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Customer Reviews (4)

Lux keeps on keeping on
Thomas lux is indeed genius.He has developed a style that is wholly unique and identifiable.This collection is a little lighter on the oddball-moments-in-history material that he has become known for (which may make his proclamation against this kind of "dour study" in his poem "Debate Regarding the Permissibility of Eating Mermaids" in The Cradle Place a kind of benchmark in his career), but a lot else that identifies Lux's work is to be found here--his ability to set premise and explore (like "The Republic of Anasthesia" and one of my favorites in this collection, "The Utopian Wars"), his tenderness towards others ("The Gentleman Who Spoke Like Music"), his intrigue with the ramifications of violence ("Invective") as well as his humor ("Apology to My Neighbors for Beheading Their Duck") and even the occasional treatise on the nature of poetry ("The First Song").As ever, Lux is thoughtful and creates poetic worlds that pursue a dream-like logic.Like his brother from another mother, Stephen Dobyns, Lux creates off-putting situations but often brings them around to familiar territory, which is simply the constancy of the human soul to be barbaric and sweet.This is a collection to read not in order but haphazardly, letting each poem stand in its own muddy water rather to look at as a train.

But enough stupid metaphors.Lux is an exquisite read, though I did find that the collection was overall a little too controlled, a little too well thought out--the result of this is that too few poems take the kind of amazing and dangerous leaps like he did in poems like "Wife Hits Moose."An average Lux poem beats the tar out of many contemporaries on a cloudy day, so I still recommend this collection highly, but isn't quote the kind of collection that will instill the awe that Lux is due.

Lucid, unusual, witty, accessible and profound poetry
God Particles by Thomas Lux is his eleventh book of poetry.His verses contain rather striking and unusual images that disturb or amuse at first and then coalesce into feelings more lasting than the initial reaction. Look at some of the titles in this collection: "Hitler's slippers," "Sleep ambulance," "Stink eye," "Gravy boat goes over the waterfall," "Jesus' baby teeth," "Apology to my neighbors for beheading their duck," "The deathwatch beetle," "Sex after funerals," "Toad on golf tee," and the title poem, "God particles."

The words that flow out of these striking titles make us traverse through landscapes that are vivid and well-crafted. The abstract world of poetry is absent from the lines that saunter through (natural) elements that have pleasure for children (and adults): ants, bees, stink eye, "peacocks in twilight", toads and moles. Lux hunts for words and metaphors in realms that most poets would not venture into: "the harmonic scalpel", " the republic of anesthesia", "vinegar on chalk" (all poem titles). His similes are as uncommon as "His thoughts like a deck of cards hit/ by a howitzer. (from "Puzzlehead").

The unmistakable skill of Thomas Lux lies in creating an aftertaste, which is like the coolness felt after water evaporates away. As we discover the tenderness with which he deals with human frailties, we realize that all this satire, wit and imagery is just there to make us stop and listen. As we scrape off the last words of a poem, we sense how subtly Lux commanded compassion, tolerance, morality and honesty to float into our hearts and minds. He propels us into his poems as if we were to watch the gladiators fight to death. After the initial thrill of watching the struggle is gone, we are left with an experience or an heartache, maybe sympathy for the loser, admiration for the skill of a fighter and maybe even disgust at the bloodshed, that seemed entertaining only moments back.

Let me take a step back here, and confess that my admiration for Thomas Lux is influenced by my endless regard for him as a teacher and a mentor. In Indian tradition, we believe that every seeker (of knowledge, truth or beauty) needs a Guru to guide his way. For countless students like me at Georgia Institute of Technology, Sarah Lawrence, Warren Wilson and numerous other places, Thomas Lux has provided exactly that mixture of care, knowledge and guidance. For this very reason, I always refer to him as Gurudev (Gurudev means teacher-God, and we refer to Tagore as Gurudev). In the opening poem of this collection, Gurudev Lux writes (poem is dedicated to Peter Davidson): "The gentleman who spoke like music/ was kind to me/ though he did not have to be./ Who brought into the world a thousand books./ (Right there: a life well lived.)" The poem continues: "Who corrected my spelling, gently and/ my history too, who once/ or twice a year/ would buy me lunch/ and later let me leave his office/ with shopping bag of books to read." Our beloved Gurudev has nurtured poetry in seekers precisely like the gentleman in his poem, and this kindness and compassion form an essential backdrop to his writing.The language is simple, yet profound. The word weaving taught and presented in these poems makes them accessible to everyone, which has ever been the hallmark of the work by Thomas Lux.

