Key Value Stores And Its Impact On The Organization Essay

As there is a rise in data volumes, the manageability of data and storing these huge volumes of data became a cause of concern to most of the organizations. It was during this period when Number of SQL or more popularly NoSQL was introduced, to process these large amounts of data efficiently and effectively. For this purpose, various Data Store categories were developed, based on the different data models. Some of the categories are: 1. Key-Value Stores This is the simplest data store. It uses a data model similar to memcached distributed, in-memory cache, with a single key-value index for all of the data. Apart from providing persistence mechanism, key-value stores also provide additional functionalities such as replication, versioning, locking, transactions, sorting and other features. The client interface supports transactional operations such as inserts, delete, update and index lookups. Scalability which is the most important feature of distributed data stores, is provided through the distribution of keys over nodes. None of the key-value stores offer secondary indices or keys. Some commercial key-value stores available in the market are Voldemort, Riak, Redis, Scalaris and Tokyo Cabinet. Most of the products have backward compatibility, which is a good thing. Example: Key-Value store is best suited for simple applications with only one kind of object and the searches are performed based on one attribute only. Suppose you have a web application that performsShow MoreRelatedBest Buy Strategic Analysis1079 Words   |  5 Pagesof customer-centricity, customer focus is regarded more highly among the value chain, giving lower-level employees more power in the profitability of operations. As it stands, lower-level employees will need to take on a higher-level of leadership (B: 4.8) and are expected to make strategic decisions in anticipation of customer buying behaviours (B: 4.1). The major issue among this new placement of responsibility is that store-level and field-level employees have little understanding of corporate objectivesRead MoreOrganizational Culture And Employee Value System1615 Words   |  7 PagesAdopting Organizational Cultural Coming straight from training to Cloths and Accessories (CA) store located in Vitoria, David clearly failed to understand organizational culture and employee value system. He should have picked up the cue from former store manager, Douglas Fischer, â€Å"to know his team before introducing any change†. Organization, just like countries have their own culture and values (Cable and Judge, 1996), David was apt in observing that employee were not smiling, mannequins wereRead MoreAssignment #1- Hrm Capstone 5991393 Words   |  6 Pagesdeveloping their organization for success from the inside out. Their role is pivotal in managing their most important asset: employees and in doing so, their job causes them to be knowledgeable with every human resource discipline. Human resource managers are responsible for developing strategic solutions to employment-related matters that affect the organization’s ability to meet its productivity and performance goals (Mayhew, n.d.). Some of these human resource actions that manger’s will impact are compensationRead MoreStrengths And Weaknesses Of Tesco1323 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction: In transaction by way of Tesco, it is a British international selling store and overall produce retailer with centre of operations in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire and UK. It is the 3rd biggest selling company in the business domain restrained by revenues and 9th leading shop in the al individuals slow by profits. It has supplies in 12 states from corner to corner Asia and Europe and also it is the products market lead in the UK wherever it takes a marketplace Market Share of everywhereRead MoreHobby Lobby1130 Words   |  5 Pageswhat you Preach   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An organization, in its simplest form, is comprised of people brought together to achieve a common goal whether it be solving a problem, selling a product or providing a service. The existence of the organization is wholly dependent on the collective body of individuals involved and it is these individuals that are the driving force behind the success or failure of a company. The relationships that connect the people within the organization dictate how the culture is developedRead MoreHuman Resource Management And A Business Or Organizations Performance Essay1428 Words   |  6 Pagesand a business or organizations performance. In such a tough and competitive industry like retail industry Target is able to reserve a top spot and maintain a very high performance to keep the brand name as one of the best and largest retailer nationwide. Target invest high in its employee to prepare them to be future managers that able and capable of take responsibil ity and add values to the