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Reviewers Recommend
Inamorata
Joseph Gangemi
Viking
ISBN: 0670032794 $24.95 336 pages
Alicia Hill Ruiz
Reviewer
I suspect that many of us who are intrigued by paranormal phenomena also enjoy a good mystery.
INAMORATA satisfies both appetites.
In his first novel, Joseph Gangemi delivers us into 1920's Philadelphia during a revival of the
Spiritualist[1] movement. It's 1922 and the Scientific American has offered $5,000 for conclusive
evidence of psychic phenomena (this, like many of the book's details, is historically accurate.) Our
protagonist, 23-year-old Harvard psychology grad student Martin Finch, works for a professor
who is the head of judges for the Scientific American contest. Finch's job is to investigate the
contestants' claims of psychic ability. After exposing several frauds, Finch is assigned to
Philadelphia in his professor's stead to investigate a medium, Mina Crawley, who has come highly
recommended by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Upon arrival and exposure to Mina's feminine charms, Finch must fight to keep his investigative
objectivity. (The remaining members of the all-male panel are apparently unable or unwilling to do
likewise.) The story's suspense intensifies as Mina's abilities are tested and her relationship with
Finch develops. Finch explores several possible explanations for Mina's ability: is it supernatural
as claimed? is it an extremely well-executed magician's trick? or does his own field of study,
psychology, hold the answer?
Readers who are familiar with paranormal history may recognize many of the characters names
from real-life. In some instances, the familiarity with this history is like a bonus clue in the
mystery. Mina, for example, shares her name with Mina Stinson Crandon, a purported medium in
1920s Boston. The American Society of Psychical Research was divided, like the Scientific
American panel in this story, over the controversy of her mediumship. The allusions to the sexual
behavior of Mina's husband, Dr. Arthur Crawley, may seem over-the-top for readers not familiar
with English magician and occultist Aleister Crowley[2]. This is arguably a weakness of the book;
some may find Dr. Crawley's actions and motivations too confusing. But a pinch of the unknown
is, of course, what feeds the natural audience for this book.
If some overly subtle, or confusing plot points can be pointed to as weaknesses, the character
development can be commended. Finch - the underdog with valiant intentions - takes his lumps,
takes his stand and emerges self-confident just as the reader comes to hope. Even minor
characters are entertainingly drawn. We meet Pike, the one-legged Filipino butler who
occasionally assists Dr. Crawley in surgery, and Stuart Patterson, the maverick attorney who
prefers seedy clients who pay in bathtub gin and good will, and employs "a small band of misfits
overseen by a former Western Union boy-turned-majordomo whose principal duties included
fending off creditors and fielding calls from the dozen or so lady friends Patterson was avoiding at
any given time."
While the minor characters entertain us, the more serious characters make us consider. With
references to the Catholic church and a dying skeptic's admission that he wanted to be proven
wrong, we are reminded how powerfully the human psyche needs to believe to project itself into
an eternal existence. Finch and his professor primarily, and other characters to some degree, each
struggle with the tension between believing and not believing. I like that Gangemi stays true to
this tension, deftly weaving evidence for multiple explanations for Mina's seeming success as a
medium. Ultimately, he lets the reader decide what or whether to believe.
This is a promising entry into the book world for Gangemi who has written previously for
newspapers and film. Gangemi's degree in psychology is put to good use with specific
descriptions of mental disorders and psychological theories. The sprinkling of historical facts,
figures, and language throughout the book worked to establish the place and period and brought
to mind The Da Vinci Code. It's always nice to accidentally learn something while reading for
pleasure. And a pleasure it was.
[1] Spiritualism Religious movement that began in 1848 in the United States and swept both
America and Britain It's original appeal lay in the purported evidence it provided of survival
after death, manifested through mediums who communicated with spirits and performed
paranormal feats. Harper's Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience, Rosemary Ellen
Guiley, Castle Books, 1991.
[2] Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) [t]ried unsuccessfully to beget a child by magic, the efforts of
which he fictionalized in a novel, Moonchild. Id. "Mr. Crowley what went on in your head? Oh,
Mr. Crowley did you talk to the dead?" Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Oz, 1980
Thief of Lives
Barb & J. C. Hendee
ROC, New American Library, a division of Penguin Group
0451459539 $6.99 410 pages
Alisa McCune, Reviewer
http://alisaandmike.com/
A vampire story set in a high fantasy world. Sounds interesting? Then you would enjoy what the
Hendee's have created.
Dhampir, published in 2003, was our introduction to Leesil and Magiere. Our heroine is not your
typical simpering, scantly clad woman. Magiere caries a falchion, a very bid sword, and a wicked
set of canines. No need to fear her unless you are an undead. Magiere is a "dhampir", a child born
of a mortal and an undead. Using the gifts given to her by her undead father, she is able to wage
war against vampires. Her sidekick and partner is Leesil, a half-elf with dangerous skills and even
more dangerous secrets. Leesil is a troubled man. His exploits typically involve copious quantities
of booze and gambling. While not the typical leading man/hunk/piece of meat one expects, many
of use would gladly volunteer to be Leesil's nursemaid. To round out this group is Chap, who
appears to be a dog, but appearances are deceiving. Chap can scent the undead and has a bite that
the undead fear.
This unlikely trio embarks on a new adventure in Thief of Lives, published in January 2004. At the
end of Dhampir, Magiere has discovered what she is a dhampir. Manipulation makes her leave
the Sea Lion, her and Leesil's new comfy tavern to save the village of Miiska. Magiere, Leesil, and
Chap sail to Bela to rid the city of its undead and collect a hefty bounty. This time each of the
three will discover how hard killing the undead can be. Myths and folklore don't hold the truths
necessary to accomplish the task. To add to the mix, Leesil and Chap finally divulge a few of their
secrets.
The story is complex and will keep you guessing until the end. Each character is finely crafted like
the weapons they carry. The Noble Dead series is sure to please both fantasy and horror fans. Its
unique premises keep your interest level up and nothing is rushed. My only complaint of the book
is the cover art. Leesil is my mind should look like Orlando Bloom in the Lord of the Rings
Trilogy. Also, the clothing worn on the cover is completely different from the descriptions set in
the book. Too bad authors do no have more input on cover art.
Barb & J.C. Hendee are a husband/wife pair of writers. Barb Hendee is the author of another
vampire novel titled Blood Memories in 1999. Both authors have written many short stories
published. They have a website at www.nobledead.com with many extras for the series. I enjoyed
reading the series and look forward to the next book. The next installment will be released
January of 2005, Sister of the Dead.
Thief of Lives
Barb & J. C. Hendee
ROC, New American Library, a division of Penguin Group
0451459539 $6.99 410 pages
Alisa McCune, Reviewer
http://alisaandmike.com/
A vampire story set in a high fantasy world. Sounds interesting? Then you would enjoy what the
Hendee's have created.
Dhampir, published in 2003, was our introduction to Leesil and Magiere. Our heroine is not your
typical simpering, scantly clad woman. Magiere caries a falchion, a very bid sword, and a wicked
set of canines. No need to fear her unless you are an undead. Magiere is a "dhampir", a child born
of a mortal and an undead. Using the gifts given to her by her undead father, she is able to wage
war against vampires. Her sidekick and partner is Leesil, a half-elf with dangerous skills and even
more dangerous secrets. Leesil is a troubled man. His exploits typically involve copious quantities
of booze and gambling. While not the typical leading man/hunk/piece of meat one expects, many
of use would gladly volunteer to be Leesil's nursemaid. To round out this group is Chap, who
appears to be a dog, but appearances are deceiving. Chap can scent the undead and has a bite that
the undead fear.
This unlikely trio embarks on a new adventure in Thief of Lives, published in January 2004. At the
end of Dhampir, Magiere has discovered what she is a dhampir. Manipulation makes her leave
the Sea Lion, her and Leesil's new comfy tavern to save the village of Miiska. Magiere, Leesil, and
Chap sail to Bela to rid the city of its undead and collect a hefty bounty. This time each of the
three will discover how hard killing the undead can be. Myths and folklore don't hold the truths
necessary to accomplish the task. To add to the mix, Leesil and Chap finally divulge a few of their
secrets.
The story is complex and will keep you guessing until the end. Each character is finely crafted like
the weapons they carry. The Noble Dead series is sure to please both fantasy and horror fans. Its
unique premises keep your interest level up and nothing is rushed. My only complaint of the book
is the cover art. Leesil is my mind should look like Orlando Bloom in the Lord of the Rings
Trilogy. Also, the clothing worn on the cover is completely different from the descriptions set in
the book. Too bad authors do no have more input on cover art.
Barb & J.C. Hendee are a husband/wife pair of writers. Barb Hendee is the author of another
vampire novel titled Blood Memories in 1999. Both authors have written many short stories
published. They have a website at www.nobledead.com with many extras for the series. I enjoyed
reading the series and look forward to the next book. The next installment will be released
January of 2005, Sister of the Dead.
Voyage by Dhow
Norman Lewis
Picador
ISBN: 0330412094 A$25.00 216pages
Dr. Ann Skea
Reviewer
Norman Lewis's travel writing is the good old-fashioned kind. No sensationalism, no smart "look
how weird these foreigners are!", no tricky merging of fact and fiction: just a vivid,
straightforward, sometimes wry expression of his fascination with the world and its people.
In 1937, Lewis was approached by Roy Stevens of the British Colonial Office with the suggestion
that they might go to the Yemen together. The Yemen, then, was rarely visited by Westerners,
mainly, it seems, because the locals had a nasty habit of chopping off the hands of anyone they
suspected of spying on them. Given this, Stevens' plan for Lewis to photograph them might have
seemed unduly dangerous, but Lewis was not deterred. Even the fact that he was given no real
explanation of the purpose of the expedition, other than being told it was an opportunity for him
to gather information and pictures for a future book, did not put him off, although others might
have thought such activity sounded very much like spying.
So, Lewis went to the Yemen. And, after a brief, frustrating but interesting time spent in Aden
waiting for a travel permit, he and Stevens and another rather shady writer called Ladislas Farago,
set out by dhow for Hodeidah. The first twelve chapters of this book are an account of his
experiences.
Lewis is always a superb story-teller and he had some unusual stories to tell. In Aden, even before
his journey had really begun, he met and photographed the celebrated outlaw, El Hadrami
(celebrated, at that time, for having just beheaded four of the King's guards who had been sent to
arrest him); and at the bar of his hotel, he met Joseph, self-styled (on his visiting card) "Senior
Officer's Pimp". And these first novel experiences were just a taste of things to come. His journey
was eventful and uneventful by turns until, after being stranded for several days on the tiny island
of Kamaran, and then negotiating a passage aboard a small cargo ship, Lewis and the others
finally arrived in Hodeidah to be greeted by a ceremonial execution designed to deter the
"foreigners aboard the ships offshore" from spying.
This account, which makes the title piece in the book, is dated 2001, as if Lewis wrote it quite
recently as a memoir. The final piece in the book is similarly dated, although the events it
describes took place in 1954. Other pieces are dated from 1970 to 1983, so, none of this
reportage is up-to-date. The book is none the worse for that, but I would have liked some more
recent accounts of the countries and cultures Lewis documented, so that I could see just how
unusual or commonplace his experiences were, and, also, how things might have changed since he
experienced them.
This was particularly true of the South American countries which are the subject of several very
disturbing pieces in this book. The first piece is dated 1970 and it, like several others included
here, documents the terrible influence of some powerful Christian missionary groups on the lives
of the forest Indian peoples in those countries. It records, too, the cynicism and corruption of
many of those in positions of power, who might have prevented the genocide which was taking
place. He also exposed the general lack of concern of relevant Governments about the situation,
in spite of the continuing protests by anthropologists, the International League for the Rights of
Man, the various members of the UN and US Senate. What has happened to these people since
1983, when the last of these pieces was written? Did anything change?
My other gripe about this book is that Lewis writes frequently about the photographs he took,
like the one of the scimitar-swinging, kilt-wearing El Hadrami, but none of them are included.
With such tempting descriptions of the characters Lewis photographed, it is frustrating that we
see none of the resulting shots.
However, neither of my complaints has anything to do with the quality of Lewis's writing. He has
long been one of the best exponents of travel writing, and those who already know his work will
welcome this small addition to his opus. Others, are likely to find that this small sample will whet
their appetites for more.
September Elegies
Mary O'Donnell
Lapwing Publications
1 Ballysillan Drive, Belfast BT14 8HQ, Northern Ireland
ISBN 1898472777 6.95 Brit. pounds 64 pp.
J. D. Ballam
Reviewer
This is Mary O'Donnell's fourth collection of poetry, and it is in every way a rich and rewarding
volume. There are thirty-nine poems in all here, and the book is divided into three major sections,
entitled, 'September Elegies', 'Hauntings' and 'Antidotes'. As with all of Lapwing's titles, the book
is simply and stylishly presented, while O'Donnell's poems are, without exception, honest,
controlled, sedate, retrospective (even nostalgic), but always 'professional' in their balance of
feeling and execution.
But this is not to suggest that the book is tame, or rather easy, in any sense. Quite the contrary,
the emotional ground out of which these poems arise is plainly one which holds an intensity that
gives real vigor to O'Donnell's expression. Take, for instance, the perfect poise of this final image
from part three of 'A visit to Giant's Causeway, County Antrim':
the young moon arches,
like a wind-filled sail.
I am engulfed.
The introduction of the narrator into the foreground of the poem here is not intrusive, and it is a
feature that characterizes O'Donnell's writing. The personality that emerges is attractive insofar as
she is seen as perpetually questing, asking, hoping to know something about her environment
from the traces of it she finds it has left inside her. One of the most touching examples of this
occurs early in the book, in a poem entitled 'Homes'. In this case, the speaker is separated from
her partner, evidently visiting the house where she spent her own childhood. As light breaks into
the room, she watches uncertainly as, 'The garden is lit, a spectral daylight,/ or an August eclipse/
where we compose our lit and unlit sides.' Seeing herself and her surroundings as fundamentally
fused in a kind of subjective time-keeping or time-losing she realizes that, 'everything is
borrowed:'
a home, a wife's or husband's body a gift,
as yours has been, your skin ardent as the moon
burrowing across the sky to this room,
far from where you sleep.
Indeed, many of O'Donnell's motifs, or rather estimates of reality, are funded by dreams and
dream-states, and the value she places upon them forms a significant part of her understanding of
what the human psyche is made of as it struggles to form a unity in the face of experience's
disorganization and its own impending disintegration. She writes poignantly of the helplessness
we all feel as we return day in and day out to the bedside of someone we know to be dying, and
her appraisal of the worth of recollections there is both powerful and apt.
In those long hours, we accompany him,
carrying parcels, wrapped gifts,
his dreams, thousands, one for every
hour of his living.
But this sadness is never overwhelming for O'Donnell, as she places sadness itself within a larger
cycle of being; and by doing so, she never allows it to become a mere destination. It is seen here
as akin to the bad weather that threatens the harvest, but never ruins the whole crop. Or, to put it
more speculatively, sadness also has its own joy, summed up by the knowledge that it too will
pass. As she says in 'Field Work',
We know the season has shifted,
that autumn's in-drawn breath
has entered crevices where sun once lingered,
a summons to gorge on sweet apples,
to trim dipping boughs, burn curling leaves.
September Elegies is the work of a mature mind and a generous, patient heart. Its passions
confess themselves in whispers, and its strengths exercise themselves in restraint.
Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy
Mark McGinty
Beaver's Pond Press, Inc
7104 Ohms Lane, Suite 216, Edina, MN 55439
952-829-8818
www.BeaversPondPress.com
ISBN: 1592980309 $16.95 250 p.
Robert O. Barclay
Reviewer
Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy begins in 1999 with a series of Elvis sightings, the sort that
appear in the tabloids on a regular basis--the ones that tell us that Elvis is still alive. Then we are
swept back in time to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida wheree two top planners for NASA
are discussing preparations for the Apollo 11 launch. The two are talking over cocktails and
worrying about the upcoming walk on the moon. One says: "we need to gaurantee that mankind is
witness to the Super Bowl of historic events." How will they do this? They'll put Elvis on the
moon--what else? As improbable as this may seem, these two begin seriously to put their plan into
action.
Next we have a flashback to 1960, to a remote Maasai village in Tanzania. Because the Maasai
have become so enamored with the music of Elvis, Moja, one of the tribesmen, decides to carve a
two foot ivory statue of "The King". This sacred idol becomes a symbol for the village and
through a complex set of events, which includes a National Geographic photographer named
Scott Ritcher, the statue makes its way back to America where it ends up in the Jungle room at
Graceland.
Now the story shifts to New York City where we meet an ambitious young reporter, Dani
Mitchell, who is looking for her next story. She works for a tabloid called, The Sensational Nation
and has just gotten special recognition for her exclusive interview with the Dalai Lama. Her next
assignment is to Graceland where she is viciously cut off by Peter Dixon's limo, one of the two
men plotting to put Elvis on the moon. Now we have the beginnings of a wonderful romp in
never-land. The whole idea of Elvis on the moon is patently absurd, but the author has peppered
his story with enough real facts and detail to make you want to believe it--at least some of the
time. The reader will enjoy meeting a wide variety of delightfully crazy characters. In facct one of
them is actually committed to a mental hospital in upper state New York.
The writing is sound, the story is fun, the characters are complex, and the idea is certainly
original. If you've ever been intrigued by all those conspiracy theories that are constantly
emblazoned on the pages of the supermarket tabloids this will be an interesting read.
I know that I'll probably be burned at the stake for heresy, but Elvis was not my favorite singer.
Oh, I'll admit that he is an American icon who changed the music industry and I'll admit to
enjoying some of his movies when I was a youngster, but I certainly didn't get all goose-bumpy at
the mention of his name. Still, I read Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy with delight and got a
good chuckle outof the ending when the author reveals the "real" story behind JFK and the
mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe.
This is not great literature, but it is definitely entertaining. I give it high marks for originality and
can honestly recommend it to anyone looking to put a little silliness into their lives. Smile it's good
for you.
The Christmas Train
David Baldacci
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0446525731 $19.95 260 pages
Maria Gaulin
Reviewer
I picked "The Christmas Train" because it is an enjoyable book that I felt other book lovers would
be interested in reading. David Baldacci has a very even flow like style of writing. You get a sense
for the main character, Tom Langdon right away. It is a "don't want to put the book down" type
of read. There is some predictability to the story but, the Baldacci proveides enough twists and
surprises that the ending is not quite what you would have expected.
This book is fo general audience from age 18 to 80.
David Baldacci typically writes more mystery suspense novels. "The Christmas Train" and "Wish
You Well" are deviations from his other books. Other works include "Absolute Power" "Total
Control" and "Saving Faith." His web site can be found at www.david-baldacii.com
Songs of Survival: Life is a Journey
Barbara Ann Duffy
Bad Dragon Press
P.O. Box 16300, West Palm Beach, FL 33416
ISBN #0974212113 $13.50
Joyce P. Hale
Reviewer
This book by Barbara Ann Duffy is aptly named; it "sings" to you from beginning to end.
Although it is not separated into chapters or sections, it is composed of themes: life's journey,
trials and troubles, lost love and relationships, family and friendship, soul-searching and self, and
survival and inspiration. Surely everyone who reads the author's words will again and again think -
that's me!! That is the magic of her book - it speaks to almost everyone at one time or another;
and when it is not speaking to one personally, it is showing them a life that survived. How
difficult, but how cathartic, it must have been for her to bare her deepest feelings to others.
"Where Are You, God" is a masterpiece: "My Child..... You have been so busy with your search
that you failed to understand that to reach your goal you must look within." Barbara Duffy bears
her soul and takes the reader with her through abuse, divorce, cancer, lost loves; and love, her
children, her Dad, friends; and finally herself and her discovered voice. "....I went to the ocean this
morning and watched the darkness give way to dawn, and in that glorious moment, my immortal
soul was once more reborn."
Silver Squirrel
Daniel Ritchie
1st Books Library
www.1stbooks.com
ISBN 1410789454 $19.95
Liana Metal, Reviewer
http://lianametal.tripod.com
Fantasy adventure
SILVER SQUIRREL is a fantasy adventure set in a forest. It is about a squirrel colony who face
danger and other survival problems through hope and faith.
Silver Squirrel, the hero of the story, is a young, vulnerable male squirrel who is sensitive and
friendly to all forest animals despite their differences. He has got an odd relationship with other
species and his close friendship with a crow makes him special, yet very different from the other
squirrels in his community. He is fond of Sandy, a female squirrel but he is shy and does not know
how to show his affection to her.
Sandy Brown, a young female squirrel, grows up with Silver in the same family. She is lovable
and caring and soon falls in love with Silver who is too reserved to show his feelings. Beverly, her
mom, soon moves home to raise her newly born litter, but Sandy relies on Silver to protect her as
he is her best friend.
The story starts with a prologue, where old Jacob, the oldest squirrel in the community, writes his
reports about their colony. Silver is a lonely young squirrel whose parents have been killed by the
Hawk, the worst enemy of the animals, and grows up in a surrogate family in the forest. Sandy, a
female squirrel, is his regular playmate, but he always feels as if he does not belong to the squirrel
community. One day the colony decide to migrate to another place, and it is then that Silver's
adventure starts. He has to set priorities and make decisions. As the story unfolds Silver changes,
he becomes stronger and gains self confidence.
What will happen to him? Will he ever become someone the others can trust? Will Sandy become
his mate? Will he overcome his fear for the Hawk?
SILVER SQUIRREL is a fantasy adventure that has got all the elements of a great movie: action,
suspense, morale and colorful scenes. Hope and friendship, love and compassion can be found
throughout the plot. It is a unique story in its kind. The author has studied the forest animals and
has displayed their action and emotions in an original, yet truthful, way. The readers can identify
with the hero, feel his plight and share his beliefs.
This book is a captivating novel that will transfer the readers to a fantasy world through the poetic
use of adjectives and the detailed description of the forest and the animals. The characters, though
animals, they own human emotions and beliefs and strive to solve their survival problems in the
woods. Written in a sensitive, emotional way, this story carries the readers' imagination further, to
human colonies and lifestyle. It could be read by children and adults at the same time, so the
readership for this novel is not limited to a certain age group. Also it could be a great movie as is
has got a lot of action and suspense. The author has beautiful pictures to add to the story, and the
readers can view them at his site at http://www.squirreldome.com, and at
http://www.squirreldome.com/silver.htm
This novel is a book for the whole family, so why not get it today? It's worth reading it!
http://www.1stbooks.com
Dave Barry: The Best of the Bad
Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs
Andrews McMeel Publishing
4520 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
ISBN 0836214439 $12.95 94 pages
Melissa Leedom
Reviewer
I wanted to be mad at Dave Barry for putting out Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. If he was
going to write another book, I wanted him to bring his ingeniously clever wit to bear on some
new topic, one I hadn't previously seen stripped of its dignity and brought to its knees by already
extensive writing. I wanted to be mad, but I couldn't. I bought the book and I'm glad. This is
funny, funny stuff.
Read Dave Barry for any length of time and you realize that much of his humor is based on a few
simple, but sure-fire, formulas: comparing a person's intelligence to something inanimate ("After
he reads just a few pages, he will have the brain functionality of an ashtray"), negating a seemingly
serious line of thought, ("'Love Child' as performed by the Supremes can only be listened to so
many times. And when I say 'only so many times,' I mean, 'once.'"), and employing lots of
hyperbole: Barry routinely recommends that people be taken out and shot for such offenses as
putting unnecessary e's at the end of words like "Olde" and "Shoppe," or nuclear warheads for
people who take up two parking spaces in a crowded parking lot. He once claimed that the entree
placed before him in a French restaurant was "smaller than purely theoretical particles." It's a
formula we've come to look forward to because the humor never comes off as formulaic. When
Barry says that his home improvement projects look as if they were done by vandals, we smile
knowing smiles.
Barry is known and loved for finding creative ways of inserting the word "booger" into his
columns and, then again, for his often pseudo-intellectual style. Sometimes we know that Dave
Barry is "not making this up," as when he includes real but off-the-wall topics like exploding cows
in a list also containing politics, the economy, and foreign policy; other times, we do a double
take, as when Barry blithely informs us, after touring Westminster Abbey, that John Milton was
the bass player for the Kinks.
In Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, we revel in his observation that, "'Seasons in the Sun,' sung
by Terry Jacks, . . . is about a person who is dying, but not fast enough." Or that Dan Hill, singer
of "Sometimes When We Touch," "sounds as though he's having his prostate examined by
Captain Hook." Barry tells us that five of the most hated requests to Top Forty bands are
"Stairway to Heaven," and that the writer who penned "The Ballad of the Green Berets" was "just
kidding, right?" Barry is ever-original, even when he is writing on a well-worn topic like "Bad
Songs."
And make no mistake about it: Dave Barry is getting a lot of mileage out of this particular topic.
Not only was "Bad Songs" the topic of four newspaper columns, but Barry recounted the results
of the "Bad Song Survey" in Dave Barry is Not Making This Up. Dave Barry's Book of Bad
Songs, weighing in at a scant 94 pages, consists chiefly of excerpts from those original articles,
excerpts from a staggering 10,000 reader responses (and a few responses he couldn't resist
making up himself), and excerpts of the songs he and his readers are denigrating. He even goes so
far as to commandeer the "BRAIN TAKEOVER ALERT" that prefaced his two-part column
series on the Bad Song Survey by introducing this book the same way: "WARNING! Do not read
this book. It will put bad songs into your brain." What we do have, in this latest offering, is "the
survey results presented in far greater detail." Greater being the operative word. Barry has
managed to produce a very funny volume almost guaranteed commercial success with very little
writing that had to be done (as Barry himself might put it), in terms of actual new words he had to
come up with.
Come to think of it, in terms of actual new words Dave Barry has come up with, very few of his
books fall into this category. Granted, there were Dave Barry Slept Here, Babies and Other
Hazards of Sex, and Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead. But, as are the books of many of his
fellow syndicated columnists and cartoonists like Patrick McManus and Bill Watterson, and Lewis
Grizzard and Erma Bombeck in their day, Barry's books often are simply collections of his
newspaper columns. Which is fine; sometimes I miss Barry's column in the Sunday paper, and it is
always fun to re-read some of Barry's better material.
Also, to be fair, Barry owns up to his self-plagiarism in his usually self-deprecating way: ". . . I
was doing what I am almost always doing, namely, trying to write a newspaper column despite
the fact that I have nothing important, or even necessarily true, to say. . . . I realized that, by
probing deeper into this subject, I had a chance to do something that could provide a truly
significant benefit to the human race; namely, I could get an easy column out of it." Make that
four columns, four book chapters, and now a whole book on the subject.
But we forgive you, Dave. We have to. When we can pick up a book by someone impish enough
to transcribe the lyrics (can't really call them words) of "Land of a Thousand Dances" (Na na na
na na, etc.) and read just a list of titles that makes us laugh out loud ("Get Off the Stove
Grandma, You're Too Old to Ride the Range"), we know that Barry is right: there is a lot of tread
left on this subject. Barry says his readers still write him, years after he first broached the subject,
about the bad songs they hate the most, that they continually ask him to write more on this
subject. Perhaps, with the publication of Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, these people can see
their most-hated songs ridiculed in print, get a laugh, and get on with their lives.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating
Steven Brown
Alpha Books
0028643992, $18.95
Robyn Gioia
Reviewer
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating was written for the inquisitive person in mind.