When I first read poems by Thomas Lux (New and Selected Poems), I frowned at the mention of library of skulls, lake of snakes, shooting off a bird at close range and about sex in history. I was in fact perplexed by those weird, `unpoetic' references. I wasn't too excited by reading poems that were lucid, tangible and written as free verse. But when I set the book down, I found myself meditating on the thoughts seeded by his poems, and opening pages to re-read them. The aspects of life that remain somewhat unspoken of in the ritualistic diet of abstract, obscure poems served to us these days, were surprisingly alive in his poems. Now I realize that his poems have a rhythm, a music that is felt when they are read aloud. Working class people, small town people, hunters and army soldiers all unfold their daily worries or joys into his poems. While the idioms are very American, they speak of emotions and aspirations of all human beings. I have found at least two dozen poems that translate really well into Hindi and resonate with Indian themes (e. g. "A Little Tooth").

Typically a poem meanders through similes, metaphors, line breaks and syllables like a river that has a source, a terrain claimed by it, and an ocean of understanding expected from the reader. Most poets thrive on either an intellectualism or erudition associated with academic circles, or they thrive on a hobo lifestyle, where they extract potent lines from a mist or a fog of highly unconventional, unworldly life. Poems by either of these schools of thought are perhaps most apt for reading by their followers. Hence even though a common man, at times, is amazed, confused or startled by these verses, these contain emotions, examples and philosophies beyond his realm. The presence of occult, obscure, obscene, Oriental and/ or opiated ramblings does not always amount to original and good art. Great art can be extracted by reinventing or reinterpreting the obvious or the ordinary. To illustrate an idea simply, to present an emotion that resonates with feelings of a the non-literary, 'untrained' majority, to produce a sonnet or a song that is deep in meaning and yet contains everyday thoughts and objects, I believe, requires the greatest scholarship. Even though the poems of Lux revel in absurdity of the modern life, by a clever mix of humor and satire, through understatement and careful attention to craft, they leave the reader with a clear idea and a sense of understanding and joy. For this one reason, he is a poet who will ever be read, and should be read.

The poems of Lux are often full of self-effacing humor. In a poem titled Invective, he says: "I pray your son wish to be a poet." He laughs at himself and at his community by writing: " Vatricide/ i.e. the murder (metaphorical) of poets,/ is not such a bad idea in some cases:/ the case of the poet who put fish poison in her poems/ the case of the poet who put his life,/ every part of it, over/ and over again, in his poems." His satire is telling in "Autobiographophobia", where he conjures an absurd biography for a poet. Judge the poem, and not the poet is somewhat unacceptable to the gossip-mongers that abound in public and in media. The dense poetry and prose that is celebrated by intelligentsia gets satirized in "The General Law of Oblivion", where he says: "Though one cannot deny/ its genius, Mr. Proust's prose/ kills me, it loops me over and out." Poems of Lux have endless lessons from history, served to us as humorous anecdotes on one hand, and as parodies of whimsical present on the other. So in the same collection we found an account of a Greek poet (second only to Homer) as well as a poem about Jesus baby teeth on sale!

At times, his poems seem irreverent: like talking about Jesus baby teeth or "the Buddhists quick-change from bright orange/ to camo robes, pointing their howitzers eastward" or where he says "God's expository writing lacks lucidity/ and he or his scribes often write sloppily"Yet if you put these lines in perspective, read them in the context of the poem or the argument, these very lines display a respect for humanity and the divine, that wants to help us transcend our limited, orthodox or nonsecular thinking. In other words, if there is a flame or two here or there, it is to light or corner. I will leave you with the exemplary first three lines from the title poem, "God Particles":

"God explodes, supernovas, and down upon the whole planet
a tender rain of him falls
on every cow, ladle, leaf, human, ax handle, swing set."

which give way to the following lines at the end:

"...and He wanted each of us,
and all things we touch
and are touched by,
to have a tiny piece of Him,
though we are unqualified
for even the crumb of a crumb."