business. The company HR strategies are keys factors to build a workforce that add values and meet customersRead MoreInternal and External Factors1425 Words   |  6 Pagessetting for any company is identifying internal and external factors that will have an impact on the success of a company as well as determining how they will impact the company. Knowing what the influences are and how they will impact the company allows a company to plan and set goals accordingly. For the purposes of this paper the company Goodwill is going to be used as an example. This paper will identify some key internal and external factors that influence the company, how those internal and externalRead MoreBusiness Risks And Inherent Risks1512 Words   |  7 PagesBusiness Risks and Inherent Risks Starbucks’ success depends significantly on the value of their brands and failure to preserve their value, either through their actions or those of their business partners, could have a negative impact on their financial results. Brand value is based in part on consumer perceptions on a variety of subjective qualities. Business incidents, whether one-time or recurring and whether originating from Starbucks or their business partners, that weaken consumer trust, suchRead MoreSTR 581 Implementation Plan1497 Words   |  6 Pagessmall-box-retailer and has grown tremendously with over 75 years of retail experience. Adding continued success to the organization is imperative to incorporate an implementation, strategic controls, and contingency plans to add value and structure to the business. This paper is structured to suggest options for implementation and strategic controls plans of action for contingency plans. Include key success factors of budget, forecast financials, and a break-even chart. Also, included is a risk managementRead MoreMonetary Development And The Federal Reserve System1630 Words   |  7 Pagesincrement is fiscal strategy. Money related arrangement chooses what value a man pays for a thing at the store, the amount of premium a man will get charged on an advance for an auto. These are all things that no one genuinely asks themselves, a great many people simply search around and pick the best value or the best financing cost that they can bear to pay. Financial approach comprises of intentional changes in the cash supply to impact loan costs and consequently the aggregate level of spending in

Feeding Your Brain Essay - 1716 Words

Feeding Your Brain As a typical college student, I suffer from daily stresses, lack of sleep and lack of a proper diet. I have pulled countless all nighters; my body and brain fueled only by coffee, chocolate and pizza, in order finish a paper or study for an exam. As a result, I may have done better on the paper or test, but I was being very unkind to my body and brain. In terms of nutrition, it is important to think of the brain as just another organ in the body. The food and other substances we put into our bodies affect our behavior, mood, thoughts and emotions. The brain responds very quickly to proper nutrition. However, as a college student who dines daily in the dining hall, I most likely do not get the nutrients needed to†¦show more content†¦The proteins raise the level of the amino acid tyrosine in the blood and brain. If more tyrosine is present, the bodys neurons will produce more norepinephrine and dopamine. Norepinephrine is an excitatory neurotransmitter that makes you feel mot ivated, alert and able to concentrate. It is also necessary for the brain to form new memories and to transfer memories from short term to long-term storage. Dopamine is also a neurotransmitter associated with activity and fine muscle coordination and aids in healthy assertiveness, autonomic nervous system and immune system functions. Dopamine levels can be depleted by lack of sleep and high stress. So, it is important replenish dopamine levels with a protein packed breakfast after a hard night of studying (4). Eggs yolks contain a high amount of lecithin, which contains the fat like substance choline. Choline belongs to the Vitamin B family and is needed to metabolize fats. It is also the primary building block of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter essential for concentration, focus, muscle coordination and storage and recall of memory (4). Orange Juice: Vitamin C and E help fight off free radicals that destroy dopamine and norepinephrine. During times of stress and illness your body uses up a lot of Vitamin C. Most animals produce their own Vitamin C, but humans doShow MoreRelated Breast Feeding vs Formula Essay1357 Words   |  6 Pages Breast-feeding is nutritionally, emotionally and physically superior for a mother and her child. â€Å"Human breast milk is not standard nor is it interchangeable with cow’s milk. It is a dynamic fluid that changes in composition to meet the needs of the baby as it grows† (â€Å"Giving your Baby... Diet.