Full of practical advice and professional tips from a former FBI Special Agent and private
investigator, there is a wealth of information for the novice investigator and the everyday regular
Joe looking to solve a mystery. Chances are, if you've ever had an investigative question, the
basics will be covered in this book.
Most people would not associate the word "excitement" with conducting background
investigations or the setting up of nanny cams, but that is how I felt when entering Mr. Brown's
world of sleuthing activities. As a mystery writer, I was saying "ah-ha" when thumbing through
topics titled Catching the Runaway Teenager, Techniques of Interviewing and Interrogation, or
Moving Surveillance. As a citizen, I was anxious for the first opportunity to conduct my own
crime scene investigation as taught in Chapter 17.
Chapter 17, Conducting Your Own Crime Scene Investigation" begins with this scenario:
You've come home from a night out. Your keys are in your hand and as you start to put the
front-door key into the lock, you notice the glass panel on the door is broken. If you're smart,
you'll back off, call the police, and wait until they arrive before entering. The burglar may still be
inside.
The police walk through your house and verify that nobody is inside. You enter. Right away, you
notice an empty spot on the wall where the stereo, DVD player, and your new HDTV television
used to be. Strange in the bedroom, you notice one of the pillows is missing a pillowcase
"When will the crime scene investigators arrive?" you ask.
"Oh, we're sorry, but the department won't dispatch a crime scene unit unless the amount missing
is over $15,000. They're just too busy working larger crimes to come out here," the officer
replies. "But your homeowners policy should cover most of your loss."
The two patrolmen leave, and you and your wife are surveying the mess left behind. Before you
start cleaning up, you should think about doing your own crime scene investigation.
Can you do it? Do you have the knowledge to successfully conduct your own crime scene
investigation? Mr. Brown states, "First, we have to get rid of all those notions about 'doing a
crime scene' you picked up from the O.J. trial, and from watching Court TV and CSI on
television." By arming yourself with the tools of the trade, you'll be able to save evidence that may
later connect the suspect to the crime.
By the end of Chapter 17, you'll know more about the evidentiary value of a crime scene than the
responding patrol person. You'll learn about contamination of the crime scene, taking your time to
be observant, figuring out how the burglar gained entry, how he or she moved throughout the
house, the bagging and tagging of evidence, and documenting the scene. In addition, you'll learn
where to find clues and the rules governing evidence.
If you are an experienced or novice private investigator, or curious to how things work, you'll find
this book useful and informative for learning the methods inside the profession. Scenarios and
useful examples help the reader understand the most sophisticated of ideas. I highly recommend
this title for reading and as an addition to your research library.
Kmart's 10 Deadly Sins: How Incompetence Tainted an American Icon
Marcia Layton Turner
Wiley
ISBN 0471435937 $24.95 255 pages
Roger E. Herman, Reviewer
www.hermangroup.com
Well researched, well written. Well Worth Reading.
When I picked up this book, I expected to find some interesting insights into why KMart, once so
widely known and popular, ran into all its problems. A company whose stores were once part of
the American landscape and whose blue light specials were exciting mini-events, spun into
bankruptcy on January 22, 2002. What happened?
I looked at the author's credentials and, frankly, was a bit dismayed that she was author of "The
Unofficial Guide to Starting a Small Business." Even though the title is described as a best-seller,
I questioned whether such an author would be able to produce the kind of study that the K-Mart
subject demands. Looking further through the book, I discovered that my concerns were totally
unfounded. This book is quite well researched, as evidenced by the abundant footnotes at the end
of each chapter. Turner lists, in her acknowledgements, some of the people she conferred with in
putting this book together. Impressive. Almost academic.
The book begins with two features I appreciated. One was a chapter, called the introduction,
which effectively sets the stage for the in-depth look at what happened and why. The other
feature is a time line that includes progressive events at Kmart and at Wal-Mart. A fascinating fact
to ponder is that Kmart and Wal-Mart were started in the same year. Throughout the book,
Turner interweaves and compares the strategies and implications of Kmart, Wal-Mart, and
Target, as well as other retailers. This approach adds value to this book for every retailer every
business leader who designs strategy with anticipated results. The bibliography and
comprehensive index make this book a most usable tool.
A chapter is devoted to each of the Deadly Sins: Brand Mismanagement, Lack of Customer
Knowledge, Underestimating Wal-Mart, Lousy Locations, Ignoring Store Appearance,
Technology Aversion, Supply Chain Disconnect, Lack of Focus, Strategy du Jour, and Repeating
the Same Mistakes. You'll learn about strategic blunders, tactical mismanagement, and operation
deficiencies that crippled the potentially powerful chain retailer. Details even go down to the level
of describing how insufficient staffing levels in the stores confounded efforts to keep the aisles
clear of incoming merchandise, let alone serve the customer.
While you'll shake your head numerous times as you read this educational and insightful book,
you'll gain new perspectives and cautions in the way you run your own business and life. Highly
recommended.
Grave With An Ocean View: A Long Beach Island Mystery
James M. Maloney
Briarwood Publications Inc.
150 West College Street, Rocky Mount, VA 24151
ISBN 1892614456 $9.95 341 pages
Ron Waite
Reviewer
The author, James Maloney, is a retired English teacher now living near the ocean in south Jersey.
When I was in high school during the 1961 to 1962 school year he was my English teacher. While
most students didn't like him, to me he was a never-ending inspiration and guide. He turned me on
to the likes of James Thurber and virtually every one of my compositions (a required weekly ritual
in his class) I would get an A. He was a tough teacher, ergo the others didn't like him. You had to
do oral reports and written reports and read books and actually study the English language: those
annoying diagrams showing verbs and adjectives, etc. We remained friends after school was over
and remain friends to this day.
Mr. Maloney is retired but he is far from the sleepy life. When not working in his workshop or
growing fruits to made jelly and jam, he lectures and writes and reads and is a never ending source
of information, puns and delightful stories.
Grave With An Ocean View is the third in a series of PI books and his character Thomas Mahlon.
Maybe not my first choice for a PI name; it doesn't have the feel of a Sam Spade or Peter Gunn or
Mike Hammer, but one gets used to it. Perhaps because it is so odd it works. Seems there's a
mystery on Long Beach Island. They found a dead body, or what's left of it. The skeletal remains
tell little. Is it male or female? How long has it been buried in the sand. The mystery begins almost
at once.
What;'s interesting about Maloney's stories is that they take place in authentic locations. He
knows his subject matter well as he's a life long resident of New Jersey and knows his material
well. For an ex-Trentonian like me this is a real treat for it's like visiting my old haunts. The
detailed descriptions given for each locale give the reader a sense of being there, something few
writers manage to convey.
Maloney's choice of Long Beach Island is a good one. It's a protected State Beach in New Jersey.
No building allowed. It was director George Romero's choice when he filmed CREEPSHOW
circa 1981. The segment with Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson was filmed there and it is indeed a
very desolate place in winter.
Chapter One: GHOST STORY begins with a flashback to a terrible n'oreaster in 1933 and the
sinking of the Highland Fling. This sets the stage for future events. By chapter two we meet PI
Thomas Mahlon waking up to his morning coffee and we immediately get a sense of his habits and
personality. There are 45 chapters all told and each is filled with new characters, new mysteries,
solutions and enigmas and just when you think you have it all figured out he throws you a curve
and you have to rethink your position.
Maloney also goes to great lengths to describe food and eating habits in his books. While reading
you suddenly realize you have this gnawing sensation in your stomach. You actually get hungry
while reading and suddenly have an urge to go out and get a pizza! Vivid details of an oily,
dripping Philly chees steak or a grilled salmon tempt the tongue and assault your senses. His
descriptions of landscapes and locales are no less intriguing. Every detail is covered. Even the
smallest thing is covered so one senses they are there on the spot, seeing the events unfold.
I strongly suggest that Mahlon write a cook book when he is not investigating. For an old Jersey
boy like me, now living in New Mexico, I don't have access to real pizza or pork roll or Tasty
Pies. Reading this book made me long for same and maybe plan a visit to the Garden State. And if
you think that's unreal, remember Frank Sinatra used to send to Atlantic City for a special hoagie
you could get no where else. Reading about the herbs and spices, the wines, the exact ingredients,
you can swear you smell the peppers and onions cooking in the back room.
In this tale everyone from the Chif oif Police to local politicians are suspect and when Mahlon is
not eating he's getting more involved with his seemingly unsovable mystery, his interest piqued.
He will not rest until this thing is solved. Drugs, sex, tourists, lounge lizards like Ricky Gee all
blend into this story unfolding to a surprising conclusion. "Rock musicians attract females like
sugar attracts flies" is one of my favorite lines from the book. And "...he had the most voracious
appetite of anyone I met" is another. Again, Maloney's insertion of food and food related subjects
intrigues me. This may be his "comedy relief". The late Director Stanley Jubrick had a bathroom
fetish. In most of his movies there was something to do with toilets or tubs. Remember James
Mason "mourning" the death of his wife (Shelley Winters) in LOLITA? He spoke from a bathtub
as neighbors looked on. In 2001 there was a memorable scene where William Sylvester tries to
figure out how to use a Zero Gravity Toilet, and the memorbale mind-blowing scene at film's end
where Keir Dullea finds himself in a French Provincial bathroom. Even Kubrick's last film EYES
WIDE SHUT features Tom Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman in a bathroom.
So if you don't mind reading a suspenseful, riveting mystery while getting an appetitie at the same
time, then this is your cup of tea. It appeals to the Sherlock Holmes in all of us. For me, it
provides glimpses of New Jersey and some of my favorite spots. And I am seriously thinking of
booking a flight to Philly so I can get one of those delicious, cholesterol-laden cheese steaks.
Pilgrims' Moon
Stacey S. Thompson
PublishAmerica
ISBN: 1592861601, $29.95, 416 pp.
Viveka Neveln
Reviewer
For lovers of science fiction involving space travel, this book offers another wild adventure into
the cosmos. This time, nearly 300 passengers aboard the starship, Argo, find themselves hundreds
of light-years away from Earth, due to a computer glitch which sends them off-course. To make
matter worse, they're also 500 years in the future from when they left the third rock from the sun,
thanks to a space-time anomaly they passed through. Stranded, their survival depends on finding
another hospitable place to colonize before their fuel reserves run out. And once they've managed
to land in a new world, they must come to grips with the new challenges they face.
A first novel for Stacey Thompson, the writing is a little rough around the edges, but he still
delivers an entertaining story. Interesting characters and surprising plot twists create just enough
suspense to keep the pages turning. Also, Thompson skillfully uses well-researched space and
scientific details to keep his yarn almost believable without bogging down the action. Besides
plenty of action scenes, the story navigates through a love triangle, power struggles, discoveries
and exploration, intrigue and sabotage, and finally, a satisfying resolution.
Christy's Bookshelf
Rough Ascension and Other Poems of Science
Arthur J. Stewart
Celtic Cat Publishing
P.O. Box 23694, Knoxville, TN 37933-1694
www.celticcatpublishing.com
ISBN 096589505X $15.00
Arthur Stewart is an ecologist, senior scientist, essayist, and poet. A former Peace Corps
Volunteer in Ghana, he is presently an Adjunct Research Professor at the University of Tennessee
after working as an aquatic ecologist and ecotoxicologist for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Stewart has authored or coauthored more than sixty articles and book chapters. This is his first
book of poetry.
Arthur Stewart's background as a scientist is supremely evident throughout Rough Ascension and
Other Poems of Science, yet he manages to weave his vast knowledge with an eloquent sense of
prose to present a work that is not only riveting but a cerebral delight. Stewart writes with
intricate intelligence mellowed with a wondrous appreciation for the aesthetics of nature and his
fellow humans. His poems range from exquisitely prolific to concisely simple to perceivably
humorous. Not only will scientists devour the passages in this engaging collection of poetry, but
lay people will, as well. Highly recommended.
The Midlife Bible
Michael P. Goodman, M.D.
Robert D. Reed Publishers
P.O. Box 1992, Bandon, OR 97411
www.rdrpublishers.com
ISBN 1931741328 $14.95 541-347-9882
Michael P. Goodman is a medical doctor with over 33 years experience in the practice of
obstetrics, gynecology, and peri-menopausal medicine. Goodman practices patient-oriented health
care and specializes in peri-menopausal medicine, midlife sexuality, osteoporosis prevention,
gynecological ultrasound, and difficult-to-manage women's health issues.
The Midlife Bible covers what may seem to be (especially to women dealing with this) a plethora
of conditions women experience during midlife. Dr. Goodman not only offers standard medical
practicum but alternative approaches and just plain old common-sense advice for dealing with
each issue women face during this time in their life's cycle. Of interest also are the stories of
patients and the particular symptom or symptoms they are facing, in essence, telling women of
this age, you are not alone. The cartoons interspersed throughout the book are not only humorous
but sensitive to women. There are rating scales for some conditions, including PMS and
depression, which allow the reader to actually understand whether she is suffering from the
condition being addressed.
All women deal with hormonal issues throughout their lifetime and the great majority suffer many,
if not all, of the conditions Goodman relates in The Midlife Bible. This is one book that would
make a valuable addition to any family's home, to be read and discussed not only by women with
their medical practitioners, but with their husbands or important others, as well. Here's hoping
doctors across the country will begin recommending this easy-to-understand, informative book to
patients eager to understand what is going on with their bodies and to become more aware of
what is available to them in terms of treatment.
Fladen's Child, The Gentle Viking
Walter E. Rudd
PublishAmerica Book Publishers
P.O. Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
301-695-1707
www.publishamerica.com
ISBN 1592862683 $24.95 313 pages
Krorf is son of Lasji, twin brother of Thorg, the vikingldr of their community of Lassen. Krorf is
chosen to accompany his uncle's summer viking as an apprentice, and he looks upon this as a
great honor. Although most vikings were excursions into foreign territory to plumage and steal
goods for their people of Fladen, this viking was to develop friendly trade with the Slavs along the
Vistula River.
During a confrontation, Krorf is taken hostage and sold to a slave trader. The trader exchanges
Krorf for goods to a Jew named Tymmel, who is trying to establish a shipping line along the
Danube and Rhine Rivers and ultimately out to sea. Tymmel convinces Krorf to help him establish
trading alliances along the Danube, after which, he will take him to the headwaters, where he can
proceed to the Rhine and then to his home.
The story follows Krorf's and Tymmel's adventures as they venture forth to try to realize
Tymmel's dream. After Tymmel is killed, Krorf returns to Tymmel's home to tell his family the sad
news. From there, Krorf sets out for his own homeland, along with Tymmel's wife, daughter, and
son. Once home, Krorf must decide who will be his wife: Shav, the woman he left behind, or
Sedal, Tymmel's daughter, who intends to carry out the dream of her father.
Fladen's Child offers the reader romance, action, suspense, and historical fact. The story never
wanes and is interesting throughout. Much is learned of the Vikings and their culture and mindset,
along with the way they were perceived by others. A highly entertaining book and one most any
reader will enjoy.
Christy Tillery French
Reviewer
Cindy's Bookshelf
BOP! {More Box Office Poison}
Alex Robinson
Top Shelf Productions
PO Box 1282, Marietta, GA 30061-1282
1891830465 $9.95 http://members.aol.com/ComicBookAlex
You know these people. Seriously, you do.
Collecting scattered short comics from places such as the SPX and EXPO anthologies, these
stories introduce us to people who are so real that we can empathize with them. The situations are
so familiar, so deftly done that they could almost be diary pages out of your own life.
The first story is called "Temptation", and features temptation of more than one sort. Jane and
Stephen have a comfortable, strong relationship...one that's put under strain when an old flame of
Stephen's, Darlene, decides to return to New York for a few months and wants to meet with him.
Stephen knows that they broke up for a reason...and though he loves Jane, he finds himself
thinking of the good times he had with Darlene. Jane, meanwhile, is struggling with the insecurity
that Darlene's return...and Stephen's reaction to it...has caused. The other temptation happens to
Sherman, who is a book store clerk raised suddenly to manager. The power seems to go to his
head, and when the boss offers to make it a permanent position, will the fun loving slacker we've
learned to like already be lost forever? Such mundane issues may seem boring in a review, but
Robinson understands exactly how to bring the reader in. He uses everything from
characterizations to panel layout to create a narrative that runs smoothly. I especially liked his use
of (drawn, not real) photographs that he used to show us the happier memories that Stephen had
of his relationship in a compressed amount of time. I also enjoyed how he used changes in
Sherman's body, from a slow darkening of his hair color, the growth of his body in to a more
angular, exaggerated figure to fit the now black power suit to show how he was becoming more
and more the store's creature and not his own. Robinson's characterization of the employees and
the customers show that, he, himself must have worked at a book store (well, to be fair, I have
more evidence to support this thought, as you will see later.) They made me wince...but, since I
worked at a library, I also knew the portrayals, though not always kind, to be spot on.
Some of the other pieces may be shorter, but their impact is still amazing. In "Jane's High School
Reunion" we see Jane in a different time...too skinny, acne covered face, frizzy hair, and
devastatingly unpopular...a characterization that could almost fit me and a million other people.
The message she gets from an unexpected source is one that I'd love to go back and deliver.
"Grudge" gives Ed a lesson about criticism that any creator can relate to, and while he didn't learn
the subtler, implied lesson (Ed is at a comic book convention, waiting for the hugely popular
guest to analyze his work rather than allowing the older, wiser comic book artist to look at his
work...which I think is sad, since perhaps the other guy, not as full of himself, but older so he's
probably a gold mine of experience, would have given him some real, honestly helpful criticism...)
is something that made me laugh as well as wince in sympathy. "My Old Flame or Ex-Man" is
incredibly clever and subtle. Robinson uses the two panel column layout to play with perspectives.
As Sherman and his ex-girlfriend, who ran into each other at the park, talk, we see them a little
differently...she sees Sherman with a lot less hair, he seems himself with more...he sees her as
voluptuous and well coiffed, she sees herself as fat and dowdy. What really offsets these
perspectives is that once in awhile he shows us the "reality" as the two relate the story of their
meeting to their friends. There's even a pair of panels where Sherman, on "his" side of the page
and Sally, on hers, peek around from behind the panels at themselves, thus underscoring the
differences. "Box Office Poison 2000" is a fun Science Fiction inspired piece, which allows us to
see our favorite BOP characters in a Star Wars like light, but also says a lot about how we
fantasize about the people we love.
"Cartoonist's Window", the only piece not written by Robinson, is really nifty. Written by his wife,
it's a look at how Kristen Siebecker helps her husband, and an inside look at comic
conventions.
The other longer piece is called "Flat Earth: Caprice's Story." This is one of my favorite pieces,
because in Caprice Robinson creates someone that any female truly can relate to. It begins with
her remembering how vile and embarrassing high school was, and her friend, Lori, who's
burgeoning friendship with a more popular girl makes Caprice feel funny...especially when she
seems to choose the more popular girl over her. She decides to look her friend up on a website,
and emails her, hoping to find out that Lori's miserable in order to make her feel better about her
own job as a waitress...and perhaps to feel better about her relationship with the egotistical Kevin.
The relationships, between Caprice and Lori, who she agrees to meet, and Kevin and Caprice, are
subtle and well realized. There are a lot of question marks raised about what the latter one,
especially, though the actions we witness. The last story, "Caprice" plays into this as well, and is
an excerpt from a new book. I'd also like to mention that "Flat Earth" was Robinson's
participation in Scot McCloud's 24 Hour comic project, where creators are encouraged to write,
draw and ink a comic book...all in 24 hours. There are two small homages to McCloud that made
me smile, such as his likeness (the way McCloud often draws himself) on a bag of "Cloudy Chips"
and in the short, one page comic, where Robinson makes a final comment on how fun
accomplishing his 24 hour comic was...
While I'm on the one page comics, I'd like to mention that in between every story lurks of these
clever things...which I enjoyed both for how they deepened the characterization of the people and
how them made me grin.
These in-depth explorations of romantic and friendly relationships are amazingly well done.
Robinson shows that slice of life studies of our lives can be done even better in comics than in
novels, because he can get right to the point, to create stories with immediacy and strength. For
instance, in the first story, we know right away what we need top know about the relationship
between Jane and Stephen...while we're in the middle of the very thing that will put that
relationship in doubt. He's a strong story teller and a fabulous artist and I'm really looking forward
to reading Caprice's adventures...and hopefully seeing more of Jane, Stephen and Sherman, as
well.
Heretic
Bernard Cornwell
Harper Collins
0060530499 $24.95
In The Archer's Tale, Thomas of Hookton lost everything, and attempted to reclaim it by joining
the army and becoming one of the most skilled archers anyone had ever had the misfortune of
meeting. Revenge was the game, his desire to track down the man who had killed his father his
most important goal. In Vagabond, Thomas was on a quest to find the grail for the Earl of
Northampton, one that leads him to discover a lot about his own father and himself. Now, in the
final book, Thomas is still on the trail of the grail...sent to Gascony, the homeland of his family, he
needs to capture the castle of Asterac. It is hoped that his cousin, the very man who killed
Thomas' father, will hear about Thomas' daring mission and come a calling to see what his
cousin's up to...and what he knows about the elusive cup of the King of Kings.
The capture of Asterac goes off with much daring and ease...luckily for Genevieve, the beautiful
heretic who's scheduled for burning the next day. Thomas refuses to let her be burned, not
because she's beautiful, but because he can feel a great deal of empathy for her. In the last book,
he, too, suffered torture under the hands of a Dominican Monk...and knows well that there's a
possibility that she confessed only to spare herself more horror. Robbie Douglas, his best friend,
wanted her for himself, and sees his friend's protection of her as a betrayal...and as he convinces
himself that harboring a heretic casts damnation on them all, he helps create a rift between
Thomas and his men that even the sensible Sir Guillaume can't heal.
As always, Cornwell creates a setting that is rich with historical detail and perspective. He
explores the power of the church a little, and how the threat of damnation can become a powerful
tool. In some ways he contrasts it with the plague, the Black Death as we call it now, not verbally
or in any way you can take offense with him for, but in an almost implied theory. It comes
through with the idea that contact with a heretic, with someone condemned to live their life
outside the church and to hell when they die, can spread their fate, just as a plague victim can
spread his disease. He also points out that not everyone in the church was as rabid as certain
members of Church (in this case, the Dominican order) were.
It is also a setting of poverty and hardness...he never pretties things up for the reader, but shows
them how they were. The accepting attitudes towards rape, towards raiding the country
side...these are all things that come into play when people are forced to live in poverty, where the
difference between living in a castle, with horn slatted lattices to keep the cold from coming in the
windows, and in the woods with only a tree to block the wind on one side has everything to do
with ruthlessness and nothing to do with deserving.
Cornwell's characters and adventures always captivate me completely. In some ways Cornwell's
main characters...especially Richard Sharpe and Thomas of Hookton have a similar flavor, a feel
to them that makes them recognizable as his creation. They're different, but there's something
about them that assures you that if you like one, you'll like the other. This final book finishes up
everything perfectly, leaving the reader satisfied...if a little wistful that the adventure is over.
Five out of Five cups
Cindy Lynn Speer
Reviewer
Debra's Bookshelf
Surrender, Dorothy
Meg Wolitzer
Washington Square Press (Simon & Schuster)
New York, NY
ISBN: 0671042548 $12.95 224 pages
Thirty-year-old Sara Swerdlow and her friends Adam, Maddy, and Peter spend every August in a
run-down rental by the beach, re-experiencing in these regular escapes from real life their
one-time college intimacy--that peculiar closeness born of cohabitation and limited responsibility
that most of us lose at graduation. This year the cast of characters is expanded: Maddy and Peter,
long married, have added a baby to the mix, and Sara's closest friend Adam, now a successful
playwright, has brought along his uncommonly handsome new boyfriend Shawn. Their first
evening at the house this year, Sara and Adam make an ice cream run. On the way back, a tub of
soft-serve vanilla successfully secured from the local Fro-Z-Cone, Sara is killed in a car
accident.
Surrender, Dorothy is the story of the effect of Sara's death on this circle of friends and on her
mother Natalie, Sara's life-long confidante, who joins the party at the beach for a weeks-long
immersion in collective grief. While her characters bicker and mourn in this sometimes oppressive
atmosphere, Wolitzer explores the network of their relationships, with one another and with Sara.
While the subject matter of the book is of course sad, the final product is not unbearably so.
Readers like myself who shy away from depressing novels need not fear this one.
Wolitzer, meanwhile, as I discovered also when reading her novel The Wife, is capable of some
very fine prose, rich in detail. Very often her descriptions are spot on, depicting in few words the
essence of some banal item, for example, such as the "cool, dented metal surface" of the
Fro-Z-Cone counter. Every now and then, however, Wolitzer's descriptions go too far, and the
reader is distracted by some improbable comparison: "Then, during pushing, that two-hour period
of time during which Maddy began to hallucinate a roll of theater tickets unspooling from her
vagina [okay, that's a bit improbable too, but not what I'm talking about], Peter had seen her
cervix open wide, so wide it might destroy him, might swallow him whole, like in some grade-B
movie called Attack of the 10-Centimeter Vagina." The period should have come after "open
wide."
But petty complaints aside, Wolitzer is a fine writer whose oeuvre I intend myself to swallow
whole, grade-B-movie-like, slowly and with great pleasure.
I'd Rather Be Writing
Marcia Golub
Writer's Digest Books
Cincinnati, OH
ISBN: 0898799007 $14.99 230 pages
I've read or skimmed several books about writing over the last few years and found that most of
them led to a paralyzing depression, those
sit-down-and-outline-the-whole-story-and-write-ten-pages-about-each-character-before-you-type-a-word-type books. I'm not saying such methods don't work--what do I know--or that successful
writers don't write that way--they probably do. But for me, even considering adopting such a
regimen deadens any urge I might have to hit the keyboard.
Marcia Golub's I'd Rather Be Writing, on the other hand, is the furthest thing from disheartening.
The author offers practical advice about writing that the average mortal can imagine
following--advice about note-taking and imposing deadlines on oneself and keeping numerous
projects, in varying stages, going at once. The principal piece of advice one comes away from the
book with, however, is a simple one, that if you want to be a writer, you have to sit down every
day--or as close to every day as you can--and write something for some length of time. This is not
earth-shattering information, of course, and indeed none of what Golub has to say is particularly
profound. Nor did it have to be said at such length. The book could probably get the same
information across in half the pages.
But that wouldn't have been as much fun. Golub's writing is pleasingly breezy and occasionally
funny. ("I know there are marriages where husband and wife both work at home. I also know
there are marriages where husbands push wives out of windows and wives sprinkle arsenic on
their husbands' bowls of pasta. I'm not saying the two are related, but you have to wonder.") She
lets her personality and her life circumstances spill onto the page. She writes about her own work
habits, descriptions of which for some reason always fascinate me. Most importantly, Golub
somehow manages to be inspirational. She makes you want to follow her advice, to sit down and
write something, both because you really want to and because, as she might say, death is just
around the corner. (Golub seems unusually aware of her own mortality.) Writers looking for a
kick in the pants, as the kids say, may well find inspiration here.
