in the middle of the 19th century. Then, as now, the Russian army was engaged in a major, and exhausting, offensive in the Caucasus, in the area now known as Chechnya. The hero, Hadji Murad is a Chechen war lord and freedom fighter, who wants to liberate his people from oppression by the Russians. But he first needs to defeat Imam Shamil a Chechen leader, who controls a part of the country, and has imprisoned Hadji Murad's wife and son. In the attempt to do this, he enlists the support of the Russians by defecting to them. Murad informs the Russians that he won't be able to assist them unless he gets their support in getting his family safely back from Shamils grip. Who are (naturally) suspicious of him, but willing to use him as a way of extending their control of the area. Some of them incline to do so, but others fear he might be just spying on them. The action drags on, with no resolution arrived at, until Murad makes his final dash.

The narrators eye become a film camera, meticulously recording the movement of characters, creating the terrain capturing sounds and images in motion, coaxing the reader into following each move around each bend. The world Tolstoy describes has an air of brilliancy about it. He has the ability to portray the most mundane scenes and ordinary gestures as if they have just been discovered by him. In the text Hadji Murad moves from Chechen village to the Russian military posts, from ballroom and houses to the woods and open fields, all the scenes arise magically.

On the while it was a fun read and very descriptive in details. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction   2. Literary   3. Fiction / General   

Subjects:  1. Cultural studies   2. English   3. Iran   4. Literary studies: general   5. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Language   

Customer Reviews (2)

Baisc english Grammer,book A
Basic English Grammer,BOOk A by Bertty Schrampfer Aza

Azar is the best of what's available.
Azar (as the author and text are called) is very good at explaining fundamentals of English grammar, and it is very thourough in the amount of examples and exercises it provides: fill-in-the-blank and oral exercises fill the book. The one complaint I have with this text as an ESL application is its lack of thematic units, which are very important to comprehension of subject matter. Being able to apply skills in a one-theme context keeps learning easier and less confusing. Use this text until something better comes this way (such as the forthcoming text by Karen Russikoff et al). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. English language   2. Grammar   3. Language   4. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy   5. Linguistics   6. Problems, exercises, etc   7. Textbooks for foreign speakers   

Customer Reviews (3)

Great textbook for ESL classes
I have been using this book to teach grammar classes for ESL students and my intermediate/advanced students' grammar skills have improved a lot. This book has a lot of excercises, which makes this book practical as a course material, as it provides students with plenty of homework where they learn to apply the concepts they learned in the book. I highly recommend this book for whoever teaches English grammar to foreign students.

It's one the best grammar I'v seem !
It's easy and usful, so that I could improve my grammar in classromm and at home by myself. As a ESL student, I don't like the grammar book that full of technology because the book like that only drives me crazy and headache. It a very proper book for ESL students.

Mis-titled books
These are exercise books, pure waste of time and money. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Education   

Subjects:  1. Education   

Customer Reviews (1)

It's a Classic!
I've been teaching ESL for 16 years and developmental writing and reading, college level, for 10 years, and I strongly recommend Betty Azar's Chartbook as a reference book. It is written for the ESL audience, but I also use it in my writing instruction for native speakers.

I recommend it highly for ESL speakers who have finished their formal ESL instruction or who are in an advanced level. They should use it the same way they do a dictionary or thesaurus - as a reference book. There are numerous grammar explanations that are easy to understand. Azar provides several lists that students can use as a reference if the grammar rule/pattern is an obscure or difficult one. It has a series of charts for students to visualize the actual time that the different English verb tenses cover. Azar covers a great deal of material, but the book is only 140 pages total - small and thin. That makes it convenient to carry.

I also recommend it highly as a teaching aid when instructing native speakers in reading and writing so that teachers can more fully understand English grammar from the ESL perspective. When I teach developmental writing to college students, I find that I am oftentimes dealing with native speaker dialect issues, so an ESL explanation can be more appropriate. In addition, there are many ESL students in Freshman Composition courses, so the instructor needs to know how to help those students.

The Chartbook is a reference book. If you want the exercises, get the regular text or the workbooks. Azar has been criticized for presenting grammar out of context. I believe that is a valid, although not a shattering, criticism of her main texts. However, this is not supposed to be that sort of book. It is supposed to be a reference book, and the grammar will be out of context.

I recommend this book unreservedly.

Karen Keyworth ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General   2. Language   3. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy   4. Linguistics   5. Reference   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics   2. Business/Economics   3. Careers - General   4. Careers / Job Opportunities   5. Customer relations   6. Management - General   7. Sales & Selling - General   8. Selling   

Subjects:  1. Cataract Extraction   2. Cornea   3. Eye   4. Medical   5. Ophthalmologic Surgical Proced   6. Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures   7. Ophthalmological Surgery   8. Ophthalmology   9. Surgery   

Customer Reviews (1)

Fundamentals of English Grammar
Es uno de los mejores libros que he obtenido para aprender la gramatica fundamental en Inglés. Yo habia realizado cursos de Inglés en institutos Educativos especializados, pero luego mi profesión me exigió hablar y escribir el Inglés perfectamente, entonces decidi contratar un profesional para clases particulares y me dijo que comprara este libro. Pero sorpresa la mia cuando comenze mis clases me di cuenta las fallas y la gran cantidad de dudas que tenia. Bueno este libro me llevo a completar mi ingles en un corto tiempo y me ayudo a perfeccionarlo ya que explica muy claramente la formacion y las reglas de todos los tiempos verbales y ademas con ejemplos y ejercicios. Sin dejar de mencionar el Workbook del mismo autor, asi que lo recomiendo para todas aquellas personas que quieran mejorar su Ingles.

Lic. Melissa Barrios Maracaibo, Venezuela ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Language   

Customer Reviews (7)

CUTE BUT THATS ABOUT IT
This is a cute book full of little tidbits of information that really do nothing more than amuse yourself. Most of the excuses in the book will never work for anybody. There are some tips and a few excuses that the author makes reference to that may help you but overall, I was disappointed with the book. The cartoons are funny and cute. It was well put together also. Sorry I could not be very helpful with a recommendation but its not worth it.
Thanks.

WORTH EVERY PENNY!
Excellent book, very funny reading! Definitely worth your while if you want to know what works or what may work in your situation.

S[peeding Excuses that Work!
I have purchased a copy of "Speeding Excuses that Work:..." What a great book - valuable for drivers of any age. It is written in an entertaining fashion and has an unbelievable number of ploys that are / would be effective. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General   2. Law   3. Legal Reference / Law Profession   4. Practical Guides   5. UrbanState & Local Government   

Subjects:  1. Central America   2. Cookery, Latin American   3. Cooking   4. Cooking / Wine   5. Regional & Ethnic - South American & Latin American   6. South America   7. COOKING / South American & Latin American   

Subjects:  1. General   2. Intifada, 1987-   3. Middle East   4. Photo Essays   5. Pictorial works   6. Travel - Foreign   

Subjects:  1. Education   2. English language   3. Grammar   4. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy   5. Linguistics   6. Problems, exercises, etc   7. Textbooks for foreign speakers