† par. #10). Breast milk contains growth factors and antibodies which stimulate the growing baby and protect it from illness such as diarrhea, ear infections, rashes, allergies, asthma, skin problems, pneumoniaRead MoreEating Disorders And The Binge Eating Disorder1578 Words   |  7 Pagescomes from a part of the brain that is older in terms of evolutionary history. 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Basically our unconscious mind is that part of the brain that functions 24/7, but we essentiallyRead MoreFeeding An Infant Is One Of The Best Ways A Parent Or A Care Provider1354 Words   |  6 Pages Feeding an infant is one of the best ways a parent or a care provider can demonstrate affection, nurturing, and security needed to develop early positive experiences that will serve as a template for a young brain to develop and function harmoniously. The first five years of a child’s life are both dynamic and important in healthy brain development. As infants get older, they will learn as fast as they will in their entire life during their earliest days. Infants require a nurturing environmentRead MoreNutritional Needs Ad Essay604 Words   |  3 Pagesfolic acid, vitamin D, protein, and Iron. A few ways you can obtain these are through peanut butter, milk, eggs, poultry, meat, and cereal. There are things that could happen to your child if you do not watch what you eat as for as disease and health concerns in general. A few of those concerns could be abnormal brain development, higher risk of diabetes, obesity, heart problems and possible lower IQ. There are always things that can be eaten that are good for you and things that are bad forRead MorePremature Babies And The Obstacles Involved1550 Words   |  7 Pagesfull-term babies. Some can breathe on their own, but many just need supplemental oxygen to help them breathe (versus a machine breathing for the child). Some can be breastfed or bottle-fed, but those who have breathing difficulties will usually need a feeding tube. Babies born at this time are less likely than babies born earlier to develop serious medical disabilities resulting from premature birth, though they remain at a higher risk for learning and behavioral problems. A baby s gestation being betweenRead MoreThe Breast Vs. 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Terri was diagnosed to be in a Persistent Vegetative State (P.V.S), which is â€Å"a permanent and irreversible state of unconsciousness in which there is an absenceRead MoreImproving Feeding Outcomes Of An Infant Driven Feeding Pathway1478 Words   |  6 Pages Improving Feeding Outcomes in the NICU: Establishing an Infant-Driven Feeding Pathway Laura Pabich BSN, RN The University of Iowa College of Nursing â€Æ' Improving Feeding Outcomes in the NICU: Establishing an Infant-Driven Feeding Pathway The most common reason preterm infants face prolonged hospitalization in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a delay in acquiring full oral feedings (Shaker, 2013). The purpose of this project is to improve feeding outcomes for preterm infants at BlankRead MoreThe Health Organization And The American Academy Of Pediatrics Recommend Exclusive Breastfeeding1531 Words   |  7 Pagesthe fact that it is more time consuming, and relying on formula leads to a more comfortable and better lifestyle. Mothers would say that formula feeding permits free time for other important things, and feeding responsibilities can be shared with the spouse. Also, being able to drink coffee and alcohol without worrying is considered satisfying. Infant feeding should not be considered a lifestyle choice but rather as an essential health concern. Breastfeeding should be the only option when having a baby

Madness of Lear Edgar Free Essays

Madness is considered to be the root of all endings. In addition, the overall mental and physical state of madness is seen as shameful to many people, as well as disrespectful to oneself and others. With that being said, the motif of madness one thing that no man wants to experience. We will write a custom essay sample on Madness of Lear Edgar or any similar topic only for you Order Now But in Shakespeare’s King Lear, madness appears in various forms and functions as the central theme, and leads many of the characters, including Lear himself, to their demise. In the beginning of the play, Lear is characterized as a very prideful individual, who is obsessed with power and self-love. But as the plot of the play progresses, numerous situations arise and Lear endures a rollercoaster of emotions, which ultimately shape him into a different person. Lear’s overall changes throughout the play all have something in common: a decrease in power and an increase in grief and sympathy. Each obstacle that Lear goes through pushes his pride more and more towards self-pity and sadness, which are emotions that a King of his stature is not used to having to deal with. Through his perspective at this point, he fears that he is going mad, and Lear is so obsessed with control that the thought of losing it all makes him believe