The Biggest Bang
Full disclosure: I am a student of Tom Lux and I greatly like the man. That said, I'm pleased to report that this book represents a return to form by one of America's finest and most big-hearted poets. Over the years, Lux has written a majority of his poems in an ostensibly accessible style, one that draws the reader in (seduces actually) with sly humor, surprising asides and a gentle manner. Almost each of these poems suffers a turn near its close that turns the lyric towards serious matters or a philosophic reflection that seems inevitable and somehow surprising at the same time. The manner and degree of invention that appeared so fresh and inventive in "Split Horizon", "The Drowned River" and "Half-Promised Land", turned a little coy and self-knowing in recent years, the desire to entertain overwhelming the need to connect. Always, however, the technical arsenal of his writing remained impressive, the perfect line-endings, the never-wasted words, the emphasis on fresh language, the gift for perfect titles.

In "God Particles" Lux tames his recent style with an infusion of surrealism and surreptitious theology. As a result, the poems have a degree of gravitas, a weight and mystery that his many readers have not previously seen, especially if they missed reading "The Blind Swimmer", a 1996 collection of early poems from 1970 to 1975. The poems in "The Blind Swimmer" are typical of their period, fashionably surrealistic, somewhat opaque and not always applied to important issues. Lux has turned sixty and the poems in "God Particles" marry the style of the early poems to the ultimate issues of human existence, love and mortality, social dissonance and war, the existence of God and the nature of the universe. It's a good match. Here is a brief love poem:

Early Blur

occurs, I say to Mary, when we catch the outline
of something and think we know it
and then we fill in the parts we don't see
with hope. I say this
to Mary, Mary of the late slant light of autumn,
Mary by the lake of the wolverines,
Mary by the lake beneath which drowned a wall,
Mary of the first snow, I say to Mary,
I say: I am the river
and you are its blue, burning current.

Other tender moments include his tribute to Peter Davison, the late editor of the Atlantic Monthly ("The Gentleman Who Spoke Like Music") and "Sugar Spoon", a song for his parents. There are poems about literature that say something about memory and our common end ("The General Law of Oblivion"), poems about human cruelty and the hunger of the sword, and lyrics about theology ("God Particles", "The Joy-Bringer"). There are poems that are humorous, silly and heartbreaking, sometimes all at once ("And The Mice Made Marriage All Night"); the range is extremely wide. It's a wonderful book, the kind we expect from a major poet.

De-Lux
I own other books by Thomas Lux and this one is by far my favorite. While the quirky sense of humor his fans love is still here, he also reaches a consistent depth with this compliation that--poem by poem--leaves an impression no reader can ignore. (Kind of like Chinese water torture...you're not sure which drop does the person in since each is so simple yet so strong. I mean the simile in a good way, of course.)

This book was a pleasure to read (even my non-poem-friendly husband enjoyed hearing them read aloud) and I respect Lux for taking on such a risky topic as the size of God--therefore seeing us as the particles we truly are. It's sobering. Not all of the poems in the collection are about religion, but they are each weighty for their own purposes.

Lux sucessfully acheived discussing religon in poetry with this book, walking the tightrope between doubt and blind faith. He had his eyes wide open, and I think many readers will say the same once they have finished it. ... Read more

