Rating: 
Summary: Through the years
Review: I would recommend Mark Salzman's "Lost in Place" beacuse it pays great attention to detail and gives a play by play of the author's experiences growing up. It describes how the author wanted to be an astronaut, a kung fu master, a cellist and finally a professor of Chinese philosophy and language. The book begins when the author is about 11 and ends when the author is about 21, so it describes on of the most interesting times in almost anyone's life. Through this book you can relive your adolescence, your first relationship, your first big party and you first college experiences. As Salzman tells of the events of his life he is constantly striving to find meaning in it all and finally pulls some out in the end. Being taken through these experiences will make you laugh and will seriously make you question how you ever lived through that time in you life and
came out okay.
Rating:
Summary: Book Review on Salzman's Lost in Place
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. When I first started reading it I didn't think I would like it at all, yet I found myself relating to the author in many different ways. The different experiences Mark has throughout the book are very similar to experiences many people have throughout their life. It is funny to read about somone else's experiences and realize how much they relate to mine. This shows people that the experiences we have throughout the course of our life, shapes us into the person we become.
Rating:
Summary: A Highly Recommended Read
Review: In reading Mark Salzman's Lost In Place, I felt that the narrative was an easy read and very interesting. The characters, with their unique antics and personalities, gave an almost humorous appeal to life and growing up in the suburbs. Although the characters themselves were not easy to relate to, the ideas that were the basis of the book (self-identity, motivation, coming-of-age) made this a novel that would be applicable to almost any brilliant mind. As a narrative, it is satisfying to know that there was someone who went through a similar childhood, wanting to impress those who were important and wanting to know the purpose of one's existence. Overall, the narrative was marvellously written, and I reccommend it to anyone who wishes to write their own novel someday.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This book is an easy read and very enjoyable. I could definitely identify with Mark on many of experiences growing up and feel many others could too. I think this is a good book for both teenagers and adults to read. It opens you up to new ways of thinking and takes you back in time. Not that anyone really wants to relive their junior high days but Salzman gives illustrates it with a lot of wit and comedy. The book actually brought back memories that I thought I had completely forgotten. The plot is about a traditional family living in suburbia but it reveals just how wierd people really are- especially kids. It seems to be depressing towards the end but because it is real life and we know he has a success story it doesnt drag the book down. The sad ending gives it a genuine "real-life" quality.
Rating:
Summary: Lost in Place
Review: Lost in Place, By Mark Salzman was a very attention grabbing book. I also thought that people reading the book could relate to him in real life. Growing up with a pessimistic father...it's hard to stay focused on one thing because you will always see yourself as a failure. I think that his main goal in life was to do something his father approved of and most of all something that made him happy. I thought this book was pleasureable to read. I know there are some depressing times that Mark goes through, but I think that it kept me intrested because I wanted to know what he was going to do next. I would definitley reecommend this book. I am a college student and I could relate to it, so I am sure that if a teenager Mark's age read it...they would find it to be more so related to their life. I think that it relates in the way of teenager's trying out new things and trying to please their parents. Great Book! I would read it again!
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable after time
Review: When first reading Mark Salzman's "Lost In Place", I thought it was an enjoyable and easy read. But I did not recieve any deeper meaning behind the characters or the plot- at first! However, after reviewing the book, I began to feel a greater connection between the author and the characters. The trials and tribulations that the author faced while growing up can be related to everyone's adolescence at one time or another. Also, the style that the author used throughout the book made me want to continue to turn the page to see what happened next!
Rating: 
Summary: looking back on teenage uncertanty
Review: When reading Mark Salzman book Lost In Place, being a teenager in college it really hit home. I found it a story of wanting find all of life's answers, and not understanding failure. Because I did not grow up in the seventies, it gave me more insight into my parents world. I think that this book is perfect for college age student because it shows us that it is normal to be absurd, and that everyone feels that they are different and don't fit in. I really enjoyed how Mark tries everything, kung-fu, the cello, and chinese with huge jumps emerging himself in everyone to find that none of them give him the answer to life. This book made me look at life a little bit differently and I think that anyone, meaning most people, who aren't sure of who they are, I encourage them to read Lost In Place.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended!
