| AN INCOMPLETE EDUCATION |  | Author: William Wilson Judy Jones
Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS
Category: Book
Buy Used: $35.25
Used (3) from $35.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  89 reviews
Format: Import
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 696
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
ISBN: 0044402961
EAN: 9780044402961
ASIN: 0044402961
Publication Date: 1988
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Hardback with D/J. GOOD READING COPY. Ex-library. Delivered from the UK in 10-14 days.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 84 more reviews...
 A great gift item October 4, 2008
I purchased one for my husband who loved it. It is a general overview of many topics and is as much fun as it is educational.
I will be purchasing 3 more as Christmas gifts for those on my list who "have everything."
 Not Accurate September 16, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are things in this book that are inaccurate. I can only speak to the religious section because it is a subject I know well but I know others who have complained about the inaccuracies in the science section. For example, the author mentions that the Hadith (written traditions of the Prophet Muhammad) are widely accepted to be unauthentic. In fact, there is a whole science of deciphering whether or not a hadith is authentic, with many books rating thousands of Hadith. These books are so detailed as to include the character, education, public opinion, etc. of all the people who have transmitted a particular hadith. Needless to say, the subject isn's as simple as the author would have the reader believe. There were also some problems in the Zorastrian section that I don't really want to go into now. I think that with a book of this nature, accuracy is paramount so I would consider such mistakes unacceptable. I would venture a guess and say that perhaps the authors themselves have an incomplete education.
Very Disappointing September 12, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As someone who has read and loved history for many decades, I thought this book would make a great addition to my collection, but I was very disappointed. Much of the information is piece-meal and incomplete, just enticing the reader a bit and then leaving them wondering where the rest of the story is. I was also surprised by the frequent and glaring anti-conservative messages, which were often unrelated to the topics being discussed. I understand that historians are human and have political leanings, but in this book too much opinion tainted the historical message. I was hoping for an informative new take on the topics included, and as I say, I was disappointed.
Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is a much better read.
not very useful July 20, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
i was very dissapointed with the information in this book, it was a boring read as well.
 Glib, clever, cynical, and nearly empty; May 18, 2008
19 out of 28 found this review helpful
This is that rare book that is not merely bad, but despicable. Sadly, it serves as exemplar of the very problem it claims to attack, which according to the glib introduction, is "a world of bits and bytes, of reruns and fast forwards, of information overloads and significant shortfalls."
The authors are too much in love with their own cleverness to provide the curious reader with lucid information, preferring to sabotage clarity with cynicism and loading the text with parenthetical references to pop culture, to the reader, and of course, to the authors themselves.
"Five Composers Whose Names Begin with the Letter P" is a pithy chapter head for bookstore browsing, but should a more complete education really include Poulenc and not Debussy? And if Puccini was lucky enough to have the right initial, why not explain what makes his music perennially popular, rather than making the gratuitous observation that Verdi fans may find him vulgar? Now in its third presumably profitable edition, this book is that most vulgar of accomplishments, the triumph of marketing over content. Puccini's operas, in contrast, are awash in gorgeous melody.
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