Debra Hamel
Reviewer
Diana's Bookshelf
Slave Trade Book One
Susan Wright
Pocket Star Books
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN# 0743457633 $6.99 339 pgs
When I think of the worse living fate, I could face, I tend to think it would be one in which I had
no control over my own life. I wouldn't make a very gracious slave. Anyone who knows me
would agree. Perhaps, to add insult to injury would be to be a slave in a foreign area, controlled
by an alien race. It is this fate that Rose Rico faces in Susan Wright's Slave Trade.
Rose had just been introduced to the underground. In fact she was still having trouble believing
there was a slave trade between the humans and aliens. It all sounded very far-fetched to her, the
trade of humans for technology. Unfortunately, by the time she realizes it is true her time is
limited. On her second visit with the underground, she is taken.
Life for Rose is about to take an abrupt change. Apparently, the lust cycles of the Alpha Aliens
don't often coincide. Therefore, they employ the use of sex slaves, eliminating the issue of lust
cycles. Rose is cleaned and collared with a device, which will deliver a debilitating shock, each
time she disobeys her new masters. Afterward, she is kept in an enclosure, for transport.
While this is going on with Rose, the Qin, S'Jen, is bent on extracting revenge, on the Domain, for
the loss of her family. S'Jen was enslaved until an accident damaged her collar and she was able to
escape, with a ship and a few crew members. Her reckless revenge has G'kaan, her superior and
former lover, worried about not only what could happen to her but the retaliation on the Qin, as
well.
There are several exciting sequences, which establish the cast of characters and set the stage for a
revolt. While, I was expecting a very erotic based story, that was not the main premise of this
novel. That is not necessarily a bad thing. The novel is filled with action and a myriad of subplots,
which move it along at a fast pace. Slave Trade by Susan Wright is a great space drama, sure to
please all readers of the sci-fi genre.
The Beastieville Series
Kristen Hall
Illustrated by Bev Luedecke
Children's Press, A Division of Scholastic, Inc.
Box 1795 Danbury, CT 06816
1-800-621-1115 www.scholasticlibrary.com
ISBN# 0516297201 $148.00 (Set of 8) 32 pgs
Individually $18.50 each
Birthday Beastie ISBN# 0516228919
Buried Treasure ISBN# 0516228943
Double Trouble ISBN# 0516228927
First Day of School ISBN# 0516228935
Help! ISBN# 0516228900
Little Lies ISBN# 051622896X
Oops! ISBN# 0516228951
Vote For Me ISBN# 0516228978
It is hard to find books of value to read to children. Books that will not only help them learn, but
also keep them entertained. It is often easier to turn on the television. The Beastieville Series,
written by Kristen Hall and illustrated by Bev Luedecke, is a perfect example of what a children's
book should be.
Not only are the books educational, they are fun. The characters are adorable little beasties, each
with their own personality and something special to teach our children. The story telling,
combined with the art, makes this series a sure hit with children in preschool through First
Grade.
Each of the books has a sturdy attractive cover, designed with a child in mind. There is also a
section in the back of the books, which contains questions that have the children count certain
things they saw or that happened in the story. After they have finished counting, there are more
questions in the, 'let's talk about it' section, which help children understand what the story was
telling them and gives them a chance to apply logic. As if that was not enough, there is also a list
of words found in the book, which will make for an invaluable tool in increasing your child's
vocabulary.
Help! All About Telling Time follows Pooky as she takes a walk and then decides to bake some
pies for her friends. It helps children to understand the concept of time, as well as how much
easier things are when everyone pitches in to help.
Little Lies All About Math shows what happens when Slider tells a series of small lies to his
friends. This sets the stage to teach children that even a small lie is a bad thing. In fact that it is
just as bad as a big lie.
Double Trouble All about Colors is about what happens when Toggle gets stuck inside, on a rainy
day. She decides to paint pictures of herself and her friends. It helps to show children that by
mixing colors they can create other colors, as well as teaching them it is not nice to leave anyone
out.
Oops! All About Opposites follows the feisty pair, Zip and Pip, as they run through town
knocking into their friends, among other things. It is a great opening to talk with children about
safety and being considerate of others.
Birthday Beastie All About Counting, as the title says is about a birthday party. Bee-Bop has over
ten friends to help celebrate. This is a wonderful book for counting skills, as well as the use of the
letter 'B'.
Buried Treasure All About Using a Map, Flippet finds a treasure map and after getting her friends
to help, finds a very special surprise. This is a great way to explore working together, as well as
the joy of giving.
Vote For Me All About Civics, everyone in class is trying to get elected for class president and
makes signs and sayings, showing their worth. Everyone except Smudge, who can't think of
anything special about himself. This is my favorite book in the series. It teaches the valuable
lesson that each and every one of us, has something about us that makes us special. Even if you
can't see it about yourself, those close to you can.
First Day of School All About Shapes and Sizes, as suggested by the title, is about the first day of
school, in Mr. Rigby's class. Due to the different shapes, sizes and needs of the beasties, the desks
don't seem to be very accommodating. I love the solution.
All of the stories are fast paced and grab the attention of children. The author, Kristen Hall, has
created a wonderful cast of characters. With her gift of words and the talented artist, Bev
Luedecke, the colorful beasties come to life. It makes learning fun when The Beastieville Series is
used. The quality of the books assures that it will be available for use with many generations.
Every home and school with Preschoolers through first graders, needs a set of the Beastieville
books in their library.
The Restless Sea Series
Carole G. Vogel
Franklin Watts
A Division of Scholastic, Inc.
Box 1795 Danbury, CT 06816
1-800-621-1115 www.scholasticlibrary.com
ISBN# 0531193284 $177.00 (Set of 6) 80-96 pgs each
Individually $29.50 each:
Dangerous Crossings 80pgs ISBN# 0531123251
Human Impact 96pgs ISBN# 0531123235
Ocean Wildlife 96pgs ISBN# 0531123243
Savage Waters 80pgs ISBN# 0531123219
Shifting Shores 80pgs ISBN# 0531123227
Underwater Exploration 80pgs ISBN# 0531123278
The ocean is a grand and mysterious place, covering a great majority of the earth and holding
within it some of the most fascinating creatures on the planet. In The Restless Sea Series author
Carole G. Vogel tells her readers about this wonderful gift from nature, in a way that is fun and
educational for both young and adult readers alike.
Dangerous Crossings takes a look at the relationship of the air and the ocean. Explaining the
events that can happen when these two elements interact, such as hurricanes, tornados, and water
spouts. The author not only explains why and how these events occur but also gives examples.
Some other things covered are icebergs, icepacks, and freezing water especially its relation to
whaling. There are fascinating facts on the differences of the north and south poles, and global
warming. There are several tales of tragedy and survival of the passengers on sea vessels such as,
the Essex, the HMS Birkenhead, the Royal Tar and more recently the Kursk Submarine. In the
closing chapter is one of the most endeared dangers of the ocean, the pirate. A realistic and
informative account of pirates, as opposed to what is often seen in Hollywood, is given.
Human Impact is perhaps the most important book in the series. With the information given,
people can have a better understanding of what our negligence is doing/has done to the earth's
oceans. It covers things like, dead zones, poisons in North Carolina's estuary, oil spills and oil that
slowly drains from the land into the ocean. It also covers things that can make sea life ill, such as,
Pfiesteria, algae blooms, underwater epidemics, which is really fascinating reading material,
sewage, heavy metals, pesticides and other POP's, beach trash and the spread of invasive species.
Chapter three takes a look at the effects of fishers and over-fishing. It also gives insight into fish
farms, which is where most the fresh fish you eat comes from. Next we look at global warming
and its many causes and effects. The book closes with the problems we cause more directly and
gives wonderful suggestions on what everyone can do to make a difference.
Ocean Wildlife opens by exploring some of the differences in the way of life for ocean dwelling
creatures and the special abilities they have to help them cope with the constant changes in their
environment. Then in a most fascinating way it discusses the physical structure of fish and other
marine life and their places and relevance in relation to the food chain. Something I found utterly
interesting was the section on parenting habits. It explains the differences between water dwelling
life and us, and also the range of parenting practices, between the various kinds of ocean animals.
In the next chapter readers get a glimpse at the dangerous and venomous creatures that call the
ocean home. The book closes with a reminder that human life and marine life rely heavily on each
other for survival and we need to respect the gifts we are blessed with.
Savage Waters opens with the dynamics of the oceans currents and tides, as well as many other
fascinating facts regarding the structure and workings. Then readers shift to the birth of the planet
and the formation of the ocean. The makeup of springs and ocean water, as well as other miracles
of water, such as the Dead Sea and the water cycle itself, are also taught in a way that grabs and
holds, the readers attention. Next, the reader is told of waves, some tragic occurrences they have
caused, how they actually come to form, their affect on the coastlines, sandbars, spits and barrier
islands. Tides, which were briefly mentioned earlier, are discussed in further detail, to include their
relation to moon. The sea level, its changes and ice ages are also explored. Currents are also
looked at in further detail. To close, readers take a look at the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic
Gyre and are reminded that when global warming is concerned, the time to act is now.
Shifting Shores is jam packed with fun and educational facts. Tsunamis, also known as killer
waves, are explained in great detail with examples of actual occurrences, as are earthquakes, as
well as information regarding the composition of the earth. It also discusses plate movements and
the various affects it can have when there is a shift such as, volcanoes, earthquakes, and the
formation of new islands. A section I found myself reading twice was the one regarding two cites.
The first city, Herakleion, off of the north coast of Egypt, is already sunken. The second city
which is well known by most everyone, New Orleans, is sinking, something which may not be
well known. There are various reasons that have added to and continue to add to the sinking of
this city and the majority of these reasons are caused by the interference of man upon nature. And
finally the book takes a glimpse at meteors and what happens(ed) when they make contact with
earth.
Underwater Exploration opens with the story of the SS Central America, which along with its
treasure, because of a hurricane was sunk in the 1800s. At the time nothing could be recovered.
However, due to technological advances, the gold and other treasures lost were recovered more
than 130 years later. Next, it looks at the makeup of the ocean floor and discusses the effects of
water pressure on divers. Readers are given evidence from different sources on the existence of
seafloor spreading. The Alvin, a submersible used by the U.S. Navy, is the topic of chapter three.
It was used to help recover or discover, hydrogen bombs, under sea geysers and cold seeps. We
are also told of the rich minerals found at hydrothermal vent sites and of the different types of
submersibles.
The Restless Sea series is packed full of fascinating and educational facts. The covers are
stunning, full color pictures. The interior also has stunning photos that help relay the meaning of
the words. This series of books is perfect for all ages, adults and children alike. In addition to
facts and photos, each book also contains a glossary, suggested reading list, which includes
websites and an index for easy reference, making it perfect for classroom use.
Parents and teachers alike should not be without this handsome set of books. There are perfect for
helping us and our children realize the importance of nature's greatest ecosystem, the ocean.
Great Life Stories
Franklin Watts, A Division of Scholastic, Inc.
Box 1795 Danbury, CT 06816
1-800-621-1115 www.scholasticlibrary.com
ISBN# 0531193276 $295.00 (Set of 10) 112-128 pgs each
Individually $29.50 each
Alexander Graham Bell, Written by Kendall Haven 128pgs ISBN# 0531123146
Marie Curie, Written by Allison Lassieur 112 pgs ISBN# 0531122700
Thomas Alva Edison Written by Claire Price-Groff 128pgs ISBN# 0531122751
The Wright Brothers Written by Bernard Ryan, Jr. 128pgs ISBN# 0531122549
Condoleezza Rice Written by Christen Ditchfield 112pgs ISBN# 0531123073
Fidel Castro Written by Brendan January 112pgs ISBN# 053111676X
George W. Bush Written by Libby Hughes 128pgs ISBN# 0531123103
J. R. R. Tolkien Written by Doris Lynch 128pgs ISBN# 0531122530
Lee Bennett Hopkins Written by Amy Strong 112pgs ISBN# 0531123154
Willa Cather Written by Bettina Ling 112 pgs ISBN# 0531123162
It has always fascinated me to hear about the lives of people who made great contributions to the
world. Great Life Stories, takes its readers on a journey in which they can meet many people in
various fields and learn of not only what they accomplished, but how they lived, their joys and
their hardships along the way. Thus far the series contains ten books: four chronicling inventers
and three each chronicling authors and political figures. Each book is written in a smooth
narrative style that makes it an engaging read for children and adults alike. In this fascinating set
you will get to know:
Alexander Graham Bell Inventor and Visionary, who is most well known for the invention of the
telephone. Few know of the other devices that he envisioned or invented. In this book the readers
are taken back to his birth and learn what it was like to live in the 1800's in Scotland. They will be
shown many aspects and influences that played a part in his life, such as; his family, especially his
grandfather, his many losses, his work in Boston with the deaf, his great road to invention, his
working with Thomas Watson, the process from idea, patent, to invention, all his many ideas that
were ahead of his time, and perhaps most fascinating, how he felt in regard to his inventions.
Marie Curie A Scientific Pioneer, the first female scientist to receive the Nobel Prize. She was
born to parents who were both teachers, in 1867 Poland, during a time of unrest. Despite the
oppression she excelled at her schooling and had the comfort of a loving family. However at ten
she lost her mother to Tuberculosis. Despite her continued hardships, both monetary, with her
families health and the oppression of her people she continued with her studies. Life was not all
hardships, the reader will also learn of her joys, her time in Parris, her husband Pierre Curie and
eventually triumphs in scientific discovery.
Thomas Alva Edison Inventor and Entrepreneur, always a curious natured person, especially
where technology was concerned, lead a very productive life. In his early twenties he filed his first
patent. His inventions and discoveries were numerous, a few of them, cylinder phonograph,
incandescent light bulbs and the Edison effect. He also opened and ran many businesses, including
workshops, labs and an electric company. The reader will be shown a glimpse of the restless child,
the driven young man, his successes, failures and will know a more complete picture of this great
man, when they close the cover.
The Wright Brothers Inventors of the Airplane, sons of a minister, were gifted as children with a
talent to build things. One being a device to fold newspapers in an effort to save time. Their
dream was to build a flying machine. In 1900 they built their first glider. Three years later Orville
made the historic first flight, on December 17. This book shows the path the brothers followed
from birth to invention and beyond. It also shows readers a glimpse into their family life and
schooling along the way. This is a particularly fascinating pair of men and the brilliance of their
invention is evident even in today's aviation devices.
Condoleezza Rice National Security Advisor, is a spectacular woman with a moving story. She
was born into and grew up with a loving and supportive family. Despite the hardships of being an
African American in the south, her family taught her to believe in herself and never accept the
limitations suggested by others. She excelled in school, always performing at the top of the class
and graduated early from high school as well as college, where she earned her doctorate in
political science. She has written and published several books. She has also served several
positions in the white house, including being the first female national security advisor. This is a
story of how far one can go when they believe in themselves and strive for their dreams.
Fidel Castro Cuban Revolutionary, is a man who has often been viewed with great controversy. I
found this unbiased look into his life refreshing. Even if a person does not agree with everything
he has done, the determination he has shown throughout his life lends to respect. This man knew
his country was not what it could be and sought to make changes through the means he was most
familiar with. Means I might add that were not too unusual in the culture in which he was raised.
The author has done a spectacular job chronicling a fascinating and driven leader.
George W. Bush From Texas to White House, is a name familiar to most people, even those who
don't normally follow politics, since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. However many people
may not know a whole lot about the man he actually is. This is a complete look at George W.
Bush that starts with his birth and carries through his childhood into adulthood. It covers little
know things such as his love of baseball and the fact that he acted as managing general partner for
the Texas Rangers baseball team, for five years. Of course it also looks at his life in politics, from
helping his father on his campaign, governorship and eventually presidency.
J. R. R. Tolkien Creator of Languages and Legends, is known by many for his creation of The
Lord of the Rings. Even if they haven't read it, today they have more than likely seen the film
adaptations. He is often thought of as the writer that made fantasy a serious genre. Tolkien also
had a passion for languages, both currently used, dead, and those totally made up. When someone
creates a fantasy world such as he did, you almost have to wonder what type of life he lead. The
author of this book paints a detailed picture of where he lived, his happy times and triumphs, as
well as his losses and disappointments.
Lee Bennett Hopkins A Children's Poet, has penned some of the most loved and cherished poems
ever written. He has accomplished so much already in his career having edited and authored over
sixty books. After reading this book you will have a clearer understanding of why. His work
comes from the heart, from having lived a real life, filled with the love of his family and the
hardships they faced when his mother found herself the sole support for Lee and her other two
children. Although she chose rather unorthodox ways to see that her family had their needs meet,
I have a deep respect that she did, and managed to raise lovely children despite hardships.
Knowing where this man came from, is a gift that will add depth to his already moving works of
prose.
Willa Cather Author and Critic, one of the countries best-known female writers, has graced the
literary world with seventeen novels, over sixty short stories and many essays, speeches and
reviews. Originally she planned to become a doctor of medicine. However upon seeing one of her
essays in print, she realized her true desire. In her lied the heart and talent of a writer. This book
chronicles not only her life but also that of her career as is developed from journalism through
fiction novels. She was an astounding woman who always remained true to herself.
In each of these books the reader will be shown a unique glimpse of some of histories and current
days most fascinating people, covering personal as well as career oriented information. There is
also information regarding the time and area in which the person lived, helping to paint an even
more complete picture, with simple to follow timelines in the back of each book. The reader will
also find information on books and websites where they can further their study. The plethora of
information makes these books great for middle school assignments, suck as book reports and
comprehension tasks. The narrative style is such that they are engaging to both children and adults
alike. Thought the books are designed for and excellent for 6 through 8 graders, they are perfect
for readers of all ages, at home or in the classroom.
The Quest Tarot
Joseph Ernest Martin
Llewellyn
P.O. Box 64383, Dept K168-6, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN# 0738701955 $34.95 80 Card Deck and 296 pgs guide
Experienced and even novice tarot readers come to expect certain things from a tarot deck. Very
occasionally does that expectation become exceeded. Even more rarely, is it so surpassed the
reader sits in awe looking at the tool before them. This is precisely what will happen, when
readers open The Quest Tarot Kit and realize what they have in their hands, will forever change
the way a reading is performed.
If that excites you, just wait until I tell you why these cards are so special. All too often, someone
will come to a reading wanting a yes or no answer. A standard tarot deck very rarely will provide
a certain answer in that manner. The Quest Tarot does. Possibly my favorite feature of the deck is
the yes/no option. The court cards are equipped with swords, which depending upon the way they
face, will tell you yes, no, maybe, look to the future, or look to the past. This is such an exciting
and brilliant addition to the cards.
Occasionally, an adept reader, one who also practices many varieties of divination will realize
there is a correlation between the cards and other divination tools. It is a challenge to bring this
knowledge to use, when the reader is using a standard tarot deck. However, The Quest Tarot is
equipped with the symbols to help strengthen these connections in the readers mind. In the upper
left corner of the card, with the exception of aces, is an astrological symbol, which ties the tarot to
stars, planets and constellations. In the upper left corner of the aces is a clock and the upper right
contains a seasonal symbol, to help the reader foresee a timeline if one is present for the reading.
Around the border of the cards are gemstones, to help readers further understand the full meaning
of certain influences on a particular card. In the Major Arcana are the symbols representing the
Hebrew Letters and I am sure when a reader sees the profound correlation they will be very
excited. There are symbols from I Ching, which appear on the cards, in which they directly relate
to. Often the cards will attempt to inform us, of a person, who will have a bearing upon the
situation. The Quest Tarot is equipped with a feature thru color symbolism that allows a more
accurate description of said person, i.e. hair color, skin color and eye color. I personally read both
tarot and rune stones, so I was very excited to see that runes are also represented in this amazing
deck of tarot. An extra special feature not found on any current tarot decks is the Roman
alphabet. Most cards are equipped with a letter to help you spell out messages within the reading,
those with no letter act as wild cards and can be used as any letter.
This IS the most complete set of tarot cards I have ever seen and possibly the most complete
divination tool offered. The brilliance of the combinations makes this not only easy to use for
beginners, but also a tool that will significantly deepen even the most experienced readers
understanding of the cards. The cards themselves are stunning in the artwork and design. The
meanings come to life, with the easy to interpret pictures, adding another level of beauty to the
design.
The accompanying guidebook, explains in easy to follow terms how to incorporate the new
features. The party games chapter is sure to be hit with anyone who wants to increase their
mastery of these grand cards. Often we are told that to help our children learn new things, we
should make the experience a fun one. Sounds reasonable to me, so why not do the same for
adults? No question here, these games will make the learning of these cards a fun and truly
enriching experience. It also, has chapters to help new readers understand the two most
commonly used spreads, three card and Celtic cross, as well a new spread designed for special use
with these cards in mind.
My readers and readers everywhere, if you are ready to give a reading that has more depth than
any you have given before, if you are prepared to be dazzled by the design and beauty of this deck
and most importantly if you are ready to take your tarot reading to the next level, you are ready
for The Quest Tarot by Joseph Ernest Martin. Don't miss out on what is sure to be the favorite
and most accurate deck in your collection.
Cards of Alchemy
Raymond Buckland
Llewellyn
P.O. Box 64383, Dept K168-6, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN# 0738700533 $29.95 50 Card Deck and 209 pg guide
When I think of alchemy, the image that comes to mind is a mad scientist type attempting to
change things to gold. Likewise, when I think of the craft, the name of Raymond Buckland is not
far from my mind, having read many of his works. However, what do the two have in common?
Answer: The Cards of Alchemy.
Buckland has taken the concepts and symbols of alchemy and created a tool that will help its users
transform their spiritual and personal lives. I will never forget the first time I was told readers
couldn't read for themselves. I thought, why not, what about the questions I have? This deck is
unique from most that I have used, in that it is designed to help the reader. It can be used for
divination, but the intention is to be a solo deck in which the user receives messages, images to
ponder and deepen their own life.
The deck itself has artwork that is filled with imagery and symbolism, perfect meditation. There
are five wild cards representing powerful influences that are not connected to any one of the suits.
The deck is divided into five suits, which are further broken down into three levels. The
guidebook, Book of Alchemy, has thorough explanations of what each card can mean. I say, can
here, because the author agrees that often cards will have different meanings to different readers,
in different situations. The information is complete and easy to understand.
Now you must be wondering, how do I use such a deck? There are several layouts listed in the
guidebook. It is not recommended to use the cards in spreads that exceed seven cards. Readers
are encouraged to do what they feel most comfortable with, as this is a personal deck designed for
a personal awakening. After studying the cards and reading the guidebook, I tend to think that a
single card draw would allow for the deepest exploration. A card a day is perfect, as it will give
the reader a focal point for their daily meditation.
Spirituality is a personal journey and with the Cards of Alchemy, Raymond Buckland has
provided his readers with a tool that will guide them on their own personal path to spiritual
transformation. When you are ready to nurture your soul, with depth and reflection, it is time to
look for your own Cards of Alchemy and grow with me.
Tarot & Magic
Donald Michael Kraig
Llewellyn
P.O. Box 64383, Dept K168-6, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN# 0738701858 $12.95 175 pgs
When you think of magic tools or altar items, do you think of your tarot deck? If not, you should.
With all the great things that tarot cards can be used for beside divination, magic should be added
to the list. Perhaps you may have already noticed the cards have the properties to make this
possible or perhaps not. Either way, in Tarot & Magic, Donald Michael Kraig explains, in easy to
follow terms, just how potent a magical tool, the tarot can be.
The guide is designed in a manner to allow its use by followers of most any spiritual path and by
practitioners of all levels of expertise. Before I get too far along into what the book can help you
accomplish, I want to note that the author has a great section on what magic can and cannot do.
Often people expect too much or too little and very easily overlook the true potential of real
magic. I suggest the reader should pay special attention to this section before attempting any kind
of magic and never forget, they are always creating magic.
The author gives a great many easy to perform tarot spells and encourages readers to modify the
suggestion he gives or even create their own; to me this reflects the wisdom of Mr. Kraig. There
are no great passages of dry lecturing; instead, the author imparts his wisdom to his readers as
equals on the path of magic. Of great interest to me was the section on how tarot can be used for
astral projection. Kraig strips away the mystery and fear of this practice, again making it available
to any who might want to explore this avenue.
Dancing the tarot is something I was not aware of prior to reading this guide. This practice offers
your querents a way to see an alternate path or to act out one more desirable. This to me is
absolutely fascinating and definitely something I will be following up on further; after some more
practice, adding it to my own readings. Tarot cards, as a talisman is something I had not
considered. Not only will the reader be guided in choosing the card to suit their purpose, but they
are also shown an example of how to charge the card and what you can expect from doing
so.
Also, covered in the guide is how to use tarot in ceremonial magic, synchronicity as a concept to
ponder, the magic of the tarot, sex magic and a look at an alternative tarot, the shadow tarot,
based on the nightside tree, as opposed to the traditional tree of life.
Each of the chapters end with questions encouraging the reader to make sense of what they have
read and trigger the magic we all have. It is clear the author has a passion for the tarot and in his
writing, this comes across in a way that makes it infectious, bringing a renewed excitement to
working with the cards.
When you are ready to work profound magic with a familiar tool, you need a copy of Tarot &
Magic. Even if you have never used a tarot deck, but want to practice magic in the real sense of
the word, let Tarot & Magic be your guide.
Sexual Alchemy
Donald Tyson
Llewellyn
P.O. Box 64383, Dept K168-6, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN# 1567187412 $19.95 348 pgs
It has been my experience that sex is always a topic people approach with care or often dance
around entirely. Of course, it has also been my experience that most cultures and religions view it
as the means for reproduction and only as such. I can say with certainty, I have never heard it
suggested that people can have intercourse with spirits. Yes, I've seen many movies and read
many fictional tales where this happens, but nothing seriously suggested in a favorable manner.
Perhaps this is the reason why the title of Donald Tyson's book, Sexual Alchemy, caught my
attention.
What is sexual alchemy? After reading this guide, I can give you the answer with confidence.
Sexual alchemy is a way, via ritual magic, in which a person can begin and maintain a fulfilling,
sexually intimate relationship with a sprit- this union providing the practitioner with a method for
self-empowerment. I also, want to note that when I say intimate, I am not referring to the same
type of experiences in which two flesh and blood humans would engage. As with anything
spiritual, it is on a level that far transcends physical pleasure.
A special feature in this guide is how it is broken into two sections. One discussing the history and
theory, while the other covers the actual instructions. It is written with such clarity the reader
might be tempted to skip the history/theory and go right to the instructions. Of course, if they do,
they will be missing some very fascinating information, which will give them a deeper
understanding of what they are doing.
This book is a must have in all collections of the esoteric arts. Even if you do not intend to
practice the techniques, the information provided would more than make this a valuable addition
to your library.
Lunar Returns
John Townley
Llewellyn
P.O. Box 64383, Dept K168-6, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN# 0738703028 $19.95 244 pgs
Astrology is a vast and, at times, confusing topic. With so many things to be considered besides
the sun sign, is it any wonder? We are all born into a specific point on the cycle of the astrological
bodies. The point of astrological significance examined in Lunar Returns by John Townley
pertains to where the moon was at the exact moment of birth. The power of the moon has long
been a topic of discussion, and I would say most everyone agrees it has some effect on people,
even if indirect- with a force capable of controlling the tides, there is no way to deny its
power.