that he is losing his sanity as well. However, after he constantly gets pushed to experience self-evaluation with each situation. Lear undergoes a rebirth, even though it is too late for the King at this stage of the play. Another character in King Lear, Edgar, also endures the play’s central theme of madness, but in a different way. Edgar feigns his insanity to stay alive, by disguising himself as the beggar â€Å"Poor Tom†, in order for his father, Gloucester, to accept him after Edmund, Gloucester’s illegitimate son, tricks their father into thinking that Edgar is a madman and wants to murder his father. Edgar fames madness throughout the play and disguises himself as the madman that Edmund has betrayed him to be, since at the time the insane were virtually invisible to society. Ironically, Edgar’s time as a supposedly insane beggar prepares him to defeat Edmund at the close of the play. Shakespeare uses both of these characters to mirror and contrast one another’s states to madness and to illustrate the play’s deeper meanings. While Edgar pretends to be mad, Lear is actually mad. Edgar stimulates insanity and foreshadows Lear’s madness, as it grows stronger throughout the play. The two end up joining, and it ultimately provides Lear with important wisdom by reducing him to his bare humanity, stripped of all royal pretentions. However, the real madness of Lear and the assumed madness of Edgar both play against one another to make out of the chaos a harmony in the kingdom through self-revelation, wisdom, and humility. Eventually, the madness comes to an end. Edgar unveils his disguise of madness and overthrows Edmund, while Lear’s madness leads to his demise. Overall, Shakespeare delves into the issues of age, power, lust, betrayal, and most of all, pure madness. The play shines a light on various faults in humanity, including self-indulgence and the desires to only think about oneself. In the end, greed and egotism can really only result in madness. How to cite Madness of Lear Edgar, Papers

The Magus free essay sample

Maurice Conchis – Wealthy intellectual who is a main player in the masques. * Lily de Seitas – Young woman who is involved in the masques and with whom Nicholas falls in love. Other * Joe – young black man, involved in the masques. * Maria – Conchiss maid. * Demetriades – Fellow teacher at the school. * Lily de Seitas (older) – Lilys mother. Rose de Seitas – Lilys  identical twin sister * Benji de Seitas – the older Lily de Seitass young son. * Kemp – Unmarried woman who rents Nicholas a room in London. * Jojo – Young girl whom Nicholas pays to accompany him. The Magus  is told from the point of view of Nicholas Urfe, who is bored with life. Having attended Oxford and taught for a year at a public school, he decides to take a position as the English teacher at the Lord Bryon School in Greece, on the island of Phraxos. Nicholas looks up a former teacher there, and is warned to Beware of the waiting-room, without explanation. Nicholas is not deterred, but during the last few weeks before he leaves, he meets Alison Kelly, an Australian girl who is about to begin training as an airline stewardess. They are both sophisticated about sex and somewhat cynical, but each experiences some regret as they go their separate ways. During his first six months on Phraxos, Nicholas finds the school claustrophobic but the island beautiful. He realizes that he cannot write good poetry and that he is having difficulty forgetting Alison. In a funk, he visits a brothel in Athens and contracts a venereal disease. He seriously contemplates suicide. The first of the novels three parts ends at this point. The mysteries begin as Nicholas goes swimming and someone leaves a book of poems, evidently meant for him to find. As he looks in the woods nearby, he finds a gate to a villa with a nearby sign  Salle DAttente, French for waiting room. One of his colleagues at the school explains that the villa is owned by a rich recluse named Maurice Conchis. Nicholas decides to look him up and finds, inexplicably, that he is expected. After some conversation, as Nicholas is leaving, he finds an old-fashioned glove on the path and surmises that someone has been watching them. Invited back for the next weekend, Nicholas is astonished by Conchis collection of art and by his claim to be psychic. After dinner, Conchis tells Nicholas about an episode in his boyhood when he was fifteen and met a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily Montgomery, whose image haunted him afterward. They were both musically inclined and fell in love, but in 1914, she led him to feel that he ought to volunteer for the army. Conchis explains that he deserted at the battle of  Neuve Chapelle, and offers Nicholas a chance to gamble with his own life by rolling a die and promising that he will take a cyanide pill if the die comes up six. It does, but Nicholas refuses to take the pill; Conchis seems to approve his decision, and reveals that the die was loaded