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One of the New York Public Library's 25 "Books to Remember" in 1997 Lux comments on the absurd, the pathetic, and the commonplace in our culture, writing with compassion as well as satire. He is "singular among his peers in his ability to convey with a deceptive lightness the paradoxes of human emotion," says Publishers Weekly, and Robert Hass, in the Washington Post Book World, takes special note of Lux's "bitter wit, the kind of irony that comes with a quick, impatient intelligence."Amazon.com Review
Writing in the Georgia Review, Peter Stittdescribed Thomas Lux's writing as a "mingling of humor andsincerity," capable of both "ferocious anger and deeptenderness." These seemingly irreconcilable traits marry in Lux'sbest poems, which you'll find in this collection. Consider, forinstance, "Travelling Exhibit of Torture Instruments." Luxis overcome by a wave of reactions to the instruments: he is awed bytheir genius, their effectiveness; he is obviously bitter about thedepths of human cruelty; he is darkly amused by the absurdity of itall; he is bone-crushingly tired and sad at the seeming futility oflife. The ending of the poem might contain any, or all of thesereactions: "It seems most times men did this or that, / soterrible to him or her, / it was because God willed it so. / Or, atleast, they thought He did." Lux is eclectic and brilliant, witha sharp mind and a good ear. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Not formatted properly DON'T ORDER
Bought this eBook because I happened across the print version in a colleague's library and loved it. I was very happy to see it listed, but upon downloading it I discovered that it was not scalable and in very small print (almost too small to see!). It seems that the poems are stored like PDF's or picture files, so they can be "zoomed," but only slightly and are still too small to read. I have a request for a refund in and I hope Amazon makes good on this...

an unsung master
Every poet, published and journal-scratching, can learn something from Lux.The funny thing is, I don't think he poses himself to be the epitome of American poetry.This is solid, amazing work.He should be read in the schools.He should be read at the beginning of every hockey game.This book should be owned by you.

Watching a poet grow and mature...
Reading this collection one gets a sense of how Lux has changed over the years and how those changes have affected his poetry. His keen sense of focus, his delight in learning something in a poem, the playful titles... all remain, but the polish, the craftmanship gets better and better. Thomas in print, Tom when you meet him and hear him read - you will laugh at his reading, picking up lines you missed yourself... Try starting with his poem "The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently" and see if he does not make you aware of that voice AS YOU READ the very poem about that voice. Son of a milkman, read "The Milkman and his Son" and then one to his unborn daughter (p.113) and then her little girl rhymes in "Criss Cross Apple Sauce"... then pause a moment to consider his own childhood in "Refrigerator,1957"...So, it's all from his own life, you ask - another of those confessional poets of the 90's. Not so, says I - find a complete bio in these pages and you are under the influence... it's from YOUR life, I say - and mine, of course. Chronological? Hardly. Even the poems start with the new and look back.Writing this here on the computer I am losing my thoughts because I am getting caught up in the book sitting beside me... read the book, read a few poems each day, make copies for the uninitiated of the poem he wrote for them. I cannot give it a 10 because Lux would not give it a 10 - where could he go from there?

Rage and Rapture- thePoetry of Thomas Lux

Tom Lux is the best-kept secret in American Poetry.

Has reading poetry ever poetry frustrated you?Were you taught poetry is some kind of impressive sounding puzzle only a specialist could understand?Well, you must read"New and Selected Poems 1975-1995", because these poems will confound your experience with boring, academic or overly allusive verse. To "get" these poems, you won't need an overpaid theorist to explain them to you, all you need is your experience as an every-day human being.

It's the poet's job to bring the poems alive, make them clear, and engage the reader, and Lux does all this with verve.The subjects of the poems are wide ranging, (as skimming the above list of titles will reveal) but Lux never shallowly uses a subject for its shock value; all the poems honestly and intently explore.The diction is sharply focused, the metaphor surprising, and the sound harmonious and pleasant to read (yes you will actually enjoy saying the poems), but the key to Thomas Lux's poetry is the voice, the resonant from-your-chest, angry, needling, amused, serious, tender and wry voice.

But here I am, telling you what the poetry is like, not what why its valuable.

You should read this book, aloud and often: its music will please your mouth, the subjects will intrigue you, and the poems as poems, whole utterances, will make you feel very much alive.

RJ McCaffery ... Read more

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Beauty in the Mind
Keetje Kuipers writes lovely, but often jarring, plain language poetry about the West, the East and parts in between. And she writes, intimately, about herself.The result is a very subtle but immediate verse.I want to read more!

Interesting, great first effort
I was lucky enough to hear Kuipers read from Beautiful in the Mouth a few weeks ago, which only enhanced the effectiveness of her poems.