Every 27 1/2 days, the moon returns to the exact point it was when you were born; this is the
lunar return. A chart done each month based on the placement of your lunar return relates more to
your emotional self and how you will react to certain situations; a perfect tool for making the
most of any opportunities that may come your way. As the author states it is a way to "make the
most of the month from beginning to end."
Once the reader is aware of what a lunar return is, and has used one of the many programs to
determine their latest lunar return, the author thoroughly guides them in matters of interpretation,
and when I say thoroughly, there is no exaggeration involved with every possible aspect looked at
and explained in an easy to follow manner. Not only is each factor's importance fully examined,
but also the possible positions for those factors. Something I thought was a really neat suggestion
was to plan traveling according to your return, as moving your location will alter the outcome.
This is handy food for thought especially if the month's forecast is not to your desire.
Professional astrologers, as well as those just interested for personal reasons, will not be
disappointed with Lunar Returns, as it will be the only source of reference they need to look at
the aspects involved in the lunar return. And the next time you hear the song Bad Moon Rising by
Credence Clearwater Revival, it will take on an entirely new meaning.
Practical Guide to Creative Visualization
Melita Denning and Osborne Phillips
Llewellyn
P.O. Box 64383, Dept K168-6, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN# 0875421830 $9.95 211 pgs
It is safe to say there is usually something most people want in their life that is currently missing.
Sometimes it is something well within reach, and sometimes it is something that might seem
impossible. In Denning and Philips', Practical Guide to Creative Visualization, readers are given
the tools to bring any of their dreams into reality. You heard me right. If you practice and
dedicate the time and effort, this guide will give you the tools to realize your dreams.
There are hundreds of books on changing thoughts and using visualization, what I refer to as
positive thought guides, to make changes or bring things to a person. This is a complete guide,
and while it does mention, teach and respect positive thought, it takes the next step. One which
very logically explains why it takes more than just simply imagining things in order to bring them
into reality. The authors of the guide realize the power of positive thought and add to it, by
showing readers how to manifest their thoughts in a way that causes your whole self; conscious,
unconscious, and your higher self, to work together as one in order to bring about results. When
you manifest your desires in all the different levels of your existence, you will be sending a clear,
positive message to the universe that this is your desire and you deserve to receive that which you
want.
There is invaluable information on how to get all the levels of yourself involved in the process,
along with aids to help you strengthen your visualization abilities and improve concentration.
Several relaxation methods help readers to release unresolved tension, which is absolutely vital to
do for success' sake. There are also methods with which the reader can organize and determine
exactly what it is they wish to bring into, or remove from, their life. There are also several
methods given for the actual process of creative visualization, each with their own levels of
difficulty and success. Of course what I have mentioned here only scratches the surface of the
valuable information this guide is packed with.
Anyone who wants to change any aspect of their lives will have the power to do so after reading
this guide. It is written in a way that makes the tools usable by anyone, no matter their current
level of meditation or concentration skills. Join over 100,000 people who already have their own
copy and start on your own path to manifest all of your dreams and desires into reality.
Taming the Diet Dragon
Constance C. Kirk
Llewellyn
P.O. Box 64383, Dept K168-6, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
www.llewellyn.com
ISBN# 1567183832 $4.99 235 pgs
Dieting. Even alone like that, the word holds power. Power to control the lives of many, who feel
for whatever reason they need to lose weight. No matter if the reason is strictly cosmetic or if it is
for necessary health reasons, losing weight is something that eludes most who try. The reason, as
shown in Constance C. Kirk's, Taming the Diet Dragon, can be as simple as the approach
taken.
It is well known that thoughts hold great power. Most often when people think about dieting, the
first thing that comes to mind is sacrifice and many other unpleasant things. Therefore, when you
look at a diet as a bad thing and a lot of work that is exactly what it will be. This is the thought
pattern that tends to cause most to fail at their dieting endeavors. What this book teaches the
reader is how to approach this from another angle, with a more positive approach, using language
control and creative visualization.
I think the most unique aspect of the book's design is there are actual exercises throughout, which
help readers master the skills they will need to be successful in their dieting endeavors. These are
also lessons that can be applied to any task, which might seem like an impossibility, such as
stopping smoking. When you have first taken control of the idea, then the actual task will follow
suit. Of course nothing is as simple as I am making it sound. However, if you study the ideas and
practice the exercises, you will find the empowerment needed to finally succeed when Taming the
Diet Dragon.
Health educator Dr. Constance Kirk has graciously shared with readers her secrets, which have
helped hundreds lose weight without the unpleasant struggling and feelings of depravation, that
generally go with the territory. You have nothing to lose but negative thoughts and the weight
you desire.
Diana Bennett
Reviewer
Duncan's Bookshelf
Friday
Robert Heinlein
DelRay/Ballantine Books
1745 Broadway NY, NY 10019
Phone: 800-733-3000 www.randomhouse.com/BB/
ISBN #0739429930 $14.95 368 pages
The Pope-in-Exile lives on a distant planet. The people believe religion is superstition. Women
believe sexual intercourse is like scratching your back. In Robert Heinlein's Friday a genetically
improved female called Friday Baldwin proves she has superior abilities. She is an AP (Artificial
Person) trained to have sharper mental and physical skills.
Friday Baldwin is a beautiful young woman with a self-concept issue: can she think of herself as
human? She works as a highly paid courier. Raped and left for dead, she survives, finds friends,
has a baby on a far-distant planet and becomes Frontier Woman.
Friday is not Stranger in a Strange Land nor is it Starship Troopers, both Hugo Award winning
novels by Heinlein. Friday is an easy read even if her world is improbable. If you are a devotee of
the genre, read it. If not, don't.
Message in a Bottle
Nicholas Sparks
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas NY, NY 10020
ISBN#: 0446606812 $7.50 370 pages
"My dearest Catherine, I miss you my darling, as I always do, but today is particularly hard
because the ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together " The story
begins with a message, found by Theresa, a columnist for the Boston Globe. She traces the
message back to Garrett, a dividing instructor in North Carolina.
Within the pages of 'Message' we see two people trying to discover love but failing because the
ghost of Catherine stands between them. 'Message' is an "unforgettable and heartbreaking love
story" (Coaster magazine). I would consider myself fortunate indeed if I could write one story
that shows how people love each other.
By the way, the book was better then the movie. The version with Kevin Costner was run on TV
when I had twenty pages left to read. In the movie, Garrett dies trying to save a drowning
woman, as if the viewer must think Garrett was a hero. In the book, Garrett fails to turn for home
and a vicious storm sinks his boat and drowns him.
'Message' is a true love story; one that you can cherish.
Cold Mountain
Charles Frazier
Atlantic Monthly Press
841 Broadway; New York, N.Y. 10003
ISBN#: 0871136791 $24.00 356 pages
"All your grief hasn't changed a thing. What you have lost will not be returned to you. It will
always be lost. You're left with only your scars to mark the void. All you can choose to do is go
on or not." (p.334)
Six years after they first met, Inman "held in his mind the wish to kiss her there at the back of her
neck," and he does. Inman has been absent from Cold Mountain because he felt compelled to
serve and defend the Confederacy from the Yankee Heathens. He has lost six years of living with
Ada on the farm at the base of the mountain.
In battle after battle, Inman has seen men shot, blasted and exploded on the bloody fields of
contention. He is recovering from a bullet to his neck when he decides to leave the hospital and
walk home over the mountains.
Ada has also lost: her father Monroe. He created an 'educated' world of books and music that
sheltered Ada from the raw truth of life. During Inman's long voyage home, Ada begins to learn
how to be a farmer.
Inman brings his scars home. He reaches the end of his road high on Cold Mountain; a breath of
air could push him over the ridge of despair. Ada brings him back, feeds him and lets him
sleep.
Cold Mountain is the story of Ada and Inman, two humans ensnared in the despair and
lawlessness of the 'backwoods' during the Civil War. What they have lost will always be lost. They
decide to go on. Then comes the ending.
Bleachers
John Grisham
Doubleday
1745 Broadway, NY, NY 10019
ISBN#: 0385511612 $19.95 163 pages
"The past was gone now. It left with Rake [the coach]. Neely was tired of the memories and
broken dreams. Give it up, he told himself. You'll never be the hero again. Those days are gone
now."
Why do we hang onto our dreams of glory? Do we dream a future in which young women shower
us with adulation, or a corporate board showers us with stock options and a seven-figure salary?
Neely describes the last four days in the life of Eddie Rake, the veteran [42 yrs] football coach, an
icon who led the Messina Spartans to 13 state championships. Neely, the Spartan quarterback
also tells us what happened in the lockerroom at halftime in the 1987 state championship
game.
Bleachers is where Rake's older and heavier football players are congregating and ruminating over
their high school football careers while coach Rake is dying. Bleachers is a quick snapshot of
older men 'attached like glue' to the past.
Can we go back? Does it make sense? Neely decides to go back to Messina to see a few Friday
night games. He has with finality buried the hatred he carried within his memories. He no longer
hates coach Rake. 'The past was gone now. It left with Rake."
Haunted Ground
Erin Hart
Scribner
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN#: 0743235053 $24.00 328 pp.
Turf cutters in an ancient bog in eastern Galway County, Ireland find the decapitated head of an
Irish lass. The perfectly preserved head brings an archeologist (Cormac Maguire) and a forensic
pathologist (Nora Gavin) together to solve the mystery of the girl's death. Cormac and Nora find
themselves enmeshed in a second mystery: the two-year-old disappearance of a mother and her
son. Did they somehow die in the ancient bog or did her husband kill them?
Erin Hart delivers a mystery replete with the chemistry of the bogs and the boisterous music of an
Irish pub, painted against the landscape of a small town. The people of Dunbeg, County Galway
suspect that Hugh Osborne may have killed his wife and son. In the parallel mystery, the early
Osbornes may have lied and caused the death of the cailin rua (red hair girl) who, an old song
claims, killed her child.
Hart gives us a taste of ancient Ireland, replete with crows that wheel and spin around an
abandoned tower and a taste of modern Ireland, when turf cutters find bodies preserved in the
bog. Miss Hart has given us a story that wheels and spins around the anger and mistrust of
neighbors and a cailin rua whose death was tragic. Haunted Ground is presented concisely and
neatly wrapped.
Marty Duncan
Reviewer
Gary's Bookshelf
The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly
Luis Sepolveda
Scholastic Inc
557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
212-343-6100
ISBN 0439401860 $15.95 www.scholastic.com
Normally kids books weren't something I did very much reviewing of until the last few years when
Harry Potter or The Kipton Chronicles changed my mind and made me take a new approach to
novels for young adults and children because unlike when I was growing up, the books of today
are not just for kids. This one is filled with wonderful multi dimensional characters and writing
that is fast paced with a good story to boot. What also makes this fine tale is that it goes much
deeper than just a nice fairy tale. It also can be read on a different level and readers can look for
the elements of how the characters find their identities. Where one fits in to the world, what
makes a friend are just two of the ones I was able to come up with. Pretty good for someone who
in college was not really able to find the symbolism of the books I had to read for class. I hope
that an audience finds this very delightful novel that can be read on many levels and is for all
ages.
Reel Romance
Leslie Halpern
Taylor Trade Publishing
4501 Forbes Blvd Suite 200, Lanham MD 20706
ISBN 1589790642 $19.95
This is a very entertaining book that is just in time for the Valentines Day Halpern had a tough
job. She had to choose the 100 best movies that have certain qualities to be classified as "date
movies." She was fortunate to have help from her husband. But still it can be rough wading
through so many films to find the right ones to fit a book of this type. Why it's hard to choose is
because so many movies are romantic but would not be pleasing to both sexes. Many I'm sure
would be classified as "chick flicks." She had numerous criteria that all had to somehow meet. So
it was rather difficult to find 100 movies that qualified that also are available on either DVD or
Video. She had certain characteristics that had to be met in order to qualify. At any rate she found
100 movies that met the test. Anyone who reads this fine book will like, myself, have other titles
they think should have been listed. They could possibly be saved for a second book of another
100 movies. REEL ROMANCE is an interesting idea that was very enjoyable to read Part of the
fun was to see whether I agreed or disagreed with Ms. Halpern's choices.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Pod Publishing but Didn't Know Who to
Ask!!!
John F. Harnish
Infinity Publishing.com
519 West Lancaster Avenue, Haverford. PA 19041-1413
877-BUY-BOOK (877-289-2665) www.buybooksontheweb.com
ISBN 0741411210 $24.95
To my knowledge this is the first book to tell all there is to know about Publish on Demand. What
is great about this book is that it does an excellent job of alerting new authors about what is out in
the publishing world. The author deals with many of the following things: the impact of reviews,
publishers that are POD, how to generate publicity, the differences between mainstream
publishing and POD, advantages and disadvantages, reasons for POD. He also has a panel of
authors and others in the industry of publishing answer questions about everything as well as what
each would like to see more or less of. Where Dan Poynter paved the way on self-publishing
Harnish has picked up the ball and shows all the ins and outs of another form of publishing that
has now become very popular. This book should be read by anyone considering this avenue of
getting published to avoid making costly mistakes.
Blue Moon over Miami
John Franklin
Infinity Publishing.com
519 West Lancaster Avenue, Haverford. PA 19041-1413
877-BUY-BOOK (877-289-2665) www.buybooksontheweb.com
ISBN 0741405741 $19.95
With a new election season upon us I think that it's a great thing to have this laugh out loud satire
of our voting process that really has a lot to say about the last presidential election. Franklin
solves the crisis of the 2000 campaign by having Bill Clinton leave office install Al Gore as
President holding an election on a weekend. No pollsters are allowed to do their surveys and the
press are not permitted to cover it There are many other things that the author has come up with
that are witty and satirical that makes this one of those books everyone should be talking about.
It's too bad we cannot do some of the things Mr. Franklin has proposed to run an election.
They're things that are just screwy enough to work. At any rate, I very much enjoyed this dark
funny novel.
The Best Love Poems Ever
Edited by David Rohlfing
Scholastic Inc
557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
212-343-6100 www.scholastic.com
ISBN 0439573904 $3.99
Good things come in small packages and this book is a fine example that is perfect for Valentines
Day. When I read the poems and sonnets I was very pleased to realize I could sit back and enjoy
them. There is no grade to achieve no one to tell the symbolism. And that's the way it should be.
William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson are but a few of the names that grace
this fine collection.
Dude, Where's My Country?
Michael Moore
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.twbookmark.com
ISBN 0440532231 $24.95
Mr. Moore's target this time is President George W. Bush. I've heard some of things he writes
about, but a lot I haven't. Did you know that when all flights were shut down on September 11,
2001 our federal government provided air travel for numerous family members of Bin Lauden and
other Saudis who were transported out of the country at taxpayer expense? That's just one of the
things he reveals in a book that shows that this Bush administration has slowly eroded many of
our freedoms in the name of National Security.
The Greatest Diet in the World
Dolly Dimples
Chateau Publishing
P.O.Box 140432, Orlando, Florida 32814
ISBN 0884350029 $3.95 www.amazon.com
Today there is a lot of emphasis on obesity, diet plans, books of diets, exercise programs,
controversial hospital procedures that all do not really solve the problem. The predicament is
people are obsessed with eating so badly that they fail to accept responsibility for being so
overweight. This book remains as a remarkable achievement of how to really lose weight and
keep it off.
Many years ago Dolly Dimples, the Guinness World Book record holder in her class reduced from
555 pounds to just over 100 pounds in 14 months. She never gained a single pound back.
Dolly was doomed to be overweight from an early age when she began to associate comfort with
food. Her well-meaning mother was combining two types of psychological principles. B. F.
Skinner's reward concepts and Pavlov's conditioning dog theories. Dolly was conditioned to
accept food as the great healer of all her problems. Throughout her life she continued to gain
weight until her massive heart attack in which last rites were said and no one expected her to live
through the night. Amazingly she survived and was ordered by her doctor to "Diet or Die." Left
with the choice of having a life or not she chose to take her weight off. She broke the
conditioning and established a new direction with behavior modification. Her story is an
inspiration to everyone who has ever tried to lose weight. She stated, "If I did it you can lose
weight, too."
The Man Who Killed His Brother
Stephen R. Donaldson
Forge
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0765341255 $7.99 www.tor.com
I've not read too much by Donaldson because, and its my own doing I perceived everything he has
recently written to be like his Thomas Covenant series that was laced with fantasy, which I do not
read very much. I am delighted to say that this one is a mystery that is rich in characterization and
strong writing that moves briskly along to its final conclusion. Schoolgirls are disappearing. It
becomes personal for private eye Mick Axbrewder when his niece is one of them. There is a major
complication. Mick is not in good standing with his sister-in law because a while before on a case,
Mick shot and killed a cop. His own brother, it turns out. At the beginning of the novel Mick is on
a drunken binge. He is the last person anyone would want on this case. But his sister-in-law sets
aside her feelings and calls him in to find the lost niece. What he uncovers is staggering.
Donaldson has shown that he can write equally well in any genre. This is another fine series to
look for by a very talented author.
Greenbacks
Randy Stowell
Sharp Books International
349 Bayshore Boulevard #1109, Tampa, Florida 33606
727-422-0754 www.sharpbooks.us
ISBN 187942398X $6.99
I am always on the lookout for novels that you can't find in a bookstore. This is one of them that I
came across at a book fair. The president of the United States is about to change history and
someone doesn't like it. He enlists the aid of a political science student but finds someone is out to
eliminate them both. The president is messing with the Federal Reserve utilizing a little known
document from history that has been buried for so long. Someone wants to keep it hidden and
they don't care at what cost. This is a fine novel in the realm of Grisham that could be a very good
film.
Defending a Nation
Tari M. Cooley
1st Books Library
1663 Liberty Dr., Bloomington In 47404-5161
800-839-8640 www.1stbooks.com.
ISBN 1410770289 $3.95
With patriotism on the wane in this country, it is refreshing to read this book of poetry that is
inspirational and very supportive of our troops overseas. The author has written simple emotional
poems that someone has needed to say for some time. A portion of the proceeds for this book is
being donated to various non-profit organizations that provide services to our men and women of
the U. S. armed forces, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and their families, through Veterans Day
2003.
Andros Draws the Line
Bruce Edwards
Lean Press
1-503-708-4415 www.leanpress.com
ISBN 193247501X $13.00
If you're like me and want a great legal thriller, this is a very good one. There is something wrong
in the D.A's office when the chief prosecutor is found dead. It is believed he committed suicide
others say he was murdered. To end the controversy private attorney Paul Andros is brought in to
find the truth. He begins to uncover a cesspool that involves dirty cops and lots more. The writing
is very good and takes the reader along with well-defined characters. I found the artwork
throughout at the beginning of each chapter to be an added bonus. I hope to see more good things
from this author and this publishing company as well.
Act Right a Manual for the On-camera Actor
Erin Gray & Mara Purl
Haven Books
10153 1/2 Riverside Drive Suite 629, North Hollywood CA 91602
www.havenbooks.net
ISBN 1584360003 $29.95
Do you have a question about acting? This is the book to learn all there is to know about breaking
into the profession. The authors who know their stuff have packed this book with lots of good
information. They discuss such things as auditioning, why you should have your own wardrobe,
stunt work, professional photos and why you have to have them. These are just some of the areas
they touch on. Unlike other books of this type, the authors have brief summaries of the most
important aspects at the end of each chapter. Many may remember both authors. Mara Purl
started acting on "Days Of Our Lives" and Erin Gray is most noted for her role on the popular
"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". Both have a wealth of experience which they share here in
this expanded edition that should help anyone trying to get into this profession.
Richard Matheson's Kolchak Scripts
Edited with an introduction by Mark Dawidziak
Gauntlet Press
5307 Arroyo St, Colorado Springs CO 80922
www.gauntletpress.com
ISBN 1887368647 $150.00
Do you remember the "Kolchak" TV show with Darren McGavin? Want to know why it was such
a great series? The answer to that question, I feel, is Richard Matheson the writer of the scripts.
Matheson wrote many of the best "Twilight Zone" episodes as well as "The Incredible Shrinking
Man," "Somewhere in Time," and "Duel," many novels and hundreds of short stories. I have
found that having sf horror writers write the scripts works very well for these type of shows or
movies for whatever reason. Take for example "Star Trek." Some of its best episodes were ones
by established writers in the genre. Not just regular script hackers. Other sf projects have not
worked out because the thought of many filmmakers has been that sf or horror has to be monsters
or space ships and laser battles. This is much below what fans are looking for. That's why
"Kolchak" was one of the most intelligent shows of this genre. After reading the scripts in this
book it is very easy to see why the show was so good. Dawidziak also tells many of the behind
the scenes aspects of the show. This is a book that students of film should all read to learn how to
write a script.
Farscape the Illustrated Companion
Paul Simpson and David Hughes
Tor
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY10010
www.tor.com
ISBN 0765301644 $12.95
The authors have done a methodical job of telling all there is to know about the SCI-FI network
hit series. They tell about how it all started, the characters, the episode story details, the special
effects, and throughout there are pictures from installments of the program. No fan of "Farscape"
should miss this great book that has it all.
Gary Roen
Reviewer
Gorden's Bookshelf
Golden Buddha
Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo
The Berkley Publishing Group
A division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN: 0425191729 $15.00 420 pages
'The Golden Buddha' has all of the high-tech action adventure you expect in a Cussler novel. The
non-stop action makes for a fast read. With Cussler's other stories, there is a lead character, which
the story revolves around. Cussler and Dirgo tried to create a composite cast with the central
figure a high-tech mobile command center in the form of a tramp cargo ship with the name
'Oregon.' They were only partially successful. Without the strong central character, the novel
reads as a collection of parallel short stories.
The Corporation owns the cargo ship 'Oregon.' Every member of its mercenary crew is share
holder in the Corporation. Each is an expert in covert operations. After a successful operation
breaking political prisoners out of Cuba, they take on a task for the CIA. For ten million dollars,
they are going to steal back a Golden Buddha and return Tibet, as an independent country, to the
Dalai Lama. All it will take is orchestrating an UN vote, timing a Russian invasion of Mongolia,
and leading a Tibetan revolt against the Chinese troops in Tibet, all in seven days.
Cussler is the mainstay of the espionage type action adventure. 'The Golden Buddha' has all the
action a reader could want. Its lack of a strong enough central character to build the story around
will turn off many readers but Cussler fans will not be disappointed with the tale.
Timeline
Michael Crichton
A Ballantine Book
A division of Random House, Inc.
New York, NY
www.randomhouse.com
ISBN: 0345417623 $7.99 489 pages
Crichton writes technical stories. With 'Timeline,' he blends historical and scientific information
with an action storyline. His strength as a writer isn't with his knowledge of the facts but his
ability in using facts to make a believable story. Crichton's writing is a bit slow and his science is a
bit fantasy but his stories have a feel of believability. It is this believability that make his stories
fun.
A dying man is found in the middle of the Arizona desert. His partial autopsy shows a body
damaged in ways that seem impossible. On his person, is a map of a monastery that hasn't existed
in hundreds of years. The questions that the man's death raises start a series of events from an
archeological site in France to the ITC research complex in New Mexico.
ITC has a way to visit the past. The high-tech company understands the science but doesn't
understand the people who work for it. A team of historical researches have to survive six
hundred years in the past to rescue a professor lost in the middle of the Hundred Year War
between England and France.
'Timeline' is well worth reading despite its weaknesses. Crichton has the knack of writing
characters that feel real and storylines that seem possible. 'Timeline' isn't Crichton's best writing
but you won't be disappointed with the tale.
S. A. Gorden
Reviewer
Harold's Bookshelf
The Luxury Guide to Walt Disney World: How to Get the Most Out of the Best Disney Has to
Offer
Cara Goldsbury
Bowman Books
PO Box 15309, San Antonio, TX 78212
ISBN: 0972697225 478 pg.
If you are going to Florida and thinking about visiting the Walt Disney World area you will want a
copy of this book to help plan before you go. There are a lot of places on the Internet where you
can get information on Disney World tickets, attractions, hours, and other information. The
problem is that you have to go all over the net to get the information. Just this last year I went to
Disney World and had to go to three different sites to get information about the hours of
operation, ticket prices, places to get discount prices, and other basic information. In "The Luxury
Guide to Walt Disney World" author Cara Goldsbury has done all the research and put together a
complete guide in a single book.
This is by far the most complete book on Walt Disney World that I have ever read. Not only does
she cover the usual information on standard ticket prices, hours of operation, and the various
attractions, but also ranks the hotel accommodations by price, descriptions, and offerings. She
covers the discounts available, reservations information, categorizes the accommodations by what
you are looking for (like best pool access, best park access, most romantic, etc.), and provides
information on the menus and operating hours of the various restaurants. For each theme park she
provides maps, fastpass offerings, special activities for people staying at the resorts, gift shops,
suggested itineraries for different age levels, special tours and packages, and even when to go for
the shortest lines.
As a resident of Florida I can attest that Walt Disney World can be a wonderful and exciting
adventure or an absolute nightmare that will make you swear you will never return. The difference
between the two experiences is planning ahead and knowing what to expect. This guide does an
excellent job of giving the reader all the information they need to ensure that their trip is one to
remember fondly and is a highly recommended read for anyone planning a trip to any portion of
Walt Disney World.
Linux+ Study Guide
Roderick W. Smith
Sybex, Inc.
1151 Marina Village Parkway, Alameda, CA 94501
ISBN: 0782129390 670 pg. plus glossary and index
I've been a fan of certification books from Sybex for some time and this one is up to the usual
standards of quality and content. One of the things that I like best about their books is that they
are one of the few publishers who provide both the information needed to pass the exam and the
information needed to actually work in the real world. Generally my experience has been that
there are good books that provide practical knowledge and good books that provide the
information to pass the certification exams. But there are very few that provide the information to
do both.
All the common networking and administrative tasks are covered in detail including installation
methods and problems, security, file services, and troubleshooting. The author does an excellent
job of walking the reader through all the various processes step by step and explaining each item
in detail including little quirks to be careful of. In addition each chapter ends with a chapter
summary, as section on exam essentials that summarize exam critical items, a summary of
commands covered in the chapter, a key terms list, and review questions and answers. The book
even includes a CD with a test engine, two exam preparation exams, and flashcards. I've taught
Linux at the college level both for certification and for practical application purposes and this is
one of the best books available for the new or only minimally experienced Linux user who is
seeking to pass the certification exam.
Although I do consider this one of the best certification exam books on the market I do have two
items that I did not like. First, the graphical installation instructions in the book are for the
Mandrake distribution of Linux. This is not a problem for exam preparation and since that is the
purpose of the book it is really not a problem. However, in the real world, at least here in Florida,
RedHat is a much more common distribution and I would have preferred to see the screen shots
reflect a RedHat distribution than Mandrake. The graphical installation method is the only place
where this makes any difference of consequence and even the novice can figure it out with a little
patience and thought. The second item is that the index is rather skimpy given the amount of
material in the book and all the items covered. All the major items are in the index but many of the
important minor items are not. For example, if you wanted to know what ipchains is about or
iptables then you would not find them in the index at all. For purposes of the certification exam
the main thing you need to know about them is that they are related to setting up a firewall. Well,
there is an entry in the index for firewall but not for ipchains or iptables. If you knew to look up
firewalls to know about ipchains then you would have gotten the question right and would not
need the entry in the index. If you missed it and wanted to know what they are you are out of
luck.