against the rolleras was World War I against the soldiers. That night, as Nicholas is going to sleep, he hears voices singing a war song and smells a foul stench. The next day Conchis encourages Nicholas to read a pamphlet by Robert Foulkes, written as he was waiting to be hanged in 1677. Nicholas takes it with him on a walk, falls asleep, and awakes to see a man in 17th-century dress staring at him from across a ravine. The man disappears before Nicholas can reach him. At dinner that night, Conchis tells of his wartime pretense to be on leave so that he could return to England to visit Lily. As Nicholas retires, he hears a harpsichord accompanied by a recorder, and investigates, to find Conchis and a beautiful girl dressed in Edwardian clothes, but he declines to interrupt them. The next weekend Lily joins them after dinner and speaks in the language of the early 1900s. Their conversation is interrupted when a horn sounds, a spotlight illuminates a nymph who runs by, pursued by a satyr, and another woman seems to shoot the satyr with an arrow. Nicholas is bewildered but decides that Conchis must be re-creating masques for his own amusement. Lily refuses to explain, and Conchis talks in parables. He describes an attempt to found a Society for Reason after the war, and he tells the story of a rich collector whose mansion is burned by a resentful servant. Nicholas begins to fall in love with Lily, who professes to be as mystified by what Conchis may be up to as Nicholas is. Conchis explains that she is a schizophrenic whom he indulges by letting her manipulate men in the controlled environment at Bourani, but that Nicholas must not believe what she tells him. For the weekends culminating experience, Conchis hypnotizes Nicholas, who experiences the separateness of himself from everything else. Nicholas leaves eager to return for more adventures. Alison has invited Nicholas to Athens the next weekend. Nicholas finds the villa closed up, so he meets her and falsely tells her that he is suffering from syphilis. They have an enjoyable weekend climbing in the mountains, at the end of which, back in Athens, Nicholas confesses his lie and tells her about Bourani and Lily. Alison is hurt, and gives him an ultimatum: She will quit her job and join him on Phraxos, or she will leave him. When Nicholas hesitates, a violent argument ensues, and she refuses to let him back in their hotel room. When Nicholas returns to the villa, Conchis drops the pretense that Lily is a schizophrenic and tells him that she and her twin sister are actresses named Julie and June, whom Conchis has hired for a theatrical experiment. The first evening, Conchis tells Nicholas the story of Henrik Nygaard, a blind madman who believes that he talks with God. Afterward, Nicholas goes to a passionate rendezvous with Julie in the woods, where he is shocked to discover that Julie has sent her twin sister instead. June explains that they feel like prisoners, always watched by Conchis black valet, Joe, repeatedly told to learn lines and to prepare for improvisations, but never told what it all means. The next day the twins tell Nicholas their backgrounds and show him documents to support their statements. After a day of being shadowed by Joe, even while they are inside an empty chapel, the twins leave with Conchis on his yacht, vowing to insist that he begin to be forthright with them all. The next Wednesday the yacht returns, and Julie meets Nicholas at night to assure him that there will be no more pretense of schizophrenia; however, Nicholas is to join the twins in the improvisation the next weekend, after which all will be explained. Julie again avoids sex with Nicholas, pleading her menstrual period. On his way back to school in the dark, Nicholas is stopped by a patrol of soldiers in Nazi uniforms, who proceed to beat up a captured partisan. To Nicholass dismay, he receives a letter on Friday that he will not be welcome, after all, at the villa that weekend. Nicholas receives two letters the next Thursday, one from Julie indicating that Conchis has told her that Nicholas was sick and the other from Alisons roommate telling Nicholas that Alison has committed suicide. He does not reveal this to Conchis the next weekend, but demands to know the truth. Conchis explains that he is experimenting with a new form of theater, without audience, in which everyone is an actor. Conchis continues the supposed story of his life with the narrative of the German occupation, when he served as mayor of Phraxos. A crucial event, interpreted differently by different characters in the novel, occurred after the killing of three Austrian soldiers by guerrillas. Conchis was told that the lives of eighty villagers about to be executed in reprisal would be spared if he would club the guerrilla leader to death; he refused, and took his place with the hostages, but managed to survive the mass execution. Conchis then explains that Julie is his mistress and that they are all about to leave. When