In Beautiful in the Mouth, Kuipers uses unexpected and compelling language to examine the tensions between the different places she has lived as well as to explore the body. ... Read more

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The Street of Clocks, Thomas Lux's first all-new collection since 1994, is a significant addition to the work of an utterly original, highly accomplished poet. The poems gathered here are delivered by a narrator who both loves the world and has intense quarrels with it. Often set against vivid landscapes - the rural America of Lux's childhood and unidentified places south of the border - these poems speak from rivers and swamps, deserts and lawns, jungles and the depths of the sea. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Clocks Are Ticking
THE STREET OF CLOCKS is all about aging, and by now the middle-aged author who once had the gift of youth in the palm of his hand is feeling death's nostrils breathing warm patterns of air on the back of his neck, and on even more intimate places.When you think of Sarah Lawrence and you think of "poetry" your mind stumbles on the name of Thomas Lux, for he's been there for so long that some younger students weren't even born when he started his lucrative tenure there.He can be hilarious, as when he describes humans as being the only animal who makes quotes marks with their fingers to indicate sarcasm, "bewilderment and awe."The young, in particular, warm to Lux because he sees the world from their point of view, as an infinitely strange arrangement of pleasures and tribulations, never to be exhausted.

This volume took six years to write, and it shows in the repeated thrusts and mechanical coughs of the verse style.Contrary to previous reviewers, I did not find Lux's language always specific.Sometimes it seemed vague, as though he were trying to describe dreamlike experiences or states of feeling for which language does not suffice.Have you ever read the German poet Stefan George?Sometimes, or so it seems to this reviewer, George was born again in upstate New York or wherever it was and suffered through the typical milkman's son's life until he found Sarah Lawrence the way george found his Maximin.His writing is filled with violence, like "Rommel's Asparagus," the punji-like sticks which ripped the underbellies out of enemy pilots.

All in all, he should stop it with the long hair, that makes him looks like he was part of ABBA.

Vultures and livers
This won't come as a surprise to those who know Lux's work, but *The Street of Clocks* is very good. This is, of course, also the guy who gave us "Commercial Leech Farming Today" (so much for those who say there's no new subject matter), so it always amazes me how many people don't know his work. But you should, all of you. I don't know anybody else who writes like Lux.

Describing his work, unfortunately, is more difficult than flinging around general superlatives. Often weird subject matter which nonetheless hooks into the same stuff we're all feeling: check. Unexpected vocabulary: check. But those features might be thought to equal only novelty (or at best a quirky vision appreciated only by a few isolated fellow nutcases) if it weren't for all the other stuff.

Other stuff. There's the voice, which you couldn't mistake in a thousand; in a period when an awful lot of poets sound an awful lot alike, Lux's voice is distinctive. (I'm not making this up.) That whole James-Wright-minor-melancholy tone that's so prevalent in folks coming out of workshops is absent in his poems, though it's not hard to see that Wright was an influence some way back. And there's the craft; Lux's line breaks are thought out in a way that too many poets' don't seem to be, and he manages formal verse as handily as free. (I think I'm quoting Lewis Turco when I remark that free verse isn't; and Lux knows it.) And there's the specificity which characterizes all good poets: to quote one of my favorites (from *Half-Promised Land*), "Yes!--it does, it does feel exactly fine/ crawling ashore, emptying the boots of water, and frankly/ here's to the clouds the color of bone,/ here's to the indecipherable path home,/ here's to the worm's sweat in the loam..."

See what I mean? That's sufficiently specific to crack your eardrum, with not an abstraction in the lot; and it is, believe it or not, formal verse (I read a Lux sestina without realizing what it was for at least four stanzas). And it's strange enough to make you laugh, a function which distracts you from noticing it's sufficiently (and simultaneously) poignant and celebratory to hook out your liver, a pang you notice just too late to forestall it. (Speaking of livers, there's a poem in *The Street of Clocks* with a lucky vulture in it. Now you know you can't pass that up.) And you can't imagine anyone else putting it just the way Lux does, but you know just what it means, and it makes you feel, in fact, at home. Right here. Seriously, folks, this stuff is good, and it's accessible, and people who hate poetry often like it anyhow. Buy it early and often.