Even with the small index shortcoming (the only one that is really directly related to being a study
guide for the exam), the "Linux+ Study Guide" is still one of the best sources for learning what
you need to know to pass the certification exam. If it had a better index that is more conducive to
study then I would consider it the best of the best.
Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification
Jason W. Eckert and M. John Schitka
Thomson Corporation
Course Technology
25 Thomson Place, Boston, MA 02210
ISBN: 0619130040 744 pg. plus appendices, glossary and index
I've had the opportunity to review several Linux+ certification guides and they run the gamut
from poor to excellent. Among these the "Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification" is one of the best.
If you are a complete novice to Linux this is one of only two books that I could recommend. The
primary reason that it is ranked as one of the best is because it starts from the absolute beginning
and explains things in easy to understand terms. It includes a copy of RedHat Linux that can be
installed so you can work through the lab exercises in the book on a real system if you have an
extra computer available. This has the added advantage of giving the reader experience with one
of the most popular distributions of Linux. Some of the other guides provide copies of Mandrake,
Suse, Slackware or other distributions of Linux. I would prefer to learn on the same distribution
that I would be most likely to be working with in the real world. This is not a real big problem for
the exam because it deals primarily with text based administration and that is pretty much the
same for all distributions. It is with the graphical interfaces that there can be a significant
difference between them.
This particular study guide is very strong on Linux installation, administration, X-Windows,
networking, and most of the major areas where you really need to know what you are doing in
order to pass the exam or work with a real world Linux system. On the other hand it is a little
weak on the hardware side. While most people, including myself, feel that the book covers
hardware sufficiently for learning Linux and using Linux in the real world, it is a Linux+
certification guide and so should cover hardware in the same detail required for the exam. The
exam may include questions like showing four different interfaces and asking the test-taker to
identify which one is a SCSI3 interface. This is not covered in that level of detail in the book. In
my opinion that sort of question belongs on a hardware exam and not in a Linux+ exam, but the
fact of the matter is that sort of question is on the exam and so should be covered in any exam
preparation book. If this were a guide to learning and using Linux I would not treat this as a
problem at all.
When comparing the book to other Linux+ study guides I consider it to be one of the top choices.
The other recommended guide (from Sybex) doesn't do any better of a job in dealing with the
hardware problem. This is a problem consistent throughout all the study guide books. It does use
RedHat and include a copy, which is a positive point. And finally, it has one of the best indexes of
all the Linux+ study guides. This can be very important if you don't pass the exam the first time
and need to study some specific areas. If you are looking for a keyword that you were unsure
about on the exam then you need to be able to look it up. For example, when I took the exam
there were some basic questions on Squid and iptables. All you really needed to know was that
Squid is a proxy server and iptables is related to firewall services. This is the only book I've
reviewed that actually had entries in the index for Squid and iptables. The others had the
information but no index entry and so no knowledge of where to look for the information. There
is really no excuse for a poor index in any book that seeks to help the reader become certified and
this is the one with the best index. If you want to pass the exam on the first try you should add a
hardware book like one of the certification guides for the CompTIA A+ hardware exam. "Linux+
Guide to Linux Certification" is a recommended purchase for people new to Linux seeking to
learn the system and pass the exam.
Life and Death in Nanking
Peggy Kordick
Noble House
8019 Belair Road, Suite 10, Baltimore, MD 21236
ISBN: 1561678244 131 pg.
"Life and Death in Nanking" is a collection of letters from the author to her parents during the
period from December 1946 to November 1948. In 1946 the Presbyterian Board of Foreign
Missions sent her and her husband to Nanking, China. The letters clearly show the culture and
political upheaval in China following World War II. As you read her personal letters you will live
through her fears, trials, personal growth, and loss as she shares her most emotional times with
her parents. It is a highly personal view into the life of a missionary in a very different culture and
time and a recommended read for anyone interested in memoir type books.
The History of the United States
Professors: Dr. Allen C. Guelzo, Dr. Gary W. Gallagher, Dr. Patrick N. Allitt
The Teaching Company
4151 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 100, Chantilly, VA 20151-1232
Format: Cassette, CD, DVD, and VHS
Number of Lectures: 84
This massive work of 84 lectures covers the complete gamut of the history of the United States
from the original settling of the New World to the presidency of Bill Clinton. With such a long
time period to be covered The Teaching Company has selected three professors to create these
lectures. Each of the professors was selected for their particular knowledge of a specific time
period of U.S. history. The first lecturer is Dr. Allen C. Guelzo of Eastern University who takes
the student from the initial settling of America through the expansion into the wilderness, slavery,
the American revolution, the constitution, Alexander Hamilton, the federalists, Thomas Jefferson,
the war of 1812, the second great awakening, American romanticism, manifest destiny, the
Mexican war, and the great compromise. From there Dr. Gary W. Gallagher of the University of
Virginia takes us through the tensions building up to the Civil War, the war itself, and to the end
of reconstruction. Finally, Dr. Patrick N. Allitt of Emory University takes us through the
transcontinental railroad, the Indian wars, Victorian America, immigration, Theodore Roosevelt,
World War I, the great depression, World War II, the cold war, the Korean war, McCarthyism,
civil rights, the Vietnam war, the women's movement, Richard Nixon, Watergate,
environmentalism, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Regan, and finally Bill Clinton. Dr. Guelzo provides 36
lectures, Dr. Gallagher 12, and Dr. Allitt 36 more. For those of you who are interested in the Civil
War Dr. Gallagher also has another course through The Teaching Company that is another work
of 48 lectures covering the Civil War in much greater detail.
For most people there will be some historical surprises in these lectures. The professors all give an
accurate view of history, both good and bad, with all sides of what was happening as it was
happening. The focus is on walking you through the history of the United States while providing a
complete picture of the social, political, and intellectual environment of the time. The lectures not
only cover the important topics of history but also some of the lesser challenges that make history
interesting. For example, as the transcontinental railroad started to traverse the United States how
did they deal with the need to get a locomotive across something like the Missouri River? It was
easy enough getting track to the riverbank, shipping it across on a barge, and building on the
other side, but what about the massive locomotive that could not be taken across on a barge?
These stories of ingenuity and courage are what make history even more interesting. In this
particular case they waited until the river froze solid, laid a bunch of ties across the river, secured
track to the ties and started the locomotive across the river. Just as it started across the ice the
engineer jumped off and let it go across on its own. On the other side an engineer jumped onto the
slow moving locomotive as it finished crossing the river and took control. Within the lecture
series you will find case after case of similar stories you never knew about the history of the
United States.
Professor Gallagher states succinctly what they are trying to do with these lectures - present a
history of the United States that accurately conveys the thoughts, feelings, fears, and joys of the
time. He points out that many times we tend to view history by looking backward from where we
are now. Professor Gallagher and the others try to present history as moving forward. The listener
comes to understand why people took opposing points when, in afterthought, it seems so obvious
what course of action was the correct one. You come to understand the concerns of the day and
why history progressed the way it did. This is the right way to learn history.
This is a fascinating and very thorough course. "The History of the United States" is a very highly
recommended purchase and sure to be one of the favorite collections in the library of any fan of
U.S. history.
Great Figures of the Old Testament
Professor: Amy-Jill Levine
The Teaching Company
4151 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 100, Chantilly, VA 20151-1232
Format: Cassette, CD, DVD, and VHS
Number of Lectures: 24
One of my personal favorite lecturers among The Teaching Company products, Amy-Jill Levine,
Ph.D., and Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, brings
another fascinating series of lectures to the student of the Bible. One of the things that make her
lectures particularly interesting is that she does not limit herself just to the Bible but also looks at
these people through other secular and religious texts and oral tradition. She never fails to bring
her subject to life as she opens new ways of seeing them in their cultural and historical setting.
Where appropriate she also discusses common literary types and symbols, translation difficulties,
and other aspects of the various stories.
While there are numerous other individuals that Dr. Levine could have included in these lectures
and many of the ones selected could have encompassed two, three, four, or more lectures just on
that individual, those selected are of particular interest due to religious, moral, historical, or other
aspects of their stories. Some of the great figures include Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah,
Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and Rahab, Deborah, Samson, Samuel
and Saul, David, Solomon, Elijah, Job, Jonah, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, and Judith. Some of you may
not recognize Judith as a Biblical figure. Judith is one of the apocryphal books included in the
Catholic Bible and other non-Protestant canons. In addition to the aforementioned figures Dr.
Levine also discusses Angels and God.
Amy-Jill Levine does a fantastic job of presenting a complete view of these great figures as real
three-dimensional characters instead of the one-dimensional characters that often evolve from
religious rhetoric of particular denominations. This is a very highly recommended series of
lectures for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of Old Testament figures and how their
stories fit into the general themes of the Bible.
European History and European Lives: 1715 to 1914
Professor: Jonathan Steinberg
The Teaching Company
4151 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 100, Chantilly, VA 20151-1232
Format: Cassette, CD, DVD, and VHS
Number of Lectures: 36
This series of lectures by Professor Jonathan Steinberg, Chair of the Department of History at the
University of Pennsylvania, takes a very unique approach to teaching history. Instead of a
chronological exposition of what happened and where it happened, he uses a biographical
exposition of 35 people who most influenced the time. These 35 people lived during the two
hundred years from 1715 to 1914 when drastic changes occurred in politics, art, religion, and
many other areas.
This is an interesting approach as these are often widely divergent people whose only common
thread is that they changed their world in some way. For example, his biographical subjects not
only include the expected rulers, politicians, military figures, and scientists, but also philosophers
and artists. Individuals include Augustus the Strong, Robert Walpole, Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
Maria Theresa, C.P.E. Bach, Catherine the Great, Adam Smith, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon,
Metternich, N.M. Rothschild, Pope Pius IX, Richard Wagner, Charles Darwin, Queen Victoria,
Louis Pasteur, Count Leo Tolstoy and many others.
Dr. Steinberg does an excellent job of debunking myths as well as bringing these people to life as
real individuals. For example, at one point when discussing Charles Darwin and his fascination
with beetles he recounts the time when Darwin was searching for beetles and found two that he
particularly liked. With one in each hand he suddenly spied another unusual one that he very much
wanted to catch. Instead of freeing one of the ones he had already captured he stuck it in his
mouth. Unfortunately it secreted a substance that made him immediately spit it out of his mouth.
As a result he missed the other beetle and ended up with only one. Stories like this bring out their
humanity and make them much more interesting as individuals.
This is the first time that I have seen a program that puts various biographical sketches into a
continuous historical stream. On the other hand, as a historical course just for the sake of learning
European history during this period it falls short due to missing several important historical events
between these lives. Dr. Steinberg recognizes this problem and deals with it up front in the first
lecture noting that this sort of thing is a different perspective and so somewhat experimental. So,
while there may be better purely historical pieces available you would be hard pressed to find a
better collection of biographical sketches all placed in historical context with each other. With this
perspective in mind, "European History and European Lives: 1715 to 1914" is a highly
recommended series of lectures and a joy to listen to.
The Sedona Method: Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional
Well-being
Hale Dwoskin
Sedona Press
60 Tortilla Drive, Suite 2, Sedona, AZ 86336
ISBN: 0971933413 416 pg.
Everyone understands the ill effects of emotional turmoil on your relationships, health, and quality
of life. The problem is that most don't know what to do about those negative emotions and how
to release the stranglehold that emotions often have on a person. "The Sedona Method: Your Key
to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-Being" deals with a specific method of
releasing these negative emotions and allowing you to find an inner balance and peace in your
life.
The Sedona Method is really fairly simple although it is also quite powerful. Author Hale
Dwoskin writes in a clear style that allows any reader to understand and follow the technique
step-by-step until they achieve the results they want. This is not a quick fix that you can read once
and be done, it is a method, a technique that can be learned and practiced until it becomes second
nature.
As a result of being able to release these emotions as soon as they come up you end up becoming
more accepting and having more peace in your life all the time. The book contains several
testimonials of people who have followed the technique and achieved success. Some will find
these testimonials helpful in understanding the ways that negative emotions affect our lives and
the benefits of releasing them. Others will find the number of testimonials an annoying interruption
to the general flow of the book. All in all, this is an excellent resource for those dealing with
harboring negative emotions and a highly recommended read.
There Is No Magic: But There are Alternatives to Parenting Exceptional Children
Stephen Dubropsky, M.A., M.Ed.
American Literary Press
8019 Belair Road, Suite 10, Baltimore, MD 21236
ISBN: 1561678155 331 pg.
In a time where everyone seems to be looking for a quick fix to just about everything, Stephen
Dubropsky is the voice of sanity calling us back to the realization that "There Is No Magic".
There is not a quick answer to children with emotional problems, ADD, or other special needs.
Instead you have to provide the right environment to encourage the child's growth and
development in positive ways. Mr. Dubropsky has over twenty years of experience with Attention
Deficit and Hyperactive Disorders and brings his holistic approach to all parents of such
children.
The book starts off with how children with special needs are diagnosed and defined. This section
includes not only the expected ADD/HD information but also looks at other challenges such as
blindness, deafness, developmentally disabled, and even the gifted or talented child. That section is
followed up with a chapter on parenting styles and learning styles. In this chapter he provides
information on the typical results of each style of parenting and discusses how to teach a child
with a different learning style. With this base of knowledge firmly established he then moves into
how to deal with the special needs child. In the remainder of the book he covers common
medications, their use, misuse, and side effects, the importance of developing a partnership with
the child's teachers and meeting academic requirements, and other holistic items for the child with
special needs. These include diet and nutritional factors, yoga, exercise, and breathing techniques
for calming effects.
This is an excellent book that covers the current literature on the subject very well. Most
importantly it points out that it is not the right answer to just medicate a special child into a stupor
and think that you have fulfilled your obligation as a parent. It requires patience, understanding,
and knowledge of some of the techniques presented in this book.... in other words it requires
actual parenting skills, and skills can be learned if you try. "There Is No Magic" is a recommended
text for anyone with a child with special needs or anyone who works with them.
Spontaneous Regression: Cancer and the Immune System
Donald H. MacAdam
Xlibris Corporation
436 Walnut Street, 11th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3703
ISBN: 1413427510 $20.99 149 plus index
"Spontaneous Regression" is a summary of various cases of spontaneous regression and research
into what exactly occurred. It includes some interesting information on an apparent link between a
particular infectious agent and cancer regression after having been infected. While it was
interesting reading I tended to think of it as just another collection of questionable regressions
(perhaps the patient was misdiagnosed to begin with, etc.) until I checked on the background of
the author. After realizing that he is an executive at a biotechnology industry and a director of a
company that develops antibody-based cancer drugs as well as a past director of another company
that produces therapeutic cancer vaccines it became obvious that he is speaking from a position of
authority. From this vantage point it suddenly became more interesting and turned out to be a
very good read for anyone who is interested in spontaneous regression in cancer cases.
Terror at Wolf Lake
Max Elliot Anderson
Baker Trittin Concepts
Tweener Press Adventure Series
PO Box 20, Grand Haven, MI 49417
ISBN: 097292566X $10.95 140 pg.
"Terror at Wolf Lake" is a fine adventure/mystery story written for the juvenile market. It is the
story of Eddy, Chet, and Rusty who take a winter trip with their fathers to a cabin in Michigan.
The trip is fun and an adventure in itself camping in the secluded woods, cooking over a fireplace,
bringing in wood to keep the fireplace going in order to keep warm. They have a lot of fun in the
ice and snow but things change when they build a snow fort and happen to be in it when two
people stop by on the road and start acting suspiciously. From there the adventure really begins
and things get pretty scary at times.
This is a fun adventure that juvenile readers are likely to enjoy, however, there is one thing that
should be pointed out before purchasing the book. Well into the plot, after the boys become
legitimately scared, the tone of the story changes as one of the boys evangelizes the other in their
moment of fear and eventually leads the other boy to Christ. This is so blatant that it is likely to
polarize groups of people who read the book. Many Christians will purchase the book in part just
because of this section and because it opens opportunities to talk about such things with their
children. Others who are not Christians or are of other religious persuasions are likely to reject the
book in its entirety. Still others will not care one way or the other. As a reader you have to decide
for yourself how you feel about a story that contains a section that is basically a religious tract.
Even with this caveat "Terror at Wolf Lake" is a recommended read due to the clear, easy reading
style and fairly strong plot line that juvenile adventure readers are likely to enjoy.
I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye: A Companion Workbook
Brook Noel and Pamela D. Blair, Ph.D.
Champion Press, Ltd.
4308 Blueberry Road, Fredonia, WI 53021
ISBN: 1891400509 $14.95 139 pg.
If you liked the book "I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye" but wanted a way to help you actually
work through the loss and grief process, the workbook is finally here. To a certain extent this
workbook stands alone and can be used without the primary book but you would lose a lot of the
benefit if you did it that way. When used in conjunction with the book you gain a much greater
understanding of what is going on and the process of working through the workbook is greatly
enhanced. The workbook is full of insightful questions and exercises to help you understand what
you are going through and appreciate and accept yourself. From there you can learn, grow, and
heal. The workbook is very helpful with getting out the grief, anger, guilt, and anything else you
may need to work on. If you are dealing with sudden, unexpected loss the book "I Wasn't Ready
to Say Goodbye" is one of the best resources you can pick up. Now, this companion workbook
helps you apply the book to your life and start the healing process.
The Raven Who Spoke with God
Christopher Foster
Singing Spirit Books
4127 Ash Court, Loveland, CO 80538
ISBN: 0971179603 $12.95 147 pg.
A book written on an adolescent level, but appropriate for all ages, this is the story of a raven
named Joshua who has a special purpose in life. After witnessing his family killed by malicious
children he becomes afraid of people. Unfortunately, as it turns out his purpose has something to
do with people and this fear almost keeps him from following through on his calling. This is a tale
of overcoming fear, of reaching for your goals despite obstacles, of finding where you belong, of
healing your life. "The Raven Who Spoke With God" is a lighthearted and fun read that also
teaches very important moral and life skills.
When the author contacted me about possibly reviewing this book I ignored his e-mail. He sent a
second request a few days later and I read the synopsis but still decided that it did not interest me
and did not respond. Finally he sent a copy anyway. I could not be happier that he did. Many
people try to write symbolic short stories that teach deeper lessons much like an elongated
parable. Most fall sadly short of that goal; Christopher Foster does not. "The Raven Who Spoke
with God" is a highly recommended read and it would have been my loss if I had missed it.
Rapid Application Development with Mozilla
Nigel McFarlane
Pearson Education, Inc.
PO Box 409479, Atlanta, GA 30384
ISBN: 0131423436 $44.99 752 pg. plus index
Nigel McFarlane has produced one of the most extensive books on application development using
Mozilla that I have seen. His writing style is easy to follow and he wisely walks the reader through
the creation of a useful example program. Longtime programmers will recognize the traditional
"Hello, World" program as a starting point for learning how to program Mozilla. From this small
beginning he moves the reader forward to writing a complete program. The coverage of Mozilla
is thorough and provides the reader with all the basics they need to have a solid foundation in
Mozilla. The XML User interface Language (XUL) is clearly described, the available tools
extensively described and explained, and all the other important areas are covered including
Listboxes, Chrome, Overlays, Trees, Events, Forms, Menus, Layout, Scripting, RDF, Bindings,
XPCOM, and anything else you may need to know. This will not make you a Mozilla expert but it
will give you all the basic information you need to program basic applications and understand
more advanced books and articles. "Rapid Application Development with Mozilla" is a highly
recommended purchase for anyone interested in programming web applications with Mozilla and
Nigel McFarlane is the right author to take you to your goals.
Every Dream Interpreted
Veronica Tonay, Ph.D.
Collins & Brown Limited
64 Brewery Road, London, N7 9NT
ISBN: 1843400510 $14.95 263 pg. plus index
Unlike the questionable dream dictionaries that seem to be popular, Veronica Tonay takes the
reader of "Every Dream Interpreted" on a deeper trip into dream interpretation. The book is
divided into two broad parts, the first one covers common questions and their answers and the
second part covers various categories of dream symbols and their common interpretation. The
questions and answers section is a brief, but highly valuable introduction to the study of dreams.
Why are dreams important? What are the competing theories of dream interpretation? How do
these theories compare when interpreting a specific dream? Dr. Tonay does an excellent job of
describing all of this and has a knack for doing so in clear language. She also examines common
myths and urban legends in this section.
The part on the common dream symbols includes subsections on the natural environment, human
characters, animal kingdom, buildings and other structures. Examples in these subsections include
the interpretation of various type of weather, various landscapes, type of water, people you know,
different types strangers, mythical animals, birds, etc. Generally these are not actual
interpretations but what types of things the symbol typically represents. With this information you
can then look at your dream to help determine what it means.
These are not deep, involved interpretations but are basic ones you can use to start to understand
your dreams. To get a deeper understanding would require many, many dreams over an extended
period of time. "Every Dream Interpreted" is professionally done and keeps a professional tone
throughout the book. It is based on Dr. Tonay's years of empirical research and is a recommended
read for anyone interested in this field of study.
Rock Guitar Chords and Accompaniment
Yoichi Arakawa
Six Strings Music Publishing
PO Box 7718, Torrance, CA 90504-9118
ISBN: 1891370138 $15.95 125 pg.
Written for the beginning guitarist, "Rock Guitar Chords and Accompaniment" provides a
thorough introduction to rock guitar playing. The book consists of six chapters with the first
chapter covering the basics of the guitar, tuning, notation, major scales, and chords. The second
chapter gets deeper into the guitar and music theory and covers slash notation, major triads,
dominant 7, minor triads, power chords, and 12-bar blues. Next comes a chapter on barre chords
and shifting techniques. The fourth chapter is the final one on basic guitar technique and covers
fingerpicking and arpeggios. All of these first four chapters are the foundation of all guitar playing
and should be understood by anyone interested in learning to play the guitar. Starting with the
fifth chapter Mr. Arakawa moves into the rock music genre by covering the most common
distinguishing characteristic of rock guitar playing - rock riffs. The chapter covers the important
techniques of hammer-on, pull-off, slide, bend, and vibrato. When it comes to the riffs he
examines all the most common ones including single-note, power-chord, double-stop, and
small-chord. The techniques covered are all the most common ones necessary for rock style from
early rock-and-roll to heavy metal. Chapter six finishes off the book with coverage of amplifiers
and special effects. The book is well illustrated and easy to follow as you progress along a
well-designed learning pathway. When it comes to rock music you would be hard pressed to find
a better beginner book that explains the basic concepts and the specifics of the various rock styles
as well as this one. "Rock Guitar Chords and Accompaniment" is a highly recommended read for
the beginning guitarist wanting to learn rock technique.
Cruising Cuisine for Home Entertaining: Hors D'oeuvres & Appetizers
Elena Vakhrenova
Cruising Cuisine
13041 NW 3rd Street, Plantation, FL 33325
ISBN: 0972242201 $29.95 121 pg. plus glossary, index, and other after matter
This is the first book of a series dealing with the wonderful recipes and presentation of cruise line
cuisine. This volume covers hors d'oeuvres and appetizers, which are further separated into
categories of recipes from contemporary, premium, and luxury, cruise lines. Of course, when it
comes to cruise line cuisine presentation is a critical component and Elena Vakhrenova provides
everything you need to know to make your dish a showstopper. Each recipe includes bright, vivid
photographs of the finished dish and suggested presentation to help the reader see what it is
supposed to look like. Recipes include the ingredients and preparation technique along with
estimated preparation time and cooking time. A couple of suggested recipes from this volume
include the Garlic and Shrimp Appetizer or Salmon Wellington, both of which are excellent. For
those interested in a cookbook that will allow you to prepare an appetizer or hors d'oeuvres
masterpiece and present it in a way that will garner amazement from your friends this is the book
you are looking for.
Country Guitar Chords and Accompaniment
Yoichi Arakawa
Six Strings Music Publishing
PO Box 7718, Torrance, CA 90504-9118
ISBN: 1891370146 $15.95 125 pg.
Written for the beginning guitarist, "Country Guitar Chords and Accompaniment" provides a
thorough introduction into the country music guitar world. The book consists of six chapters with
the first chapter covering the basics of the guitar, tuning, notation, major scales, and chords. The
second chapter gets deeper into the guitar and music theory and covers slash notation, major
triads, dominant 7, minor triads, barre chords, and shifting techniques. Next comes a chapter on
the 12-bar blues and use of a capo. All of these first three chapters are the foundation of all guitar
playing and should be understood by anyone interested in learning to play the guitar. Starting with
the fourth chapter Mr. Arakawa moves into the country music genre by covering the Carter Style
of country music guitar. If there is one most important technique to understand to play country
music, the Carter Style is it and this chapter gives a complete explanation with example songs.
Chapter five covers fingerstyle country and Chapter six covers other country styles such as the
use of riffs and open tunings. The book is well illustrated and easy to follow as you progress along
a well-designed learning pathway. When it comes to country music you would be hard pressed to
find a better beginner book that explains the basic concepts and the specifics of country style as
well as this one. "Country Guitar Chords and Accompaniment" is a highly recommended read for
the beginning guitarist wanting to learn country technique.
American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon
Stephen Prothero
Farrar Straus & Giroux
19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003
ISBN: 0374178909 $26.00 310 pg. plus various after matter
In "American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon", Boston University historian
Stephen Prothero examines how Jesus has moved from being a divine Savior to a folk icon. No
matter what his or her religious inclination, or lack thereof, nearly everyone in America has
embraced Jesus in one form or another. For some it is a religious understanding, for others a
recognition of Him as the great teacher, for others a recognition of the political benefits of being
associated with Jesus, and to still others He is the ultimate sales tool or the ultimate appeal to a
higher authority in support of their particular beliefs.
This is a fascinating trip through American history as Prothero discusses the progressive change
of the American view of Jesus from the Puritanical lawgiver to a tender, caring and effeminate
Jesus, to a strong, muscular Jesus and finally to our current state where images of Him are likely
to appear on a refrigerator magnet, rock music poster, or a bumper sticker. During this trip he
examines incident after incident of how this transformation slowly took place. In addition to
discussing these various changes he explains how the various societal factors of the time
influenced them.
One of the most interesting points on the relationship of Americans with Jesus is that while His
popularity as a celebrity or bumper sticker continues to grow, Bible study has continued to
decline. What are the factors that have allowed the average person to so effectively separate Jesus
from the religious trappings that have always been associated with Him in the past? How have
these small changes allowed us to come to a point where He is truly a celebrity figure with only
minimal traits of divinity? These are some of the questions that Stephen Prothero looks at and
what makes "American Jesus" an interesting and highly recommended read.
Is This Really Good, or Am I Just Starved? Rhonda Ghent's Camp Recipes
Sharolett Koenig
Koenisha Publications
3196 - 53rd Street, Hamilton, MI 49419
ISBN: 0970045824 $17.95 200 pg.
The first thing that I should do is describe what this book is and is not as it is not entirely clear
from the title. First you have to understand the Rhonda Ghent is a character in a young adult
mystery titled "Plight of the Children". So, since the book is supposedly from her it is focused on
easier recipes, cooking, and activities for adolescents. The information in the book is most
appropriate for what we used to call "Cadillac camping", or camping where you have a cooler,
multiple pots and pans, etc. It does not contain information or recipes of value to the backpacker
or true wilderness camper. That having been said, it is one of the best books for the novice
camper.