Nicholas tries to confront Julie, she disappears, playfully demonstrating one of their hiding places in an old bunker. Inside, she denies what Conchis has said, but as she climbs out of the bunker, she is grabbed and Nicholas locked in. When he gets out, he finds the villa shut up and a skull and a doll hanging from a nearby tree. Nicholas does not know what to think and returns to school. Several nights later, June appears at the school in distress, concerned about Julie. She says that they have lied to Nicholas and falsified documents about who they are. Nicholas explains that their games have cost the life of Alison. She apologizes, and explains that Conchis is really a psychiatrist doing research and that Julie is at his house in the village, to which June offers to take Nicholas. When he arrives, Nicholas and Julie make passionate love, after which she tells him that Julie is not really her name, and walks out. Three men walk in and restrain Nicholas as they administer an injection that makes him lose consciousness. Some days later, Nicholas revives, is dressed in ritual garb, and is taken to a chamber decorated with symbols, where he is seated on a throne facing 12 figures in bizarre costumes. As they unmask, they are introduced as psychiatrists, including the former Lily as Dr. Vanessa Maxwell, who reads a clinical diagnosis of Nicholass psychological problems. She is then stripped to the waist and tied to a flogging frame, as Nicholas is handed a cat-o-nine-tails and invited to judge herand the othersby choosing to flay her or not. He declines. Then Nicholas is tied to the frame, to watch Lily and Joe make tender love in front of him. Afterward, he is again made unconscious. Nicholas awakens on the mainland, alone. He returns to the school and gets himself fired. He goes back to the villa and searches for clues. Although he finds a typescript of a story about how a prince learns to become a magician by accepting that life is full of illusion, Nicholas goes on looking for expla- nations. The second part of the book ends with his discovery that Alison is still alive, her supposed suicide evidently part of the charade. In the last part, Nicholas continues his research. Nicholas finds no record of Conchis supposed credentials in psychology. He interviews one of his predecessors at the Lord Byron School, now living as a monk in Italy, but the monk is not interested in helping Nicholas. He finally succeeds in locating a house in which a Montgomery lived during World War I and the inhabitant directs him to one of the Montgomery daughters, a Mrs. Lily de Seitas. At first, she toys with Nicholas, but when he finds out that she has twin daughters of her own, she admits that she is a friend of Conchisand of Alison. Nicholas is angry, partly over her refusal to tell him where Alison is, but he gradually overcomes his resentment and they meet again. Nicholas begins to appreciate what has happened, and even declines to discuss it with his immediate predecessor at the Lord Byron School. Finally, Alison appears when he least expects her, and they have a confrontation in Regents Park, where he at first imagines that they are being watched from Cumberland Terrace. Nicholas issues her an ultimatumthem or me. She rejects the ultimatum, and Nicholas walks away from her. When she follows him, he slaps her without understanding why. Then he realizes that they are unobserved and asks forgiveness. The novel ends at that point, with their future relationship uncertain.

The Magus free essay sample

Maurice Conchis – Wealthy intellectual who is a main player in the masques. * Lily de Seitas – Young woman who is involved in the masques and with whom Nicholas falls in love. Other * Joe – young black man, involved in the masques. * Maria – Conchiss maid. * Demetriades – Fellow teacher at the school. * Lily de Seitas (older) – Lilys mother. Rose de Seitas – Lilys  identical twin sister * Benji de Seitas – the older Lily de Seitass young son. * Kemp – Unmarried woman who rents Nicholas a room in London. * Jojo – Young girl whom Nicholas pays to accompany him. The Magus  is told from the point of view of Nicholas Urfe, who is bored with life. Having attended Oxford and taught for a year at a public school, he decides to take a position as the English teacher at the Lord Bryon School in Greece, on the island of Phraxos. Nicholas looks up a former teacher there, and is warned to Beware of the waiting-room, without explanation. Nicholas is not deterred, but during the last few weeks before he leaves, he meets Alison Kelly, an Australian girl who is about to begin training as an airline stewardess. They are both sophisticated about sex and somewhat cynical, but each experiences some regret as they go their separate ways. During his first six months on Phraxos, Nicholas finds the school claustrophobic but the island beautiful. He realizes that he cannot write good poetry and that he is having difficulty forgetting Alison. In a funk, he visits a