Take Your Time
Tom Lux's new book, Street of Clocks, allows its reader the luxury of a slow stroll down a familiar and comforting path.Its language is concise and uncomplicated, and its subject matter is clever, if not profound.Lux deals with such issues as fatherhood, citizenship, and personal insight without being overbearing or forceful.In fact, it is a delight to take your time wading through these thoughtful poems, like stepping into a cool fountain on a hot summer's day;be sure not to get lost in the shiny glitter that comes from some of the metallic detail of his poems, for it is sometimes blinding.This collection is many years in the making, but well worth the wait.Be sure to include this hardback in your permanent collection. ... Read more

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4-star review for a 5-star poet
I am a big fan of Thomas Lux's work--when his work is sharp, he thrusts you immediately into a new quantum universe which is sometimes familiar, or sometimes not.Either way, it quickly establishes its own rules and explores those rules to some human conclusion.Poems of his like "Wife Hits Moose" or "Baby, Still Crying, Swallowed by A Snake" quickly explore the new territory they have established to finally make some point about faith or hopelessness.

Unfortunately, the poems that I just named are not ones that appear in this particular collection.I am always glad to see a new collection by Lux, for I know that the situations of his poems are going to continually surprise me, whether they are horses who die mid-gallop or mummies about to be ground into powder for other uses.But a few poems in here fail to reach those human conclusions that really mark Lux's best work.At one point, we find the speaker of a poem chastising himself for the kind of historical obsession Lux himself has shown in his poems, but this conclusion is unsatisfying and seems almost the work of a novice, which Lux is not.

A marvellous poem in this collection is "To Help the Monkey Cross the River," which in the end produces a hypothetical choice as wise and as wide as implication as Ginger or MaryAnn?, or Steak or Shrimp?This poem is a fine example of the pure genius of Lux, but these examples are more scant in this book.

I still look forward to the next Lux collection but am not fully satisfied with this particular production.

And he teaches poetry?
So many other deserving books should be published with Houghton Mifflin before the drivel of Cradle Place.

Maybe it's time to stop breathing
Thomas Lux is at it again with another collection of insipid poems. I almost laughed myself to tears over his "invisible sliver of a body mite". I read the other reviews on "The cradle place" and can't decide whether these people are lost in their own egos or simply dull-witted. In either case, someone needs to turn off the proverbial ambassadorial light and shut the door.

Dark, sad, squirrely
This poet must be drowning in his own sorrows and hoping to take the whole world with him. From the tone of the work, he's on a spin to the bottom never to return to normalcy. In truth, it scares me to think there are men out there like this who want to fool you into thinking they don't live with insecurity by showing how tough they are. Instead, they are transparent. It is the one virtue of this work. It reveals a weak character.

some good work, not his best
I bought this book at full price in a chain bookstore because I think Lux should get all the recognition coming to him.His selected poetry is masterful, The Street of Clocks astounding, and there are some damn fine poems in here, but in all I don't think this work snaps-to like they did in other collections.Boatloads of mummies, and even a self-chastisement about his neurotic history probing, but in all he doesn't quite pull off what he did in poems like The Man Into Whose Yard and others.Lux is quite a worker, though, and I will snatch up his next collection with unrelenting ardor. ... Read more

Product Description
Thomas Lux is the author of such books as Sunday, Half Promised Land, and The Drowned River. His poetry has been fulfilling every expectation by penetrating deeper into the plain-spoken, saturnine, witty language that he virtually invented. In his latest work, Lux's level gaze, cool talk, weird rhythms, and quirky humor place him in a special territory - entirely original - of contemporary American poetry. These new poems, like Split Horizon itself, have unusual titles (Loudmouth Soup, Virgule,Each Startled Touch Returns the Touch Unstartled) and circle around their subjects in strange ways, most often dealing with the lonely oddity of the individual in a society that inflexibly ignores individuality. ... Read more

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The purpose of the science of complexity is to provide, if not a unified approach, at least useful tools to tackling complex problems in various scientific domains. Generally, complexity is considered a fundamental challenge to the reductionist approach in science as a whole and to its ideas of certainty and randomness.