If you are going to go camping with the family for the first time in a State Park or commercial
campground or some similar situation you will find this to be a very valuable book. As a person
who does do a lot of wilderness camping I appreciate the fact that it provides a lot of good tips
and details that the inexperienced camper might want to know in order to have a positive
experience.
If you have a Dutch Oven (a very versatile cooking device and recommended for this type of
camping) you need to make sure you read the section on seasoning the oven. A lot of people don't
season their cast iron items and as a result ruin them after only a couple of trips. The book
contains so much more than just recipes. It includes advice on what to take and what not to take,
lots of ideas for getting children involved and helping them have an enjoyable trip, and even
critically important things to be aware of when camping. For example, make sure children do not
throw logs that have poison ivy on them into the fire. The irritating oils can become airborne and
can even be breathed in to create an irritation in the lungs.
One of the things that I did not like was some of the advice was common twenty years ago but
frowned on today. For example, building a keyhole fire with a foot deep circular pit. Digging a
fire pit is against the rules in most parks and generally frowned upon by most campers today due
to the effects it tends to have on erosion and other factors. Here in Florida if you dig a fire pit of
any kind in a State Park you can be fined and asked to leave.
What I did like about the book was not only the vast amount of advice for first time campers but
also that that meals were typically easy to make and very age appropriate for an adolescent. This
is important because cooking over an open fire is not the same as cooking on a stove. These
recipes are pretty much foolproof and sure to make the trip a positive experience for everyone. If
you are new to camping and want to make it a family event there is a lot of experience and good
advice packed into this book.
Monkey Fun
Wadie Andrawis
American Literary Press, Inc.
8019 Belair Road, Suite 10, Baltimore, MD 21236
ISBN: 156167785X $19.95 147 pg.
In "Monkey Fun" author Wadie Andrawis has created a fast moving and fun tale full of colorful
characters that young readers are sure to enjoy. Some of the unusual characters include a witty
parrot named Lou and two talking chimpanzees. The primary character is Sam who deals with the
tragedy of becoming an orphan by losing his ability to speak. But the patience and love shown by
his many friends help bring him through it to where he becomes whole again. It is a story of
overcoming the things that limit us in life and providing hope where sometimes it seems there is
none.
The only thing that I didn't like about the book is the total lack of originality when it comes to
how Sam became an orphan. The story line is that he became an orphan as a result of the World
Trade Center events of September 11. It seems it has become customary to the point of being
nauseating for an author to somehow tie his story back to September 11. The author has shown
throughout the rest of the story that he can think creatively, why not here?
For children between approximately ten and thirteen this should prove to be an interesting story
that they will probably enjoy. "Monkey Fun" is a recommended read for this older pre-teen
market.
Psychic Gifts in the Christian Life
Tiffany Snow D.D.
Spirit Journey Books
PO Box 61, San Marcos, CA 92079
ISBN: 0972962301 $24.95 219 pg.
Bridging the gap between "New Age" Christianity and traditional Christianity Tiffany Snow
examines what she considers to be gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are supernatural gifts the Spirit
makes available to us if we choose to accept and use them. From the basics that most Christians
believe, such as healing, to more radical concepts like channeling the Holy Spirit, the book is
thought provoking and interesting reading. Some will find "Psychic Gifts in the Christian Life"
revealing and life changing, others will find it blasphemous, most will find it somewhere in
between and an interesting read.
Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books
Dawn Josephson
Cameo Publications LLC
Ground Rules Press
PO Box 8006, Hilton Head Island, SC 29938
ISBN: 0974496618 $19.95 161 pg. plus index
I wish everyone who sent me a book for review had read this book. "Putting It On Paper"
contains all the basics of what a bookseller should and should not include in their press kits. Areas
covered by the book include the media kit, the cover letter, the press release, mock interviews,
author biographical information, a book sell sheet, a catalog sheet, extra sales materials, and even
writing an article to achieve back door sales. The bottom line is that you may have the best book
ever published but if readers don't know it exists then they will not buy it. That is where
promotional pieces come in. Getting the book reviewed, getting distributors to carry it, or getting
independent bookstores to sell it, no matter what your marketing direction you will need a
promotional piece. The advice is thorough and detailed including sample layouts and templates. If
you want your book to sell, "Putting It On Paper" is the road map to creating the right
promotional pieces the first time and a recommended read.
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
ISBN: 0060523808 $14.95 257 pg. plus appendices and index
"Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" is the history of Louis Gerstner, Jr.'s tenure at IBM. Mr.
Gerstner joined IBM at a critical time when sales were slumping and the behemoth of a company
was laying people off almost every quarter. What they needed was someone who could turn the
company around and take it to new heights. What they had was a complex bureaucracy that
allowed little change and tended to support the continued decline of the company. Of course we
all know now that Mr. Gerstner was able to change IBM and produce a viable thriving company
able to compete in the world markets once again. This is the story of what happened from Louis
Gerstner's own hand.
Mr. Gerstner provides insight into his viewpoint of what was happening in the company and his
own fears and concerns from before the day he was named CEO until his retirement in 2002. If
you want to know what was happening at the top and what he was thinking as he went along, you
will want to read this book. If you read and liked Lee Iococca's book on his turnaround of
Chrysler you will find this book similar and also very interesting in its own right. A study in tough
management and changing direction with a company that has its own momentum, "Who Says
Elephants Can't Dance" is a recommended read.
Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love
Helen Fisher
Henry Holt and Company, LLC
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
ISBN: 0805069135 $25.00 219 pg. plus appendix, notes, bibliography, index
"Why We Love" is one of the most interesting books available today on the subject of love. From
years of empirical research finally comes a fact filled fascinating book on love. Helen Fisher
examines the chemical basis of love; yes there are chemical changes when you are in love. From
workings of specific chemicals like dopamine, norepinephrine, and seratonin to fMRI
examinations of the brain the book is packed with hard empirical research results. In addition to
this she looks at evolutionary factors in things like how we choose our mate and how that process
is different for men and women. Not to leave any stone unturned she also discusses the problem
of lost love and its effects on our body and emotional health. Finally she discusses how to make
romance last and includes a fascinating section on intimacy differences between male and female.
"Why We Love" deserves the highest recommendation that I can give and is a book that I am
likely not only to recommend but also to purchase as a gift for others who want to understand the
phenomenon of love. Bravo Helen Fisher for such an enlightening work that is sure to become the
new standard by which similar works will be judged.
The Master Christian Library, Version 8
AGES Software, Inc.
PO Box 216, Rio, WI 53960
Format: CD, Operating System: Windows, MacIntosh
One of the most inexpensive Christian Library resources, "The Master Christian Library" is an
extensive collection of works that are in the public domain. Each is published in .pdf format and
the Adobe Reader version 4 is included with the software (although I would recommend updating
the Acrobat Reader to version 6, which is a free). The various works are organized into several
categories to help the user locate the information they want. The categories are Bibles, Reference,
Commentaries, Historical, Ministry, Theology, Inspiration, Holiness, Bible Studies, Biographies,
Fiction, Maps, Illustrations and Quotations, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers,
and Collections. The collections categories are the collected works of specific individuals such as
Bunyan, Calvin, Moody, Luther, etc.
Specific books included are various Bibles (King James, American Standard, Darby, Young's,
Weymouth's La Santa, and The Vulgate), Bible Dictionaries, Topical Bibles, a Bible
Encyclopedia, twenty different commentaries and word study aids, the Apocrypha, history of the
church, works of Josephus, works of Philo, and the collected writings of seventeen different
theologians (including Aquinas, Augustine, Chesterton, Hodge, Shedd, Strong, Torrey, and
White). All total there are over 500 texts available to the reader from basic studies to more
advanced commentaries and word studies, biographies, and important thinkers of the Christian
church. This is the most extensive collection available for the price. While it does not do some of
the really nice features of other products like the Zondervan Bible Study Library which allows you
to open several versions of the Bible at the same time and link them so they display in parallel.
Then again the Zondervan product is about $300 and this one about $90. For the person who
wants an extensive collection of Bible study materials, biographies of church leaders, and
historical documents but is on a strict budget this is the best deal for the price.
"The Master Christian Library" is the most extensive, well-organized collection of Christian
writings and reference materials available for the price.
Lasting Love: The Five Secrets of Growing a Vital, Conscious Relationship
Gay Hendricks, Kathlyn Hendricks
Rodale Press
33 East Minor St., Emmaus, PA 18098-0099
ISBN: 1579548326 $21.95 235 pg.
One of the most interesting books on relationships that I have ever read, "Lasting Love: The Five
Secrets of Growing a Vital, Conscious Relationship" is a must read for anyone seeking to repair
or strengthen their relationship. By studying people in successful long-term committed
relationships Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks have found five things in common among all of them.
The authors don't pull any punches either as they start right off with the fact that you must take
responsibility for your actions. It is only after taking responsibility for your actions that you can
change them and take responsibility for your relationship. So the first secret is to understand
commitment and take responsibility for a new kind of commitment. The remaining secrets are
emotional honesty, establishing a no-blame relationship, dealing with unequal amounts of creative
energy being put into the relationship, and engaging in acts of appreciation on a daily basis.
Each one of the secrets is examined in detail as the authors describe the problem, give examples of
dialogue between couples that demonstrates the problem, and clearly define the path for moving
forward. The result is a vital growing relationship that grows stronger each year instead of waning
over time. This is not easy stuff that you can just read once, do it, and have your relationship
entirely changed in a couple of hours. It involves internal reflection and examination of your self,
your motivations, and your past. For some this will require too much work, but for anyone who is
having difficulty in their relationship and really wants to make a change this is a roadmap to
success.
"Lasting Love: The Five Secrets of Growing a Vital, Conscious Relationship" is a very highly
recommended read for anyone in a long-term relationship or considering one.
How to Use Power Phrases
Meryl Runion
McGraw-Hill
Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121
ISBN: 0071424857 $12.95 240 pg.
Although the title might lead you to think this is a book on creating the correct powerful phrases
to improve your writing that is not what the book is about. This is a book about oral
communication and how to express yourself in a manner that is non-confrontational and yet lets
the other person know what you think. Meryl Runion discusses phrases that kill and cause the
recipient to lose respect for you and your message as well as positive phrases to express yourself.
She devotes a chapter each to various situations where power phrases could be used. Examples of
some of those situations include using them to perfect a connection, to say what you think, to say
what you feel, to make powerful requests, to refuse what you don't want, to get people to open
up, to apologize without groveling, to respond to unkind criticism, to handle angry persons, to
express anger, to handle disagreements, and to address issues. "How to Use Power Phrases" is a
book on verbal communication and responding appropriately to various situations and is a
recommended read.
Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching
Stephen G. Fairley and Chris E. Stout
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
605 Third Ave., New York, NY 10158-0012
ISBN: 0471426245 $24.95 346 plus index
So you want to start a new business enterprise as a personal or executive coach? Reading a copy
of "Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching" is the place you will want to start. This
is not just another book on the joys of coaching, but has real life information that you should
know before making the commitment. The authors have provided some cold, hard facts about
executive coaching including how long it typically takes to get started, how much the average
person earns after one year in the business, typical problems getting clients and referrals and what
to do about it. The book is a business analysis of the industry from beginning to end. It includes
such important information as what you need to know to get started, what you need to know to
succeed, how to market, how to segment your market, how to target that segment, financing your
business, Internet marketing, using E-zines, and using web sites. Fairly and Stout even include
seven secrets of highly successful coaches. This is a complete road map of what to realistically
expect, how to get to your goal, and all the steps along the way. If you are interested in becoming
a personal or executive coach it is a highly recommended book and the best I've come across to
date.
The 10 Immutable Laws of Power Selling
James DeSena
McGraw-Hill
Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2298
ISBN: 0071416617 $16.95 207 plus index
If your job is selling then you have to know how to sell no matter what the economy. You have to
understand demand for your product and how it adds value to a customer. Although the principles
apply to all forms of selling including department store selling, the focus of the book is really on
those who sell larger value products where there may be an extended sales cycle. It seems that
there are always a few real sales stars with any endeavor. What makes this small percent
successful at selling when none around them seem to be able to sell anything? Author James
DeSena examines this and has found that there are ten laws that a sales person must understand
and use if they want to be one of these power sellers.
These ten immutable laws are 1) create high value, 2) decide on your market, 3) develop
customer expertise in your selected market, 4) build relationships for repeat business, 5) start with
a leader's perspective, 6) lead from within, 7) make it a team effort, 8) build lasting success, 9)
drive toward exceptional results, and 10) manage multiple customer priorities. Each of these laws
is given its own chapter to fully develop what the law means and how to apply it in the real world.
Mr. DeSena also provides many useful examples with stories from companies such as American
Express and Honeywell.
Although there is nothing really new in the book it does represent a summation of the best
practices in customer-centric sales theory. "The 10 Immutable Laws of Power Selling" is a
recommended read for anyone who wants an understanding of the customer-centric approach to
selling and how it provides long-term success as a sales person.
Fairy Flight
Tracy Kane
Light Beams Publishing
10 Toon Lane, Lee, NH 03824
ISBN: 0970810423 $15.95 40 pg. Ages 4 - 8
A beautifully illustrated hardcover book for children "Fairy Flight" is a delight to read. Written for
the under age 10 market it celebrates the imagination of children. In the book Kinsey and Sarah
are cousins and friends who moved away from each other. During a visit to Sarah's house in
California the children use their imagination to build fairy habitats. During this imaginative play
they notice some monarch butterfly caterpillars. Sarah shares her knowledge of these butterflies
with Kinsey who takes a few caterpillars back home along with some milkweed to keep them fed.
Eventually they become butterflies and join all the other monarchs in their flight to California for
the winter. Throughout the book there is a thread of childhood magic and their belief in fairies.
"Fairy Flight" is a recommended read for young children who are sure to relate to the fantasy and
enjoy the detail of the vivid illustrations.
Broke! A College Student's Guide to Getting By on Less
Trent Anderson, Seppy Basili
Publisher: Kaplan Publishing
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0743252101 $10.00 262 pg.
They say when you want to know something there is no better teacher than experience. While not
always true, that philosophy is the foundation of "Broke! A College Student's Guide to Getting
By on Less". The book consists primarily of quotes from college students who share their
experience and advice. For each subject there are multiple student quotes that are selected for
their applicability to that subject, some real advice on how to handle various situations, and even
selected resources. You have to appreciate the fact that the book covers so many critical areas a
college student needs to understand but does it in such a way that they are likely to actually take
the advice instead of ignoring it because it came from a parent. Some of the important areas
include budgeting, prioritizing, banking, credit cards, scholarships, loans, purchasing textbooks,
dining, entertainment, travel, and housing. Although it professes to be a guide for college students
trying to get by on less the book is really a valuable tool for anyone making that difficult transition
from living at home to being out on their own for the first time. "Broke! A College Student's
Guide to Getting By on Less" is a recommended read and a recommended gift for anyone making
that transition.
Harold McFarland
Reviewer
Harwood's Bookshelf
Atheism, Morality, and Meaning
Michael Martin
Prometheus
ISBN 1573929875 $21.00 330 pp.
According to Michael Martin, "The idea that objective morality and the meaningfulness of life are
impossible without belief in God has a long history in Western religious thought and is still used
by Christian apologists to argue against atheism." (p. 11) Martin rebuts that nonsense belief with
300 pages of doubletalk that may well be valid, but for all the sense it made to someone not
skilled in philosophical gibberish, it might as well have been written in invisible ink. If theism, and
the pretence that morality should be based on theism, is to be effectively rebutted, it must be done
in comprehensible English, a language I am becoming convinced philosophers have never
learned.
"One good reason to disbelieve in God is the existence of the large amount of evil in the world.
How can a perfectly good and all-powerful being allow so much evil? The simplest and most
plausible explanation of this evil is that God does not exist.
"Still another reason for disbelieving in God is the large number of disbelievers in the world.
Supposing evangelical Christianity to be true, it is difficult to understand why there are nearly 1
billion nonbelievers in the world. [The true figure cannot be less than 2 billion.] Why would a
merciful God, a God who wants all humans to be saved, not provide clear and unambiguous
information about his word to humans when having this information is necessary for
salvation?
"Still another reason to reject belief in God is that such a belief is incoherent.
"In addition, there are serious objections to the major doctrines of Christianity. Because miracle
claims are initially incredible, belief in them requires very strong evidence. However, this evidence
is unavailable. Until it is produced, the initial incredibility of these claims is not rebutted." (pp.
116-118)
Those few sentences not only summarize the content of Martin's book. They represent the only
part of it that is something other than pretentious doubletalk, every bit as fatuous as the
arguments of the brainwashed. This book will cure no believers. The pretence that nontheists
cannot be committed to objective morality is so observably false, that rebutting it at all grants
superstition an unwarranted dignity.
The Roman Origin of Christianity
Joseph Atwill, author/publisher
PO Box 281, Montecito, CA 93108
0974092800 $20.00
I once encountered the theory that Julius Caesar was a woman. For a long time I could not bring
myself to believe that the kind of convoluted thinking capable of reaching such a conclusion
actually existed. Then along came Chariots of the Gods?, Worlds in Collision, The Passover Plot,
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, and The Synthesis of Christianity. To that list let us now
add The Roman Origin of Christianity.
I was only able to read the first three chapters of this book. I asked the author if he was
sufficiently confident that it could withstand scholarly scrutiny to send me a review copy.
Apparently the answer was NO. Fortunately, the 40 pages I was able to download free from his
website (joeatwill.com) clearly revealed that Atwill based his conclusions almost completely on
English translations (although he sometimes cited the original language to make a point), and that
he has no awareness of any of the competent scholarship in the field of Christian origins. It
logically follows that the rest of the book will be equally speculative.
For example, he writes about Jesus' description of himself as "Son of Man," unaware that the
Hebrew title mistranslated as huios anthropou in Greek was Ben Adam, meaning "descendant of
Adam." Ezekiel first applied the title to himself as simply a synonym for "human," descendant of
the first human. To the author of Daniel it meant more than that. And Jesus discernibly used it to
mean, in effect, the Second Adam who would annul the sentence imposed on the first Adam. Hs
adoption of the title, Ben Adam, was a desperate attempt to compensate for his inability to call
himself Ben David, since he was perfectly aware that he was not descended from the Jews' ancient
king. Had Atwill known that, he would not have come up with the imaginative theory that the
"son of man" cited by Jesus was not himself but the emperor Titus.
"Jesus had a political perspective precisely opposite to the 'Son of David' who was awaited by the
Jews of this era." That is indeed the way the anonymous author of Mark tried to portray his
figurehead, for the purpose of winning acceptance from Vespasian. But Jesus did believe that he
was the prophesied warlord destined to overthrow the Roman occupation. Why else would he
have made a unilateral declaration of independence with an army that was wiped out in ten
minutes by a single Roman cohort?
Atwill cites Jesus' alleged prophecy of the destruction of the temple, "They will not leave one
stone upon another in you," and argues that it was written for the purpose of portraying Jesus as
an accurate foreseer of the true Savior, Titus himself. In fact Atwell is right that the anonymous
author of Mark put the prophecy into Jesus' mouth after it had already been fulfilled. But Mark
did not write his gospel at Titus's dictation to persuade the Jews that a pacifist was their messiah.
He wrote it to convince Vespasian that, even though Jesus had been crucified for starting a war of
independence that lasted all of ten minutes, the Christians were not a sect of the religion that had
rebelled against Rome, but were adherents of a mystery cult not unlike the Mithraism to which
much of Vespasian's army belonged. He even went so far as to pretend that Jesus' treasurer, Judas
the sicarius, a member of the terrorist sect most responsible for the war, was "really" Jesus' enemy
and had ultimately betrayed him.
Atwill's most chronic purblindness (for I am not willing to believe that he intentionally suppressed
evidence that falsified his thesis), lies in his claim that Christianity and its figurehead, Jesus, were
invented by the Flavians, even though the Flavians did not come to the purple until after the death
of Nero. But it was in Nero's reign that the Christians started the great fire of Rome. Atwill cites
both Tacitus and Suetonius in his footnotes. Yet he shows no awareness of the passages by each
that record the theory that Nero himself started the fire and selected the Christians as scapegoats.
According to Tacitus, "The confessions of those [Christians] who were seized revealed a great
multitude of their accomplices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting
fire to the city as for their hatred of the human race." In other words, the Christians were already
regarded as hatemongering anarchists long before the date Atwill claims that Christianity was
invented. And Domitian's classifying the cult as criminals does not accord very well with the
theory that the Flavians were themselves Christians. As for Domitian's demand to be addressed as
"my master and my god," a title by which the anonymous author of the fourth gospel had Thomas
address Jesus, Atwill perhaps omitted the comparison as irrelevant, since it neither supported nor
refuted his thesis.
Atwill refers to "the year of the census of Quirinius, the year the NT gives for the birth of Jesus."
But only Luke dates Jesus' birth to the year of the census, 6/7 CE. According to Matthew, Jesus
was born during the lifetime of Herod, who died in 4 BCE. Such inconsistencies refute the theory
that the gospels were produced and directed by Flavius Titus, who would certainly have
eliminated them. They also refute the pretence that the gospels are nonfiction, but that is a
conclusion Atwill correctly accepts as a given.
Atwill points out that the title of Pontifex Maximus was not Jewish but Roman. It was indeed.
But no bishop of Rome claimed such a title in the first or second century. When the emperor
Theodosius (378-395 CE) rejected a title that meant high priest of the Roman gods, even though
it had been borne by all emperors since Julius, as incompatible with his Christian religion, the
current bishop of Rome, Damasus I, picked it up. Atwill attributes the title to Flavian-age "popes"
to bolster his theory that Romans invented Christianity. Paul of Tarsus invented Christianity,
although not as the three-god religion it later became.
And Atwill's acceptance of the Catholic Church's pretence that Peter and Clement were popes
(although he recognizes that the two names between them were fictitious) reveals his unawareness
that the first true pope, meaning self-styled head Christian, was Siricius (384-399). Until Siricius
proclaimed himself the sole pope, the five concurrent archbishops were all styled "pope," but they
accepted one another as coequals. And Atwill's claim that, "the bishop of Rome was able to give
orders to the Church of Corinth" (actually under the jurisdiction of the pope of Constantinople) is
falsified by the very passage he quotes to support it, "The Church of God which sojourneth in
Rome to the Church of God which sojourneth in Corinth."
In comparing Jesus to the Flavians, Atwill refers to "miracles also performed by Jesus." Certainly
Atwell does not believe Jesus really did the impossible. But he might have made his position
clearer by writing, "miracles also attributed to Jesus."
Atwill refers to "seven of the Christian 'churches of Asia,'" and points out that all seven housed a
Roman agency called Commune Asiae. But his point crumbles when the passage of Revelation
(1:11) is correctly translated as "the seven communes." Ecclesia, "commune," did not acquire its
Christian meaning of "church" until long after the reign of the Flavians.
"Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's" is cited as evidence that the Christian religion advocated
obedience to Rome. But it meant nothing of the sort. While Jesus lacked the sophistication to
have come up with such an ambiguity, the gospel author who put the words into his mouth was
portraying him as making a speech that his Jewish hearers would interpret as unequivocally
denying Rome's right to collect Jewish taxes, while giving Roman readers the idea that he meant
the precise opposite. (For detailed evidence for conclusions merely summarized in this review, see
Mythology's Last Gods.)
Atwill compares the gospel myth in which Jesus inaugurates a sacred cannibalism ritual, common
to mystery religions but utterly repugnant to all Jews, including Jesus, to a story in Josephus's
Jewish War. The comparison is superfluous. The author of Mark invented the scene for the
specific purpose of convincing Vespasian that Christianity was a clone of the harmless religion of
Mithraism rather than the anti-Roman religion of Judaism.
As for Atwill's comparison of Jesus' condemnation of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, with
Titus's battle against Jewish rebels at Lake Galilee, the Occam's razor explanation is that Jesus
indeed threw a tantrum against the towns that rejected him as an upstart local boy. "And you,
Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades," makes little sense until it
is realized that Capernaum was "exalted" in Jesus' mind by his being born there.
"Jesus predicted that a 'Son of Man' would come to Judea before the generation that crucified him
had passed away, encircle Jerusalem with a wall, and then destroy the temple." As mentioned
above, the prophecy of the destruction of the temple was written ex post facto. But Jesus did
predict that his defeat of the Romans would occur during the lifetime of persons listening to him
preach, by which he meant a matter of months, perhaps even a matter of days. He assuredly had
no awareness that he would be crucified, as his belief in his messiahship necessarily meant that he
could not die with the liberation of Judea still not accomplished.
"Jesus constantly complained about scribes who, one must assume, were writing something." But
"scribes" is a misnomer. The Hebrew word rendered as grammateis in Greek meant "lawteachers."
And Atwill's use of the Christian dating system, AD, rather than the connotatively neutral
equivalent, CE, as well as his capitalization of adjectives and pronouns referring to a sectarian
god, are offensive to this planet's five billion non-Christians and have been abandoned even by
liberal Christian theologians. Apparently Atwill does not know that.
"The Apostle Matthew, for example, is actually described as a 'publican' or tax collector." That is
true. But only the anonymous gospel eventually attributed to the nonexistent "Matthew" called
him a tax collector. Mark had Jesus recruit a disciple named Lewis bar Halphaios "sitting in the
tax office." To Mark, the taxpayer (not necessarily tax collector) Lewis and the apostle Matthew
were two different persons. It was the second gospel that equated Matthew with Lewis and called
him a tax collector. Luke identified Lewis as a tax collector, but did not make him a major disciple
or equate him with Matthew. While this is a trivial point, it knocks the stuffing out of Atwill's
claim that Titus supervised the gospels' composition for the purpose of showing Jesus as a
pro-Roman whose lieutenants included Rome's tax collecting collaborators.
Atwill has clearly never completed a properly supervised Master's thesis. This is revealed by the
fact that his inexpertise in first century history is equaled by his inexpertise in correct English.
Consider the following: "One that has finally been discovered." "This being the Jewish Zealots'
refusal to worship him as a god." "The same prophecies that the NT claims predicted a pacifist."
All of those fragments, and many more, are presented as English sentences, despite their lack of a
principal clause. There are worse errors, on page after page after page, but they can be presumed
to stem not from similar ignorance but from the absence of competent proofreading.
On the basis of the foregoing, it would be unrealistic to hope that the rest of Atwill's book says
anything useful. But unlike the above-named authors of equally nonsensical speculation, Atwill
shows signs of being educable. If he first reads the relevant works of competent scholarship, it is
by no means unlikely that he could turn out a useful contribution to biblical scholarship. As of
now, he has not done so.
Fear, Faith, Fact, Fantasy
John A. Henderson
Parkway Publishers
PO Box 3678, Boone, NC 28607
ISBN 1887905774, $19.95 247 pp.
John Henderson is not a biblical scholar, and on the few occasions that he presents a religious
belief as a fact of history, he is usually wrong. For example, he writes (p. 22), "Moses claimed
god's authorship of these commands." But Moses (assuming him to have been a real person) died
long before the composition of the commands to which Henderson refers. He asserts (p. 31),
"Jesus' earliest missionaries were his twelve disciples." But when the author of the first gospel
pretended that Jesus had appointed a "twelve," half of the names on his list were persons the
gospel author simply invented. A historian would have known that. And his acceptance of the
propaganda that (p. 24), "Individuals such as Mother Teresa in India took their calling seriously
and helped those who were ignored by the rest of society," shows an unfamiliarity with the true
behavior of that vicious, lying, thieving, tinpot dictator who was part of Calcutta's problem, not
part of the solution.