brothel in Athens and contracts a venereal disease. He seriously contemplates suicide. The first of the novels three parts ends at this point. The mysteries begin as Nicholas goes swimming and someone leaves a book of poems, evidently meant for him to find. As he looks in the woods nearby, he finds a gate to a villa with a nearby sign  Salle DAttente, French for waiting room. One of his colleagues at the school explains that the villa is owned by a rich recluse named Maurice Conchis. Nicholas decides to look him up and finds, inexplicably, that he is expected. After some conversation, as Nicholas is leaving, he finds an old-fashioned glove on the path and surmises that someone has been watching them. Invited back for the next weekend, Nicholas is astonished by Conchis collection of art and by his claim to be psychic. After dinner, Conchis tells Nicholas about an episode in his boyhood when he was fifteen and met a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily Montgomery, whose image haunted him afterward. They were both musically inclined and fell in love, but in 1914, she led him to feel that he ought to volunteer for the army. Conchis explains that he deserted at the battle of  Neuve Chapelle, and offers Nicholas a chance to gamble with his own life by rolling a die and promising that he will take a cyanide pill if the die comes up six. It does, but Nicholas refuses to take the pill; Conchis seems to approve his decision, and reveals that the die was loaded against the rolleras was World War I against the soldiers. That night, as Nicholas is going to sleep, he hears voices singing a war song and smells a foul stench. The next day Conchis encourages Nicholas to read a pamphlet by Robert Foulkes, written as he was waiting to be hanged in 1677. Nicholas takes it with him on a walk, falls asleep, and awakes to see a man in 17th-century dress staring at him from across a ravine. The man disappears before Nicholas can reach him. At dinner that night, Conchis tells of his wartime pretense to be on leave so that he could return to England to visit Lily. As Nicholas retires, he hears a harpsichord accompanied by a recorder, and investigates, to find Conchis and a beautiful girl dressed in Edwardian clothes, but he declines to interrupt them. The next weekend Lily joins them after dinner and speaks in the language of the early 1900s. Their conversation is interrupted when a horn sounds, a spotlight illuminates a nymph who runs by, pursued by a satyr, and another woman seems to shoot the satyr with an arrow. Nicholas is bewildered but decides that Conchis must be re-creating masques for his own amusement. Lily refuses to explain, and Conchis talks in parables. He describes an attempt to found a Society for Reason after the war, and he tells the story of a rich collector whose mansion is burned by a resentful servant. Nicholas begins to fall in love with Lily, who professes to be as mystified by what Conchis may be up to as Nicholas is. Conchis explains that she is a schizophrenic whom he indulges by letting her manipulate men in the controlled environment at Bourani, but that Nicholas must not believe what she tells him. For the weekends culminating experience, Conchis hypnotizes Nicholas, who experiences the separateness of himself from everything else. Nicholas leaves eager to return for more adventures. Alison has invited Nicholas to Athens the next weekend. Nicholas finds the villa closed up, so he meets her and falsely tells her that he is suffering from syphilis. They have an enjoyable weekend climbing in the mountains, at the end of which, back in Athens, Nicholas confesses his lie and tells her about Bourani and Lily. Alison is hurt, and gives him an ultimatum: She will quit her job and join him on Phraxos, or she will leave him. When Nicholas hesitates, a violent argument ensues, and she refuses to let him back in their hotel room. When Nicholas returns to the villa, Conchis drops the pretense that Lily is a schizophrenic and tells him that she and her twin sister are actresses named Julie and June, whom Conchis has hired for a theatrical experiment. The first evening, Conchis tells Nicholas the story of Henrik Nygaard, a blind madman who believes that he talks with God. Afterward, Nicholas goes to a passionate rendezvous with Julie in the woods, where he is shocked to discover that Julie has sent her twin sister instead. June explains that they feel like prisoners, always watched by Conchis black valet, Joe, repeatedly told to learn lines and to prepare for improvisations, but never told what it all means. The next day the twins tell Nicholas their backgrounds and show him documents to support their statements. After a day of being shadowed by Joe, even while they are inside an empty chapel, the twins leave with Conchis on his yacht, vowing to insist that he begin to be forthright with them all. The next Wednesday the yacht returns, and Julie meets Nicholas at night to assure him that there will be no more