The overall behaviour of a complex system is different from and more than the sum of its parts. The behaviour of non-linear complex systems depends on the interaction (often with retroactive effects) among its constituent parts and not so much (or not only) on the characteristics of these parts themselves; the sum of the behaviour of single parts does not necessarily provide us with an explanation of the aggregate behaviour of a system.

All this is true for economic systems. These are based on the activities of single economic agents. Each individual can obtain only partial knowledge that is focussed around its "world" (local information) and react to external shocks in different ways (local rationality).

The aim of this book is to provide an overview to recent developments in theory and empirical research that view economic systems as complex phenomena whose aggregate dynamics can often not be inferred from its microscopic (microeconomic) building blocks. The collection of papers represented in this volume is dedicated to the memory of Massimo Salzano, who has been a fervent and eloquent advocate of the complexity approach.

The contributions have been presented at a conference held to celebrate Massimo’s 60^th birthday (Ecople -Economics: From Tradition of Complexity, Capri, 2-4 June, 2006), one year before he unexpectedly passed away in 2007.

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The Golden Attitude Beyond Positive Mental AttitudeYour attitude can be exactly what you choose for it to be. There is a way of finding a solution to any problem. Learn this concise simple mental exercise. Think of this exercise as a tool to be used in good times or bad. It's a way of squeezing the most good out of any situation. There is always something good to be realized. We often don't see it because we are not looking for it. Learn this method, what it can be used for, when it can be used, where to use it, how and why it works.Thomas C Lux has served as a consultant andtrainer for a wide range of companies. Throughclear communication, and his enthusiastic andhighly motivational approach, Tom offers insight to his topics. Tom acquired his communication skills from his M.A. in Communication and Training and his experience as a motivational speaker and college professor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Change your attitide...Change your life.
Some years ago my brother offered me a job as a salesman.I jumped at the opportunity since I was working in a factory six days a week. I was excited about the job andexpected everything would be positive.I soon learned that problems and difficultiespoppped up daily but I was determined to work through them.Through many seminars andcountless positive attitude books I was able to make the transition and it changed my life.This bookcan be a game changer for your life.I wish I had this book back then. It is an eye opener on how to change your attitude and acheive more success and happiness in all areas of your life. Great for the economic times we are in.
For a preview check out the website [...]

Golden Words to Live By
The Golden Attitude, a motivational book by Tom Lux,gives some powerful advice for changing the way you react to negative situations and for attracting the things your want instead of the things you don't want.Mr. Lux backs up his suggestions with scientific studies and personal examples.This book is the perfect gift for family and friends that think negatively or don't handle setbacks well.

When Wisdom Knocks - Answer
My 85 year old mother and I enjoy The Golden Attitude by Tom Lux very much for it's kind hearted, humorous and relevant perspectives and stories. Thank you very much.

An Essential Tool
After reading and appreciating the value of this book "The Golden Attitude" and the fact that I have conducted Motivational and Sales Training Seminars in every major city in the US, and presently work as a private consultant, I would highly recommend this book for every person, business person or speaker at any rally or company function.What a great tool to inspire, equip and motivate yourself and your people!Jack Stanley

great motivator book
Tom Lux looks for good in everything.Wish I had followed his 3 step program years ago.I recommended it to my friends. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A poetry book that should be on everybodys library!!
I love poetry and this book definitely stands on the top 10 poetry books of all time. It basically finds the universal art on the peoples everyday activities, and that is achieved with and elegant poetry styleand breathtaking viewpoints of human life. If you are just curious and you're not sure which one of those poems to start readingfirst, do yourself a favor and start with "A Little Tooth", is a short poem which I have read many many times, and each time make me laugh and cry. Happy reading!

A RELOOK AT THE ORDINARY
I must confess that I am not a poetry person and in all honesty had not heard of the author. The enthusiasm of one of his fans lead me to search out books by him. The Drowned River was the book I found and never again will I neglect poetry.