Fortunately, none of Henderson's significant arguments depend on questionable interpretations of
mistranslations of pious fiction. His book is based on common-sense observation of religion's
inconsistencies and its failure to conform to even minimum standards of human decency.
Certainly common sense is behind his statement that (p. 210), "Enlightened self-interest rather
than religion must guide our actions." I wrote the same thing myself somewhere. But as far as I
am aware, the first person to express such a view to a mass audience was Ayn Rand, and I have
never encountered anyone with a functioning human brain who disagrees.
While the World Trade Center atrocity is not central to Henderson's book, he utilizes it to
illustrate many of his points. "Religion matters not so much for the good it does but for the
harm. It most decidedly matters when 19 Muslims slam into the World Trade Center killing
thousands, all in the name of and for their god. It matters when Jerry Falwell says that thousands
were killed because man has sinned and god is just warning us." (pp. 118-119) In other words,
Falwell's god executed some Americans because it was pissed off at other Americans, killing
innocent bystanders to send a message to anyone who disagreed with the Moral Majority's Sky
Fhrer. Wasn't there a German who did something like that, Adolf something? And the big
question (p. 2), "Why didn't an all-knowing god take steps to prevent such a wanton destruction?"
The conclusion that Henderson hopes his readers will recognize is that either the god that allowed
such an atrocity is a homicidal psychopath, or it does not exist.
On the god's alleged benevolence: "How can a loving god inflict such punishment upon the good,
the bad, the young, and the old, without rhyme or reason? How can such a punishment differ from
the evil perpetrated by satan, god's supposed enemy?" (p. 5) "Most are not against a loving,
compassionate, kind, forgiving god, but they are against a cruel, capricious, nitpicking, vengeful
one." (p. x) Isn't a "cruel, capricious" higher lifeform an oxymoron? "God should do what is right.
God should be held to the highest standards of morality and compassion. Man should not have to
beg god to do what is right." (p. 4) "Logic tells us that an all-knowing, all-powerful being must be
held responsible and accountable for everything." (p. 15)
On the god's alleged omnipotence: "Anyone who would design a system where a seven-pound
baby has to come out of a two inch hole has to be a sadist. If an intelligent designer is
responsible for the universe and man, it has to be a malevolent one, not a benevolent one." (p.
49)
On the politically correct absurdity that Jews, Christians and Muslims received divine revelations
from the same god: "It gave one version to Jews, one to the followers of Jesus, and yet another
version to Muhammad. God's revelations are like a rich uncle that promises to his nieces and
nephews that each one alone will inherit his estate upon his death." (p. 18)
On miracles (p. 66), "The miracles of religion don't reflect favorably on god. For example, god's
miracles show its capriciousness. If a terminal cancer patient gets well due to divine intervention,
what does that say about those who die? What if a physician performs such
miracles randomly selects one patient and cures him, then tells all others to get lost? Would we
think that physician is a good doctor or even a good person?"
On prayer: "One of the common themes in prayers is for universal peace. Is there peace in the
world today?" (p. 13) "If prayer worked, we would have had world peace long ago." (p. 118) "If
god responds to prayers, it means that god is capricious and is no longer just and fair to all
people." (p. 14) "God by definition is omnipotent and omniscient. It created the universe. If such
is the case, why does god need anyone's help?" (p. 26)
Finally, some samples of Henderson's personal philosophy:
"Hell hath no fury like a man whose god has been criticized." (p. 96)
"Religion, like opium, puts you under the control of your supplier." (p. 85)
"All religions should repudiate and condemn their own scriptures when those scriptures advocate
violence against people of other faiths." (p. 83) "The religious experts who are telling you what
god wants should be told in no uncertain terms, 'Have god talk to me.'" (p. 28)
"Do not do for others what they won't take the time or effort to do for themselves." (p. 27)
FFFF is not for persons seeking proof that religion (although not "gods" as a concept) has been
disproven (only books by historians can supply that). And it does not arm the reader with
ammunition capable of penetrating the opiated minds of dogmatists. But for persons who are not
addicted to pie in the sky when they die, and are capable of recognizing that any god responsible
for observable reality is not a nice entity, it is definitely worth reading.
Unintelligent Design
Mark Perakh
Prometheus
ISBN 1591020840 $32.00 459 pp.
In demolishing the currently fashionable attempt to pass off religious doublethink as science, Mark
Perakh did not set out to prove that proponents of Intelligent Design theology (assuming that they
are serious) are cerebrally dysfunctional. That is just the way it turned out.
Both Perakh and the authors he rebuts evaluate fine points of the laws of astrophysics that fall far
outside of my field of expertise. I am therefore not able to state from personal competence that
Perakh is right and his opponents are wrong. But when one book says that the earth is
globe-shaped while another says that the earth is flat like a dinner plate, my knowledge from other
sources would be sufficient for me to conclude that the round-earth book is science and the
flat-earth book is incompetent hogwash, even if both books were written in Etruscan.
Similarly, my knowledge of the evidence falsifying religion allows me to conclude that any
attempt to pass off religious dogma as an allegedly scientific hypothesis is indefensible. That in
turn enables me to say that Perakh's conclusion, that "intelligent design" is unproven, is correct,
and his opponents' alleged evidence to the contrary is analogous to flat-earth theory. Basically,
since any designer of observable reality made mistakes that a first-year biophysics student would
have avoided, either the designer is of less than human intelligence, or it does not exist.
Perakh takes on the dozen or so IDers whose writings have received the most acclaim from other
IDers. He shows that they are rationalizers, fantasizers, and in many cases just plain liars whose
out-of-context quotations of scientists and distortion of scientific theories cannot reasonably be
attributed to honest incompetence. Since the arguments of the IDers and Perakh's 459 page
rebuttal cannot be summarized in a few sentences, I will simply quote Perakh's conclusions about
specific ID apologists.
For example, of the author of Show Me God: What the Message from Space Is Telling Us about
God, he concludes (p. 223) that, "Heeren selectively used those parts of the scientists' statements
which fit his goal. This is exactly what is called quoting out of context." And concerning one of
Heeren's specific allegations (p. 225), "There is no proof whatsoever that the big bang had a
supernatural cause, and to assert otherwise is a display of arrogance by religious zealots who have
nothing to prove their assertion besides their blind faith in some ancient legends." And (p. 227),
"However, to base a conclusion only on the assertion that 'it must be so' is not quite convincing to
those who have not yet been converted to Heerin's faith. Heeren's assertion remains just a
display of his personal views not substantiated by anything but his opinion."
Of the author of Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology, and other books,
he writes (p. 22) "The reason for Dembski's approach may be his desire to avoid accusations that
design theory is just a disguised religion. However, to claim that design has meaning without a
designer can hardly sound credible either to proponents or to opponents of the intelligent design
hypothesis. Just two pages after Dembski's quoted claim that design does not necessarily imply an
intelligent agent, he seems to have forgotten this claim. This is just one example of
inconsistencies found in many parts of Dembski's work." And in summary (p. 105), "I cannot
assert that the hypothesis of intelligent design itself is wrong, but only that neither Dembski nor
any of his cobelievers have so far succeeded in proving it."
Of the author of Darwin on Trial and other books (p. 162), "Johnson's assault on science has nary
a chance of influencing the development of science. The noise produced by his books, lectures,
and articles is just a nuisance." While I am merely quoting Perakh's conclusion, the reader should
be aware that the evidence leading to that conclusion filled 22 pages.
Of the author of The Fingerprint of God and other books (p. 190), "Ross's persistent assertions of
science being in full agreement with his particular beliefs, without any factual evidence, reveals
that his books are propaganda tools having little to do with either science or the question of the
existence of god."
Of the author of The Signature of God (pp. 206-207), "To discuss each and every faulty argument
in Jeffrey's book would require writing yet another book, and I don't think Jeffrey's opus deserves
the time and effort necessary to complete such a detailed refutation of his pseudo-proofs."
Of theorists Witzum, Rips and Rosenberg (p. 423), "As for WRR's epigones of all persuasions
their work simply does not meet the minimal scientific requirements to be considered seriously. (It
is therefore not surprising that WRR and Drosnin were awarded the 'ignoble prize' at a ceremony
at Harvard.)"
"Surveying the literature which discusses the relationship between the Bible and science, one
cannot fail to notice several features common to the overwhelming majority of these publications.
One such feature is that the book and papers in question do not belong to scientific literature."
(pp. 167-168)
"Other examples of pseudoscience include 'creation science,' with its distortion and misuse of
facts, as well as its more recent and more refined reincarnation under the label of the intelligent
design theory. This theory has all the appearance of scientific research . What is absent in
the intelligent design theory, though, is evidence. No relevant data which would support its
hypotheses, laws, models, or theories are found in the articles and books written by proponents of
intelligent design only unsubstantiated assumptions. Therefore it can justifiably be viewed as
pseudoscience." (p. 326)
In response to a list published by the leading creationist organizations in the United States of 100
"scientists who are critical of the Darwinian evolution theory," the National Center for Science
Education came up with a list of its own of over 400 scientists named Stephen (in honor of
Stephen Gould) who espoused the opposite view. Perakh extrapolates (p. 362), "There are over
forty thousand qualified scientists supporting evolution against creationism. Forty thousand versus
one hundred isn't this an illustration of the fallacy of the frequent claims of neocreationists
who maintain that Darwinism is a 'dying theory,' to be replaced imminently by intelligent
design?"
Despite their attempts to pass off their arguments as science, proponents of Intelligent Design are
in fact practitioners of theology, a discipline that starts from predetermined conclusions and
distorts the evidence to whatever degree is necessary to make it fit. Since I am unaware of a
single scientist who has ever attempted to pass off science as religion, the question arises: Why is
the converse so prevalent? The answer would seem to be that even the most brainwashed
religionists are aware that science is legitimate, and only by creating the illusion that religion is
compatible with science can they make religion legitimate.
Perakh goes to great lengths to avoid appearing dogmatic. He writes (p. 429), "I would not dare
to insist that no rational proof of God's existence or nonexistence will ever be found, though I
suspect that, unfortunately, this may be the case. By contrast, the question of the veracity of
this or that particular religion, or of some specific image of God, seems to be within the human
capacity for rational judgment." In other words, while acknowledging that the nonexistence of
every precisely defined god has been proven, Perakh adopts the politically correct position that
the nonexistence of a totally undefined god can never be proven. But if a god does not conform to
any of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim or other definitions, then it is not "God." Therefore the
nonexistence of "God" has been proven. As for Perakh's assertion, (ibid), "I consider both
religious faith and atheism irrational (while at the same time realizing that one of these two
attitudes must be correct)," I suggest that his unquestioning acceptance of the current pejorative
definition of "atheism" as a dogma that is neither supported by nor amenable to evidence is
indefensible. While I reject the "atheist" label personally, precisely because of what the ignoranti
imagine it to mean, and prefer "nontheist," the fact remains that "atheist" simply denotes anyone
who is not a theist. And by that definition Perakh is an atheist.
Unintelligent Design is the most comprehensive annihilation of the Intelligent Design doublethink
currently available. However, despite the author' avowed intention (p. 15), "I try to explain the
gist of the dispute in terms as simple as possible, to make the discourse comprehensible to
nonexperts," it is not the most comprehensible. For equally definitive and far more readable
rebuttals of this particular pseudoscience, the place to go is Science and Religion: Are They
Compatible? edited by Paul Kurtz, and Has Science Found God? by Victor Stenger.
William Harwood
Reviewer
Hodgins' Bookshelf
"Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam", 1st. & 2nd. Ed's
sel./arr./tr. by Edward FitzGerald, w. new Intro.
by A. S. Byatt
ill. by Edmund Dulac
Quality Paperback Book Club
New York
ISBN & price unstated 189 pp.
(Would-be buyers may have to settle for other versions, or for second-hand books, but this review
will at worst have broad applications to any edition.)
Notes: 1) Accents properly used in such words as "Rubaiyat" and in its author's many names
cannot be reproduced here, and have necessarily been ignored.
2) The Persian noun "rubai" is the singular form of "rubaiyat", and means "stanza" or, more
specifically, "quatrain". Each rubai is printed, at least in English, in four lines. Of these lines, the
first, second, and fourth rhyme, while the third does not. See examples below.
3) Although a pop-market book published in 1996 would be absurdly out of date in late 2003, the
Rubaiyat is a true classic, now about 900 years old and with no end of its popularity in sight. Only
Byatt's Introduction of this Quality Paperback edition is a mere seven years old.
4) Don't confuse English writer & translator Edward FitzGerald, d. 1883, with Irish patriot Lord
Edward FitzGerald, d. 1798.
5) Omar's poetry and FitzGerald's translation have no extant copyrights. Anyone may quote the
main work freely.
Here's how the work starts; note the rubai form, although replacing "strikes" with "bathes" might
make the form still clearer:
2nd. ed., stanza I: Wake! For the Sun behind yon Eastern Height
Has chased the Sessions of the Stars from Night;
And, to the field of Heav'n ascending, strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.
Page vi of this 1996 "Rubaiyat" version tells us that Omar Khayyam, the famed Persian poet (and
also mathematician and astronomer, say the author notes in the two editions consulted here) "was
born on May 18, 1048 ... the date was established in 1941, on the basis of an early horoscope."
His birthplace was the minor town of Naishapur or Nishapur, lying west of the more prominent
centre called Meshed in Khorasan or Khurasan, the northeastern province of Iran, then called
Persia.
Other countries neighbouring Khorasan are Turkmenistan to the north and northeast, and
Afghanistan to the southeast.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives Omar's full name as Ghiyathuddin Abulfath Omar ibn Ibrahim
al-Khayyami, and adds that he was a "... free thinker and epigrammatist, who derived the epithet
Khayyam (the tentmaker) most likely from his father's trade ..." It would seem, then, that the
person sometimes called "Omar the Tentmaker" may never himself have built tents, just as
Captain Cook may have done little or no cooking, and Adam Smith no smithing; for many a
family name's literal application has been only to a forebear.
Generally speaking, in the Orient the family name is placed before the given or personal one, e.g.
in "Saddam Hussein", where the name "Mr. Saddam" may sometimes be heard. What about the
names preceding "Omar"? Frankly, I don't understand their status, but in the West we often refer
to the poet as just "Omar" - which, it seems reasonable to suppose, may have been his family
name.
Omar apparently spent his entire life around N[a]ishapur, where he is said to have died in A.D.
1123.
According to my Britannica, the Rubaiyat may be characterized as "a collection of about 500
epigrams" (or short, witty sayings, according to an Oxford definition), which seems to indicate
roughly one such saying for every line of poetry. That statement, though, looks much
exaggerated; one epigram per quatrain seems closer to the truth, in general.
For example, two of the most celebrated stanzas (as extracted from FitzGerald's Second Edition
of the work) are the following, and they don't appear to support the witty-saying-per-line
hypothesis:
stanza VII: Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring,
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling;
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter - and the Bird is on the Wing.
stanza XII: Here with a little Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
FitzGerald, who rendered rather freely Omar's work into English verse, produced several different
editions in English, stanza XII above having been written as follows in his First Edition:
stanza XI: Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
Note that the stanza's numbering changes, and here we find the real justification for a new edition;
for there apparently was more material than FitzGerald could sort out at his first try, so that in his
second great effort he made some really valuable additions.
Thus he adds:
stanza VIII: Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,
The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop,
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.
In general, given the choice, a later version of FitzGerald's work seems preferable to an earlier
one.
Why would he have altered "a Loaf of Bread" to "a little Bread", though, for his Second Edition?
I think he made a technical correction while, in any case, needing a whole new edition to allow
added content.
Specifically, it's possible FitzGerald at first forgot that "loaves" are a Western baking tradition.
Eastern bread is generally shaped like our pancakes - flat, thin, and not uncommonly circular.
Deleting "loaf" may not have been essential but, with other changes contemplated, he must have
asked himself, "Why not get the bread right, too?"
The possibly latest, 1996 version announced at the beginning of this review contains both the First
and Second FitzGerald Editions, all printed on the recto or right-hand pages only, from the title
page (p. 1) onward. This treatment of leaving the verso (left-hand) pages blank wastes paper, but
it makes a fairly substantial book rather than something little thicker than a pamphlet.
Included are 12 smallish, coloured illustrations, six per edition of the Rubaiyat.
As to page format, it's slightly bigger than "pocket". I can barely fit the book into my own
outdoor coat pocket, and not at all into my wife's. The advantage of compactness thus is partially
lost.
Introductions perhaps apart, then, I find the Quality Paperback version offers little if any
advantage over a large edition I bought years ago - copyright in 1979, in fact.
The latter likewise is a bit irregular (there's a Frontispiece without the usually accompanying
copyright and ISBN info., which details are placed instead at the back). It is produced by Miller
Graphics - which sounds more like a printing shop than a publishing house - with inputs by
Productions Liber SA of Fribourg, and by Editions Minerva SA of Geneva, printed by Sagdos,
Milano, Italy. Miller Graphics's address is unstated.
The ISBN of this older version is however provided, and should provide a key to many of its
other details: 0517282844.
Although its Introduction is credited (on page 10) to Edward FitzGerald himself, the Miller
Graphics book's special feature is an extensive set of Persian Miniature paintings in colour,
decorating practically all recto and even some verso or left-hand pages. Verso pages not so
occupied are graced with two stanzas of Rubaiyat in large type.
Each page of the Miller product is over twice the size of any page in the Quality Paperback
version, making a glorious show of its estimated 60+ paintings. Again no price is stated, but here
it would by now be terribly out of date anyway, after a quarter-century of inflation.
Quatrains 7 and 12 in the Miller book correspond exactly to VII and XII in the other volume's
rendition of FitzGerald's Second Edition, and their total quatrain counts also coincide at 110 or
CX. I therefore believe the Miller Graphics book contains FitzGerald's preferred Second Edition -
plus, as noted, a great many plates of fine Persian artworks.
As to the Quality Paperback volume's First Edition content, it pegs out at stanza LXXV - 35
fewer quatrains than in FitzGerald's 2nd. Ed.
Except for purposes of comparative study, then, I see little merit in having the 1st. Ed. as well as
the 2nd.
Lucky me, to have bought the 1979 Miller Graphics version when I could! However, availability
is the most important criterion and I'd buy almost any edition rather than go without.
Pete Hodgins
Reviewer
Lori's Bookshelf
Gay Perspective: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the
Universe
Toby Johnson
Alyson Publications
PO Box 4371, Los Angeles, CA, 90078-4371
www.alyson.com
ISBN: 155583762X $14.95 210 pgs
I don't tend to read a lot of non-fiction, and that which I do read I choose carefully. I am thankful
I chose to read GAY PERSPECTIVE. This is a book full of hope and heart, and every
person gay or straight would benefit from reading it. Toby Johnson, the author of the previous
groundbreaking book, GAY SPIRITUALITY, takes his points from that earlier book one step
further and delineates a careful examination of all the ways that an "outsider" perspective such
as a non-heterosexual point of view allows for a unique and life-giving take on true spirituality,
as opposed to old-time religion of superstition, fear, and exclusion. He includes chapters on how
our homosexuality tells us things about: Life, Sex, Religion, the Church, God, and the World, and
in so doing, weaves together a wonderful narrative about all the ways gay people can help society
transcend ignorance and embrace true love and compassion.
In thoughtful, clear language, Johnson presents positive affirmation that the spiritual
consciousness that gay people indeed, all GLBTQ people are now expressing is a vital and
evolutionary step forward for everyone on the planet. No longer need we be trapped in
meaningless, dogmatic, fear-based, or male-dominated religious practices. He writes, "It is not a
negative, fatalistic, or materialistic secularism our homosexuality reveals to us, but a universe full
of mystery, wonder, beauty, and magic" (p. 203). We "outsiders" have the opportunity to rise
above that and lead the way for all people to a more loving, accepting, and spiritually fulfilling
place.
Early on, Johnson says that gay men may find the book to be more about them than lesbians will.
He indicates that since he is writing from the experience of a gay man, he doesn't assume to speak
for women; however, as a lesbian reading this book, I found that the author accorded respect
toward all women and advocated for a holistic and feminist view of relationships for all.
Author, psychotherapist, activist, and community organizer Toby Johnson is also a religious
scholar and former Catholic monk. His experience and insight shine in this fantastic new book. I
highly recommend it to anyone gay or otherwise.
An Inexpressible State of Grace
Cameron Abbott
Alice Street Editions
a div. of Haworth Press
10 Alice St, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580
www.haworthpress.com
ISBN: 1560234695 $17.95 218 pgs
After fifteen years, talented attorney Ashleigh "Ash" Moore's marriage is on the skids, and
increasingly, she finds herself thinking of her only other love, a woman who broke her heart in
college. Ash usually finds solace in her work, but when she's assigned a high profile corporate
case that could make or break her career track to law partner, she doesn't count on the attraction
she feels for the client's in-house counsel, sexy, intelligent Renee Silver. Then Ash receives legal
papers from her long-lost father concerning the estate of her grandmother, and long buried family
secrets begin to emerge. To top things off, she unexpectedly uncovers evidence of corporate
ethics violations, which could put her in danger. Whom can she trust? Which secrets from the past
will come out, and what about the powerful pull she feels toward Renee?
With deft characterizations, an engrossing plot, and a marvelous sense about the volatility of
secrets, Cameron Abbott has crafted an terrific follow-up to her first novel, To The Edge.
Because of the author's narrative skill, this fine sophomore novel will go directly to the head of
the class.
Lori L. Lake
Reviewer
Lynne's Bookshelf
Piggie Pie
Margie Palatini
Howard Fine, Illustrator
Clarion Books
Picture Book (Hardback), Ages 4 - 8
ISBN 0395716918 $15.00 32 pp.
Witches are not just for Halloween anymore. The proof is in the pudding, or should I say, the
"pie," i.e., Margie Palatini's first humorous picture book, "Piggie Pie." Palatini's colorful character,
Gritch the Witch, comes to life in wicked splendor with Howard Fine's comically grisly
illustrations.
With an itch to fill her hungry belly with some fresh-baked Piggie Pie, Gritch the Witch gathers
items for the recipe. When she discovers she's missing the main ingredient, she sets off in search
of eight plump piggies. Where will she find them? The Circus? The Zoo? When Gritch finally finds
a farm the best place for pigs she is surprised by what she finds.
"Piggie Pie" will tickle many a child's funny bone as they discover all the clues that Gritch the
Witch overlooks. A little grisly if taken seriously, but zany and delightfully punny, if you have an
easy sense of humor.
Seven Scary Monsters
Mary Beth Lundgren
Howard Fine, Illustrator
Clarion Books
Picture Book (Hardback), Ages 4 - 8
ISBN 0395889138, $15.00 32 pp.
Every night, seven scary monsters come out of their hiding spots in a young boy's room. But he's
not scared--he knows just what to do to get rid of unwanted monsters! Mary Beth Lundgren's
vivid rhyming text depicts an imaginative child who focuses on the problem at hand "one monster
at a time, until all his worries disappear. Counting back from seven to one, before he knows it, his
work is done.
While the curses are nonsense ("Rick! Rack! Wrinkleshack! / Don't you dare come back!") and
the rhymes seem forced at times ("my monster-catching purple felines / fling it - splat - among the
pea vines," i.e., who has pea vines in their bedroom?!?) it's clever enough and, along with Howard
Fine's engaging illustrations, will entertain the young reader. The fun twist at the end is a
plus!
Lynne Pisano
Reviewer
Magdalena's Bookshelf
Love
Toni Morrison
Random House
ISBN 0701175109, A$49.95 224pgs
If it is possible for a writing style to be truly female, Toni Morrison's would have to be it. Her
words are fluid, soft, and hover somewhere just below the skin. It isn't just the themes, which are
distinctly feminine - rape, violation, lost innocence, patriarchy, the nature of female vs male power
- but also the very style of her narrative, the structures of her stories. In her latest novel, Love, the
reader is presented with a series of separate narratives each revolving around the patriarchal
centre of Bill Cosey, the deceased owner of the closed Cosey Hotel and Resort. 12 years after his
death, Bill, the Good Man, is still a palpable presence in the story. Living together in the now
otherwise empty mansion are Cosey's widow Heed, and his granddaughter, Christine. Heed and
Christine have stopped talking, and their mutual hatred forms the conflict which fuels the forward
motion of the story. Both women are in the process of contesting Cosey's will, scribbled onto a
restaurant menu. Into this atmosphere of female hatred enters Junior, a smart alec tough street
beauty. Junior, hired on the sly by Heed to help her "write her memoirs" along with a few other
more devious things, develops her own private relationship with Cosey, and helps to move things
along more quickly. The plotline follows Christine and Heed's fight for Cosey's house, and
Junior's story and own search for a kind of home crisscrosses through the other two lives. The
real story is about something else though - about the true nature of the relationship between these
women, self-realisation, and of course, love, hate's converse:
Once - perhaps twice - a year, they punched, grabbed hair, wrestled, bit slapped. Never drawing
blood, never apologising, never premeditating, yet drawn annually to pant through an exercise
that was as much a rite as a fight. Finally they stopped, moved into an acid silence, and invented
otherwasy to underscore bitterness. (73)
There are several narrative voices, each with its own unique character. The bodyless, ghostlike
"below the range" L, Cosey's former cook, speaks in an italicised memoir. Opening and shutting
the novel, she provides the setting, history, and a slightly eerie quality to the book - a background
hum:
I'm background - the movie music that comes along when the sweethearts see each other for the
first time, or when the husband is walking the beachfront alone wondering if anybody saw him
doing the bad thing he couldn't help. My humming encourages people; frames their
thoughts....(4)
She introduces us to the very poor folk of Up Beach, and the richer suburb of Silk, to Cosey's
glamorous Hotel and Resort, which became a 1940s retreat for upwardly mobile black east
coasters. She also provides the monsters, from her own disapproving voice criticising wreckless
females, to the police-heads, or wave monsters which eat "loose women and disobedient
children." Of course the only real monsters in this story are the very human ones.
There is Junior, settlement girl, correctional girl, with her wild hair, wild eyes, and high boots.
Like the Cosey girls, she has been oppressed by men, abandoned, and found a kind of angry
strength in response. She represents the present, although she comes with her own secrets of the
past. Junior's animal pride and attachment to Roman, the Cosey's gardener and son of
ex-employee and Cosey confidante Sandler and his wife Vita, provides a kind of catalyst for the
novel's denouement. Junior's narrative is told in 3rd person, but is no less intimate. We know of
Junior's secret "relationship" with the "Good Man," her desperation, her animal instincts, and her
plans for controlling the Cosey household.
There are other narratives and stories too. The shadowy Celestial, the struggles of Roman, the
dead May with her horror of civil rights and integration, and the recollections of Sandler. Each
voice presents a different picture, a different set of experiences which finally, in the end, but only
in the end, add up to the complete story. It can be difficult to follow at times, especially when we
become submerged into another experience, or try to work out the curious relationship between
Christine and Heed, although everything does become quite clear in the end. What is always clear
is that, in the realm of the emotive, we are dealing with a very instinctive and feminine kind of
truth. It is what Cixous calls "jouissance" - a kind of physical rather than linear history. In Love,
we set out to discover what each character means - who they are beneath the surface skin - a real
writing of the body:
"Up here where the solitude is like the room of a dead child, the ocean has no scent or roar. The
future is disintegrating along with the past. The landscape beyond this room is without color. Just
a bleak ridge of stone and no one to imagine it otherwise, because that is the way it is - as, deep
down, everyone knows. An unborn world where sound, any sound - the scratch of a claw, the flap
of webbed feet - is a gift. Where a human voice is the only miracle and the only necessity.