pretense of schizophrenia; however, Nicholas is to join the twins in the improvisation the next weekend, after which all will be explained. Julie again avoids sex with Nicholas, pleading her menstrual period. On his way back to school in the dark, Nicholas is stopped by a patrol of soldiers in Nazi uniforms, who proceed to beat up a captured partisan. To Nicholass dismay, he receives a letter on Friday that he will not be welcome, after all, at the villa that weekend. Nicholas receives two letters the next Thursday, one from Julie indicating that Conchis has told her that Nicholas was sick and the other from Alisons roommate telling Nicholas that Alison has committed suicide. He does not reveal this to Conchis the next weekend, but demands to know the truth. Conchis explains that he is experimenting with a new form of theater, without audience, in which everyone is an actor. Conchis continues the supposed story of his life with the narrative of the German occupation, when he served as mayor of Phraxos. A crucial event, interpreted differently by different characters in the novel, occurred after the killing of three Austrian soldiers by guerrillas. Conchis was told that the lives of eighty villagers about to be executed in reprisal would be spared if he would club the guerrilla leader to death; he refused, and took his place with the hostages, but managed to survive the mass execution. Conchis then explains that Julie is his mistress and that they are all about to leave. When Nicholas tries to confront Julie, she disappears, playfully demonstrating one of their hiding places in an old bunker. Inside, she denies what Conchis has said, but as she climbs out of the bunker, she is grabbed and Nicholas locked in. When he gets out, he finds the villa shut up and a skull and a doll hanging from a nearby tree. Nicholas does not know what to think and returns to school. Several nights later, June appears at the school in distress, concerned about Julie. She says that they have lied to Nicholas and falsified documents about who they are. Nicholas explains that their games have cost the life of Alison. She apologizes, and explains that Conchis is really a psychiatrist doing research and that Julie is at his house in the village, to which June offers to take Nicholas. When he arrives, Nicholas and Julie make passionate love, after which she tells him that Julie is not really her name, and walks out. Three men walk in and restrain Nicholas as they administer an injection that makes him lose consciousness. Some days later, Nicholas revives, is dressed in ritual garb, and is taken to a chamber decorated with symbols, where he is seated on a throne facing 12 figures in bizarre costumes. As they unmask, they are introduced as psychiatrists, including the former Lily as Dr. Vanessa Maxwell, who reads a clinical diagnosis of Nicholass psychological problems. She is then stripped to the waist and tied to a flogging frame, as Nicholas is handed a cat-o-nine-tails and invited to judge herand the othersby choosing to flay her or not. He declines. Then Nicholas is tied to the frame, to watch Lily and Joe make tender love in front of him. Afterward, he is again made unconscious. Nicholas awakens on the mainland, alone. He returns to the school and gets himself fired. He goes back to the villa and searches for clues. Although he finds a typescript of a story about how a prince learns to become a magician by accepting that life is full of illusion, Nicholas goes on looking for expla- nations. The second part of the book ends with his discovery that Alison is still alive, her supposed suicide evidently part of the charade. In the last part, Nicholas continues his research. Nicholas finds no record of Conchis supposed credentials in psychology. He interviews one of his predecessors at the Lord Byron School, now living as a monk in Italy, but the monk is not interested in helping Nicholas. He finally succeeds in locating a house in which a Montgomery lived during World War I and the inhabitant directs him to one of the Montgomery daughters, a Mrs. Lily de Seitas. At first, she toys with Nicholas, but when he finds out that she has twin daughters of her own, she admits that she is a friend of Conchisand of Alison. Nicholas is angry, partly over her refusal to tell him where Alison is, but he gradually overcomes his resentment and they meet again. Nicholas begins to appreciate what has happened, and even declines to discuss it with his immediate predecessor at the Lord Byron School. Finally, Alison appears when he least expects her, and they have a confrontation in Regents Park, where he at first imagines that they are being watched from Cumberland Terrace. Nicholas issues her an ultimatumthem or me. She rejects the ultimatum, and Nicholas walks away from her. When she follows him, he slaps her without understanding why. Then he realizes that they are unobserved and asks forgiveness. The novel ends at that point, with their future relationship uncertain.