You (as well as I) will be impressed with how the author takes ordinary things we see and experience in life and turns them into profound reflections. The ordinary is transformed into the extra-ordinary. His use of words calls us to attention of the familiar and demands that we move beyond the surface of what we see.

Shoveling snow, seedy motels, swingsets, donuts and shoveling snow are the varied themes covered in this volume. What in the world do these common place things have in common? Certainly they can't hold any meaning. Think so? Thomas Lux will put you to the challenge. He is serious, playful, introspective and playful in poking fun at human foilbles. Come along the poetic journey with him in the drowned river. ... Read more

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"...in these poems, (there is) a family of12 with the mother, father, and speaker as the prime characters....In a brilliant crown ofsonnets, its most important character, the speaker's brother, who died asuicide, by drowning, fully emerges. The strictness of the form is neverobtrusive--it just does its job...to give a frame, a tension, something for thepowerful emotion to work off of or against, thus increasing its powerful sentiment...By writing this book...Teresa Carson has rescued her family and her brother. That a book of poems can do this is a miracle." --ThomasLux

"These poems...convey with beauty and power the emotions that pour from loss, love, trauma, reconciliation and healing.It is difficult in an academic article or aclinical process to capture the full measure of what it is we seek to heal. Butin these powerful poems...one can connect to a fragment of the pain, andhope, of Teresa Carson. Her words can teach. Teresa Carson is wise. She shares her wisdom in this remarkable book."
--Bruce D. Perry, M.D.,Ph.D. Senior Fellow, The Child Trauma Academy ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a haunting and honest debut
In "Elegy for the Floater," Teresa Carson has a created a haunting yet utterly real portrait of her long, struggle-filled life. Speaking with a holds-no-barred frankness, Carson succeeds in capturing unique portraits of her sometimes abusive family, her troubled friends and her well-meaning lovers, while providing raw, clear-eyed snapshots of her own journey trying to find a healthy place in the world.

But what makes this collection stand out, however, is the masterful way that she uses poetry to show every facet of a survivor's life. Every time I thought I knew where this book was going, a poem would surprise me, take me in totally different direction, show me an aspect of the story I'd never thought she'd share.

I highly recommend this startlingly sure and human book which isn't afraid of the darkness, but doesn't keep its eyes off the light either.

Explores the human elements of love, death, and life
"Elegy for the Floater" explores the human elements of love, death, and life, with a primary focus on healing from psychological damage inflicted by the sudden suicide of a loved one. Deftly crafted with beautiful imagery throughout, "Elegy for the Floater" is highly recommended to any who have lost a loved one to this terrible occurrence. "Webs": my mother drew spider webs/on any paper with her reacher// my mother on the telephone/drew webs across names in our address book//my mother in her rocker/drew webs on bills and Christmas cards//my mother in my bedroom drew/webs deep in diaries//everywhere in that house I found/ink pencil crayon.

Read This Now!
This is a stunning debut from the author. Sad, funny, poignant, in your face, depressing, alarming, all of it. You read the poems and prose in one sitting and you can't put it down until you are finished and at the Coda. Then, you come up for air and realize you are alive and that it feels so good to breathe.Teresa Carson has something to say here and it is moving and eloquent. If you have been affected by suicide or trauma in your life, this collection of poems and prose will spin your head but also help you heal. Highly recommended and worthy of a National Book Award. She is one of a group of new authors that is to be watched in the years ahead as a tour-de-force in the world of published authors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I carry this book with me everywhere!
This is one of my favorite books of poetry.Lux's poems are seemingly simple and sweet upon first reading, but repeated readings reveal the deeper, more cynical, more powerful side of his poems.I especially like"The Milkman," a beautiful poem on the relations between a manand his son. ... Read more

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Economic application of nonlinear dynamics, microscopic agent-based modelling, and the use of artificial intelligence techniques as learning devices of boundedly rational actors are among the most exciting interdisciplinary ventures of economic theory over the past decade. This volume provides us with a most fascinating series of examples on ... Read more

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Poems selected from the author's long out of print first two books. Memories Handgrenades and The Glassblower's Breath. Includes six previously uncollected early poems. ... Read more

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Word count: 2193. ... Read more