Review: This is one of the most engaging autobiographies I've read. I enjoyed it on my own and then, despite the profanities, "musings on sex" (actually pretty tame) and depictions of marijuana use, I shared it with my young son. I chose to do this partly because it is so enjoyable and funny (he loved it) but also because I thought it would be empowering for him. The author does a wonderful job of depicting the experience of breaking through - or just growing out of -- situations that seem to be intolerable and insurmountable as he leads the reader through several forms of adolescent desperation. I was also happy for my son to be able to share the narrator's unfolding realization that the seemingly "really cool" karate teacher, was not only an exceptionally talented martial artist, but also an abusive jerk. And I loved Salzman's fitting tribute to and salutary deflation of the wonders of the marijuana high. Despite the threads of existential gloominess and some of the truly sad aspects of this book, I found it to be an uplifting read. Before giving this book to a younger reader, parents would want to read it first with their child's sensitivities in mind, as there are other disturbing elements in addition to profanity, pot, and abusive teachers. But, contrary to the reader who cautioned that only the most mature teenagers should read this book, my feeling is that it is perfect for many adolescents and might save some children from having to go through some really awful and dangerous situations. For more on the theme of child empowerment ... check out The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn. For another depiction of abusive training in the martial arts, see Jackie Chan's autobiography, I am Jackie Chan -- another wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: A superbly written, poignant and hilarious memoir of the 70s
Review: Without a backdrop of the great drama of wars and revolution, or near starvation, or psychotic parents and teachers, writing a memoir of adolescence that will command readers' attention is more difficult. However, as Salzman's engaging and insightful memoir shows beyond any doubt, there are interesting characters even in such prosaic locales as Ridgefield, Connecticut during the 1970s and Salzman's memoir of that time and place is filled with delights for readers. LOST IN PLACE deserves (and would reward) a larger audience than it seems to have had. There is drama and tragedy and a lot of comedy in Salzman's memoir (and a deep compassion for human fraility, even his own here and in his other marvelous books. The young Salzman tried different things, including training to be an astronaut (by sitting for hours in a box), seeking enlightenment as a Zen monk, becoming a concert (classical music) cellist or playing electric cello in a jazz ensemble, becoming a kung fu master, learning to speak and read Chinese, and getting out of high school early (into Yale). Each of these excessive (obsessive) endeavors had the full support of his go-getter mother and was the object of deflating irony from his weary social worker father, and most were eventually integrated into the life of the young man who went off to China for experiences engagingly told in IRON AND SILK.
Rating:
Summary: Memoirs Everyone Should Read
Review: Transitioning from comfort to uncertainty is inevitable, but that does not change the fact that it is hard to go through, especially when a place, a person, a group of people, your family, or all of those things, define your whole world...and you have to leave them. Mark Salzman's tale of humor, rememberance and warmth is about someone that we all were...or will be, at one time or another. From his beginnings of wanting to learn to be a Kung-Fu master all the way to his hitting rock-bottom (I won't tell you what happens), you will, if you are in high school or above, find yourself nodding, saying things to yourself like "That is so true!" or "Exactly." Salzman has taken simple human emotions that everyone is, at a lot of times, too afraid to express, and has put them out in the open, simple as that. He doesn't over analyze or try to put together a self-help book with a little autobiographical wisdom here and there. He has put together something that will do much more than that. It sounds silly, but if you are just about to go off to college, finishing up high school, or are just going through a rough time in your life, this book will listen to you, and it will tell you that it went through the same exact time periods. Benjamin Franklin said it best: "Time is an herb that cures all diseases." That seems to be one of the biggest messages in this book. Time heals everything. Don't try to grow up too fast...but certainly don't avoid growing up at all. Change is inevitable, but Salzman reminds us all to always try and change for the better, whether that be by the wisdom of our parents, experiences we have had, mistakes we have made, smiles we have born, or losses we have suffered. Next to Lord of the Rings, this is the greatest book that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I only hope that you can have the same adventure that I did.
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