Language, when finally it comes, has the vigor of a felon pardoned after twenty-one years on
hold. Sudden, raw, stripped to its underwear." (184)
The truth of these characters is something both suppressed and created by the man who has
damaged them. Cosey's influence, his power, is one which sits at the opposing pole to the power
demonstrated, especially in the end, by Christine and Heed, but it is that pain which has made
them who they are. Pivoting the story around a centre of male power and death, we ultimately
find female love. Morrison's stunning prose, at once bare and simplified and yet still lush, is as
powerful and confronting as ever.
The Lost German Slave Girl: the Extraordinary True Story of the Slave Sally Miller and Her Fight
for Freedom
John Bailey
Macmillan Australia
ISBN 0732911923, A$30.00
Pick any point in history, any story, and by focusing long and clearly enough, you will uncover
some basic truths and key questions about what it means to be a human being. Although the story
of Sally Miller is fascinating enough to be read purely for the forward thrust of the plot, what
makes this book worth a serious look is the way Bailey teases out all of the implications, and
allows readers to make the connection between Sally's case, and the "case" of us all. Bailey's
prose is as clear and easy to read as the case is complex. The story roughly follows the trial of a
slave, discovered on the steps of a New Orleans house by a woman, Madame Carl, who
recognised her as the long lost daughter of her school friend Dorothea Muller. Salome Muller
disappeared with her father and sister after a long and difficult migration from a cold famine torn
Germany in 1817 during which Dorothea, her mother, died. Madame Carl brought the slave
"Sally" into her New Orleans German community, where she is recognised, welcomed, and
supported morally and financially in her struggle to obtain freedom. It is from the transcripts of
the lengthy and difficult trial, and supportive evidence that Bailey pieces together the full
story.
Bailey's legal background is obvious as he is careful to allow his characters to speak for
themselves, in dialects and words that conjure up the original voices. He presents evidence in a
variety of forms, showing the alternative narratives, and the many threads of disparate facts while
using his artistic skill to weave the story together in a way that makes sense: "Ultimately the
telling of any story depends on the storyteller: it is the writer who makes the choice about what to
select, what to reject and what to emphasise. The balance between truth or rhetoric is in his or her
hands." (xi) Through Bailey's choices, the reader is drawn into Sally's story. There are two main
threads - the journey and enslavement of the German "Redemptioners," and the world of Southern
USA slavery into which they are drawn. The reader is given all of the elements of good fiction.
There is the evocative setting of the starving 19th Century Germany, the crowded desperation of
the migrants, dirty and waiting at the Amsterdam ports, and the appalling redemption documents
they signed in order to secure their places on rotting and unsuitable carrier ships to America: "The
immigrants had little choice but to sign. They were refugees trapped in a city weary of their
presence, and in the months since leaving home, they had been stripped of their dignity and worn
down by defeat and hardship." (32) We also learn about the founding of New Orleans, and its
distinctive character, from the original French settlement, its development as a powerful wharf
city transporting cotton bales and other items of worth, and the impact of the many refuges from
Saint-Domingue (Haiti). The reader is provided with a rich sense of the rich Catholic Creoles,
tenaciously clinging "to an exaggerated mimicry of the social value of the ancient regime of
pre-revolutionary France." (56)
We also learn about the way in which society is classed into groups based on colour and degree of
colour, from the Quadroon balls, to the many Codes and Laws decreeing rights and requirements
for free people of colour, to those which defined and structured the way slavery worked, the way
it descended to children of slaves, and about how a slave could or couldn't become free. Again,
the information which the book provides to readers is fascinating enough on its own, but in the
context of a specific case, a specific individual, the book becomes quite powerful. It is Sally, also
referred to as Mary, Salome, and Bridget, and the case around whether she is really the lost
German girl, which drives the action forward. The reader is drawn into her story, and begins to
examine the evidence like a juror, believing mostly that she is Salome, and wondering whether she
will be freed. This is Bailey's artful trick, which lures the reader in and allows the prejudices of the
day to begin to work a kind of magic. Of course we feel like she should be freed if she is German
rather than black. That is the crux of the case, and the evidence revolves around that. Like the
Germans who rally around Sally, the reader also feels a kind of longing for her to be the missing
girl, which is part of a very natural nostalgia.
Bailey's final advocacy then is the clincher. While the book pushes us towards the climax,
wondering, is she or isn't she "innocent" - an illegally enslaved white woman - we begin to realise
that innocence in this case is wholly subjective. Who was Sally Muller? Was she a white German,
or a mulatto? Does she know where she comes from, or is she suffering from a kind of trauma
induced amnesia? These questions push the story forward, but Bailey leaves the door open:
She was Salome Muller; she was Bridget Wilson; she was Mary Miller; she was Sally Miller; she
was Sally Brigger; she was Polly Moore, she was Sally Hamilton. She was born on an unknown
date; she was born in 1809; she was born in 1813; she was born in 1815. She was raised in Tatnall
County, Georgia she was raised in Langensoultzbach, Alsace. She was a mulatto; she was part
Amerindian; she was pure German; she was yellow; she was white....(256)
In the end, the mystery of Sally Muller is not whether she was white or black, or which side was
ultimately right, although Bailey takes a crack at interpretation. It is the mystery of freedom and
courage and how we define what it means to be a human being with human rights. Although the
prose is so smooth and seamless and the story so well crafted that the lessons almost seem
incidental, nevertheless Bailey's extensive research uncovers a piece of history that illuminates the
very nature of freedom and humanity.
Magdalena Ball, Reviewer
http://www.compulsivereader.com/html
Marya's Bookshelf
Winter Story
Jill Barklem
Simon and Schuster
0689830572 $9.95, www.simonsays.com
A wonderful thing has happened in Brambly Hedge and all the young mice are in a great state of
excitement. In fact a good number of the older mice are feeling quite young and lively themselves
for there are has been a great fall of snow. Great drifts lie up against the trees and the mice have
dug tunnels to get to one another's houses and to the Store Stump.
There is so much snow in fact that Mr. Toadflax wonders if it might not be enough to have a
Snow Ball. After a meeting in the Store Stump it is decided that this snowfall truly calls for the
return of the old tradition and in no time the mice are hard at work preparing for the ball.
It is with wonder that we follow the mice in their preparations for the great event. Such cooking
and excavating of snow; such organizing and planning. Then we can delight in their wonderful
party and watch them whirl across the icy dance floor in their party clothes. Jill Barklem creates
the most remarkable little world for her mice to inhabit, full of detail to delight the eye. In a style
that is uniquely hers, this author/illustrator's art is warm, comforting, and universal in its appeal.
This book is one of four about the seasons.
The Wanigan: A Life of the River
Gloria Whelan
Dell Yearling
0440418828, $4.99, www.randombooks.com
Annabel Lee is a refined young lady she likes to think, and a lover of poetry, especially Edgar
Allen Poe. Her father, once a reasonably well off wheel-wright in Detroit, Michigan, sold off most
the family possessions and their home in that great city so that he and his wife and daughter might
have a simpler but better life on a farm in northern Michigan. This small and somewhat nave
family soon found themselves in what amounted to the wilderness in a cabin that let in the cold, as
they tried to grow crops on land that was poor and that yielded little. Their animals died and soon
enough Annabel's father was forced to sell the farm at a great loss and to take on a job as a
lumberjack in a timber camp. His wife worked as the camp cook and it was a difficult time for
them all.
Throughout this ordeal Annabel maintains her haughtiness, seeing only the roughness of the
lumberjacks and the misery of their lives in the camp. "I was not meant to waste away in such
unrefined company and in so uncivilized a place" she says. Annabel lives for the spring when she
hopes she and her family will return to Detroit and their old life. It is with horror that she learns
that instead her father will be taking on the job of escorting the logs down the Au Sable River to
Lake Huron and her mother will continue to work as the cook living in a mobile cookhouse which
will float along in the wake of the floating logs. This "wanigan" will be their home for the three
months that it takes for the logs to reach the lake. Annabel's father will live and sleep in a floating
bunkhouse with four other men and they will all have the difficult and often dangerous job of
keeping the logs moving down the river towards Lake Huron.
It is during these three months that Annabel discovers that there is more to life than being refined,
reading poetry, and being ladylike. She learns the meaning of true friendship, sees the beauty that
exists in the wilderness, and finds the joy that lies in seeing and exploring new places. After many
adventures the logs, bunkhouse and wanigan reach their destination and Annabel is a very
different person.
Once again award winning author Gloria Whelan has written a powerful and interesting historical
novel which transports us to a time and place which is often left out of the history books. It is
hard not to find Annabel irritating at first with her slightly affected little ways and her inability to
accept things for the way they really are. We are reminded that hardship often brings out the best
in us and it can show us so many things that we never took the time to see before.
Bear Snores On
Karma Wilson
Illustrated by Jane Chapman
McElderry Books
0689831870, $16.00, www.simonsays.com
It is a cold and bitter winter with snow and howling winds and in a cave in the woods a brown
bear is cuddled up, sleeping soundly. No matter how loudly those winds howl "the bear snores
on."
A mouse comes into the cave and builds a fire, and as it does so it too makes noise but the bear
continues to sleep on. Even the arrival of a hare, who burps loudly, a badger who brings crunchy
(and noisy) nuts to eat, and four other animals, does not arouse the bear. It is only a fleck of
pepper that makes the bear sneeze which ends his slumber.
The author of this charming book builds up the pace of the story beginning very slowly with the
little mouse. Then more and more animals arrive in the bear's den and the noise gets louder and
louder until there is that great sneeze. Then well, then the bear is most displeased at being left out
of all the jollification and something has to be done to make him feel better.
With warm and soft paintings, easy rhymes, and a lilting rhythm, this book begs to be read out
loud on a chilly winter evening. After a few readings a listening child will certainly want to join in
with all the sound effects.
Blackwater Ben
William Durbin
Wendy Lamb Books
0385729286 $15.95, www.randomhouse.com
For Ben being able to get out of going to school is like a dream come true. School was such a
waste of time after all and now, at last, he can be with his father and work in a logging camp. It
was hard to leave Mrs. Wilson. She had taken care of him since his mother had died and they
were close friends. Still, he was now almost grown up and he was ready for a change.
What Ben wasn't ready for was the work itself. It was grueling. He had to work such long hours
and his father was a hard taskmaster with exacting rules that must never be broken. After a sticky
accident involving a lot of spilled molasses, Ben's father fired the other cook's helper or "cookee"
who worked in the camp. So now it was just Ben and his father who had to feed the always
hungry lumberjacks three times a day, seven days a week. Ben couldn't help hoping that his father
was going to hire someone else soon before more "jacks" arrived. If he didn't Ben feared he
wasn't going to be getting much sleep. No sooner had he finished cleaning a stack of dishes and
closed his eyes for sleep than he was roused in the freezing dark to start cooking and preparing all
over again. Surely there was more to this work than just peeling potatoes and scrubbing pots and
pans?
Ben gets to know all the characters in the camp and there are some truly peculiar types among the
men who choose to spend the winter working as lumberjacks. There are those fleeing the law and
those trying to forget some great sadness in their past. There are also those who simply like the
hard work and rugged life of the lumberjack.
With humor and sensitivity the author takes us into the north woods of Minnesota at the end of
the nineteenth century. Through Ben's young and impressionable eyes the author shows us the
very hard life found in a lumberjack camp, while at the same time sharing Ben's own journey from
boyhood into young adulthood. Ben learns a great deal about the man who is his father and about
the young woman who was his mother, and in the process, discovers what his own strengths and
weaknesses are. It is hard not to laugh at some of the outrageous behavior shown by the
lumberjacks and to marvel at their courage and determination to get the job done no matter what.
This is an interesting and highly enjoyable book about a little known and yet important part of
American history.
Stella Queen of the Snow
Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books
0888994044, $15.95, www.groundwoodbooks.com
Sam is a little boy who has never seen snow or a snowstorm. Luckily for Sam he has a big sister
like Stella. Stella is a wonderful big sister who knows how to explain things and who doesn't mind
answering a lot of questions, little boy sort of questions like "Where does a snowman sleep?" and
"Do snowmen eat green snowsuits?" Of course Stella knows that snowmen never eat green snow
suits. This is very important to Sam because Sam happens to be wearing a green snowsuit at that
particular moment.
Sam comes up with wonderful reasons why he doesn't want to do certain things. For example he
doesn't want to skate because he is "listening to the frogs snore" under the ice. He doesn't want to
help build a snow fort because he is counting snowflakes. As for sledding, well, Sam thinks he
would much rather walk down the hill. Clearly Stella's "Faster than a bird" and "Faster than an
airplane" Did not appeal to him.
The differences between Sam and his sister are truly delightful and though this is a book for
children, adults will get a great deal of joy and laughter reading it. The lovely multimedia
illustrations capture that wonderful clarity that one finds in a snowscape, and there is no doubt
that though Sam and Stella have very different approaches to life, they both are able to hear and
see the secrets that live in the hearts of the young and the young at heart. Readers of this
delightful book will enjoy the other Stella and Sam books written and illustrated by this
author.
Loveykins
Quentin Blake
Peachtree Books
1561452823, $15.95, www.peachtree-online.com
One morning, just after a fierce wind storm, Angela Bowling sets off for the village. In addition to
the usual fallen branches and leaves Angela finds that the wind has brought down a baby bird.
Being a kind and softhearted woman Angela decides that the little bird needs someone to look
after it and takes on the job. Soon little "Augustus" is wrapped up in a shawl and a sweater and is
being fed all sorts of food. One cannot help wondering as to whether the food Angela gives
Augustus is suitable for a baby bird, but nevertheless, the bird seems to thrive on it. Angela gets a
stroller to move her precious cargo about the village and buys him the best food available.
All this "best things to eat" business soon makes Augustus a very large bird indeed and Angela
has to build him a shed to live in. Moving him around in a stroller becomes a thing of the past.
Then there is another big storm and something happens to Augustus which makes poor Angela
Bowling realize that her precious "Loveykins" has changed a great deal.
In this funny and delightful book Quentin Blake gives us a wonderful look at the simple and
giving nature of a woman who is probably lonely and needs someone to look after. He also shows
us how we cannot keep a wild animal locked up forever, how it has to be free and yet at the same
time, how a kindness given is not forgotten.
The Daring Nellie Bly - America's Star Reporter
Bonnie Christensen
Alfred A. Knopf
0375815686, $16.95, www.randombooks.com
From the very beginning Elizabeth Cochran was different. The world would come to know her by
the pen name she chose for herself when she was a reporter, Nellie Bly. Nellie's earliest years were
comfortable and happy ones but this all changed when her father died when Nellie was only six
years old. After this Nellie came to know hardship when she had to bear living with an abusive
and difficult step-father. At the age of fourteen Nellie testified at her mother's divorce trial. This
negative experience most certainly was one of the deciding factors that influenced Nellie in her
future life. Nellie was determined that she was going to be her own woman, with a job that would
give her the freedom to decide her own destiny.
There was a problem however with this dream. There were very few jobs open to women in the
late 1880's. By the sheer power of her personality and too, by pure luck, Nellie ended up with a
job as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Nellie began to write about the miserable conditions
that women had to work under. She then went to work for the New York World as an
undercover or "stunt" reporter. Her first assignment was to get herself committed to the Women's
Lunatic Asylum at Blackwell's Island. This institution had a dreadful reputation for the conditions
under which it kept its patients. After ten days a lawyer would come and get Nellie released.
Much afraid but determined, Nellie went ahead with the assignment and survived the ten days in
the asylum. The conditions were just as bad as Nellie had heard and because of the articles that
she wrote, living conditions in the New York asylums were greatly improved.
Nellie's next adventure was her most famous; Nellie decided that she would attempt to beat the
record of Jules Verne's famous character Phileas Phogg who went around the world in eighty
days. Nellie's editor was very doubtful that a young woman alone could pull off such a difficult
scheme but Nellie was determined to try.
Accompanied by her wonderful pen-and-ink illustrations Bonnie Christensen describes Nellie Bly's
remarkable journey around the world with all the difficulties that Nellie faced. As she so
wonderfully puts it "Nellie had won much more than her race against the clock" because now the
American girl would no longer be looked at as that helpless little creature who could do nothing
for herself.
Nellie went on to do even more for the campaign for women's rights and to help those in need.
Always a fighter and a doer she was the first woman reporter at the Eastern Front during World
War I and she never gave up believing that we all have a responsibility to help one another.
Bonnie Christensen has created a wonderful tribute to an extraordinary woman, her own
admiration of Nellie Bly coming through in her words and her wonderful artwork.
Nellie Bly - A Name to Be Reckoned With
Stephen Krensky
Aladdin
0689855737, $3.99, www.simonsays.com
Elizabeth Cochran was having a hard time. She was not pleased with her life. She was also
frustrated because she had so few choices. Why was it that women were given so few choices and
men were given so many? Men thought that women should be happy to stay at home, get married
and have children. Well, here was one girl who wanted more from life.
So, Elizabeth, or "Pink" as her family called her, had written an angry letter to the editor of the
Pittsburgh Dispatch in response to a series of editorials that attacked women and girls who were
not satisfied with being housewives and mothers. As a result of her letter she had ended up, much
to her astonishment, being offered a job at the paper.
As Elizabeth had defended women who decide to work, the editor told her to write about these
women and that is what she did, she took it upon herself to write about the women who worked
in all sorts of jobs and who often had a terrible time of it. Elizabeth also took on a pen name,
Nellie Bly, after a popular song of the times. Nellie Bly began to show the readers of the Dispatch
what it was like to work in a factory for hour after hour without a break. Nellie even tried it
herself and she saw how dreadful the work conditions were for hundreds and hundreds of factory
workers and sweat shop girls. For many people, they were hearing the stories of the poor for the
first time.
After a six month sojourn in Mexico, Nellie decided to move to New York City. It was time for a
change and Nellie was determined to work for the New York World. As was typical of her she
got her way but she had to earn it by taking on a project which would probably have scared off
almost every other person. The owner of the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer, wanted to find
out what was happening inside New York's insane asylums. Nellie had "a desire to be convinced
that the most helpless of God's creatures, the insane, were cared for kindly and properly." There
were rumors that the conditions in these institutions were quite the opposite but nothing could be
proved.
Nellie then set about acting out the part of an insane person and getting herself committed to the
infamous Blackwell's Insane Asylum in the East River. Conditions inside the institution were
appalling and Nellie was horrified at the way the patients were treated. Once released she wrote a
series of articles about what she saw in the asylum during her ten days 'imprisonment.' Nellie also
was a key witness at an investigation of the asylums that followed, and because of her testimony
conditions did improve.
Now a staff reporter, Nellie went on to do various other undercover articles. Nellie took on all
sorts of different stories but perhaps her most famous exploit was one that she took on when she
felt in need of a break, a rest from her usual sort of writing. Nellie decided that she would take a
trip around the world; however she would make it exciting by announcing that she would achieve
this trip in "eighty days or less." Phileas Fogg, the fictional character from the book "Around the
World in Eighty Days" by Jules Verne, had achieved the record in eighty days. Nellie would beat
that record.
What followed was a wonderful adventure on ships and trains, with monsoons and humorous
companions. Nellie's victorious arrival back in New York 72 days and 6 hours after her departure
made her famous throughout the world.
Stephen Krensky shows us very clearly throughout this book that Nellie Bly never stopped caring
about the people who needed a voice to speak for them and never stopped daring to speak the
truth no matter what that truth was. A wonderful storyteller, he brings Nellie and her times to life
and he also shows us that Nellie had a charm and a sense of humor which must have made her a
joy to be with.
Pagan in Exile
Catherine Jinks
Candlewick Press
0763620203, $15.99, www.candlewickbooks.com
Jerusalem has fallen to the soldiers of Saladin. Pagan Kidrouk and his master, Lord Roland Roucy
de Bram, are in Lord Roland's homeland seeking knights for a new Crusade to free the holiest of
cities from the hands of the infidel. It is hard to know what Lord Roland's squire expected in his
master's home in the south of France but it certainly was not what they find when they arrive.
Lord Roland's father, brothers and their families and retainers live in such squalor and have such
uncouth manners and ways that Pagan is appalled. How can his almost saintly master come from
such a family? It is clearly a waste of time to think that this crowd of unbelieving savages will
have any interest in freeing Jerusalem from the clutches of the infidel. Pagan is all for leaving as
quickly as possible. He also begins to feel afraid of the effect that Lord Roland's family is having
in his master. They are like a disease, corrupting and evil and Pagan wants to get his master away
from their influence as soon as he can.
Then the situation gets very complicated when a local dispute breaks out between Lord Roland's
father and the nearby abbey. People are killed and Lord Roland cannot bring himself to leave until
he has done his best to find a resolution to the problem. However, the stubbornness of the Abbot
and of Lord Roland's father is such that the dispute only escalates.
Pagan is the most honest of narrators. His voice is funny, vibrant, and it gives us a vivid picture of
his world which is often dreadfully realistic. His first hunt leaves Pagan sick at heart and in the
stomach, and there is no doubt that the living conditions in Lord Roland's childhood home
disgusts the boy from Jerusalem. The people who live in that home don't impress him either. They
are cruel, crude, often barbaric, and have very little respect for anyone outside their family circle.
Pagan has such a wonderful sense of the ironic. He sees the things in life that make it pitiful on the
one hand, and yet worth living on the other. He also sees the greatness in people and his love for
his master is complete. For Lord Roland he will risk his life again and again and for Lord Roland
he will overcome his greatest fears. By the end of the book it is very hard not to feel great pride
for this street boy from Palestine who has such a sharp tongue, quick wit, and big heart.
Catherine Jinks has once again given us a book that is hard to put down, is often deeply
disturbing, and that leaves one wondering what Pagan and his master will do next. The savagery
and often barbarity of the times can be difficult to read about as can the hypocrisy of the so-called
men of God. There certainly are parallels with our own times, where men kill in the name of
religion, failing to see that in so doing, they defile the very faith they profess to follow.
Thought-provoking, even tear-jerking, this is a book that cannot to too highly recommended.
Queen's Own Fool: A Novel of Mary Queen of Scots
Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris
Penguin Putnum
0689119185, $7.99,www.penguinputnum.com
Nicola Ambruzzi, orphaned, unloved and unwanted, is performing for the King and Queen of
France with her uncle and cousins, the Troupe Brufort. Not very skilled at tumbling and dancing
Nicola ends up using her quick wit and clever sense of humor when in the presence of the queen.
Nicola so impresses Queen Mary that the Queen asks the girl to join her court as her Fool. So,
Nicola, also called La Jardiniere, soon finds herself living in the strange world of the royal court of
Queen Mary.
Though she now has a roof over her head, food in her belly, and pretty dresses to wear, Nicola
finds that court life has many drawbacks. There are many rules to learn, difficult courtiers to live
with, and the endless moving from palace to palace to get used to. There is also the loneliness to
get used to, for Nicola has few friends and allies.
Over time Nicola gets closer to the Queen and "the four Maries," four girls with the same name
who came from Scotland to be ladies-in-waiting to Queen Mary. When religious strife causes
political problems and violence, they seek each other out for comfort. Later, when the king dies
and Queen Mary is widowed, the four Maries and Nicola accompany the Scottish Queen to her
"new" kingdom. Nicola becomes not only Queen Mary's fool, but also her friend and the one who
reminds Mary that she too "is mortal" and who tells Mary the truth when others tell her lies and
deceive her.
Nicola not only tells the truth to her mistress but she also is true in her loyalty. In this she never
wavers. For those of us who know Mary's fate, Nicola's determination to support her queen has
its sadness, and yet we cannot help believing that a woman who could inspire so much love and
support must have been kind and must have had a generous spirit despite her weaknesses and
faults.
Using rich and highly descriptive language which both delights and horrifies, the authors transport
us to and time and place when one could never be sure what would happen next. The tragedy that
became Mary Queen of Scots life is portrayed with delicacy and poignancy. This is certainly a
volume that will delight those who enjoy historical fiction.
It Can't Be Done Nellie Bly! A Reporter's Race Around The World
Nancy Butcher
Peachtree Books
1561452890, $12.95, www.peachtree-online.com
Nellie Bly was not the type of person to take No! for an answer. Even when her editors at her
newspaper in New York City said that a woman could not possibly go on a trip around the world,
she bided her time and waited them out. Sure enough the editors finally decided that they did want
someone to make the journey. Nellie made sure that she was that someone.
It all began when Nellie got the idea of breaking the famous, fictional record of Phileas Fogg, the
character invented by the novelist Jules Verne. In his book "Around the World in Eighty Days"
Jules Verne has Fogg manage to travel around the world in a mere eighty days, which at that time
seemed to be a feat that could not possibly be achieved. Nellie's editors felt that a woman could
not make such a journey alone, especially as she would have an enormous amount of luggage as
befitted a 'lady.'
Nellie however broke all the rules. She decided to travel without a chaperone and furthermore she
left New York with only one small bag and managed to make the entire trip with just one dress
which she had especially made. These were not the only rules she broke. On board the Augusta
Victoria Nellie found herself feeling horribly seasick. Instead of feeling miserable and sorry for
herself, Nellie continued to be determined that she would be going around the world seasick or
not and her determination won over her queasy stomach. It wasn't long before her will was the
winner and the battle was won. Nellie didn't have any real problems with seasickness again.
Nellie's tale is one of trying to beat the clock and trying to make the schedule work. It also is one
of meeting interesting people, overcoming all sorts of setbacks and difficulties, trying to outrun a
rival from Cosmopolitan Magazine, and always having to get around the restrictions placed upon
her because she was a woman.
It is especially interesting to read about Nellie's meeting with Jules Verne whom she met during
her trip around the world. It clearly meant a great deal to Nellie and it had a great significance to
the adventure as a whole. After all, without Jules Verne there would have been no Phileas Fogg
and no "Around the World in Eighty Days." Verne was eager for Nellie to beat Fogg's record and
drew her route on a map which already had Fogg's route plotted out on it. It was a great honor
for Nellie. Jules Verne did not think that Nellie would be able to beat Fogg's record by much. One
wonders what he thought when he heard that Nellie arrived in New York City seventy-two days
after she began her epic journey. He must have been astonished!
In a cheery and easy-going style, Nancy Butcher brings the indomitable spirit of Nellie Bly to life
once more. Humorous anecdotes show us how Nellie never let the very much male-dominated
world of her times get her down. The author uses the little details to show us how brave, funny,
and true to herself Nellie was. Refreshing and lively, this is a wonderful description of a great
adventure story. At the back of the book the reader will find further information about how Nellie
got her name, the story of Phileas Fogg, and a description of what happened to Nellie's rival
Elizabeth Bisland.
Famous Children: Mozart
Ann Rachlin
Illustrated by Susan Hellard
Barron's Educational Series Inc.
0812049896, $6.95, www.barronseduc.com
It is hard to imagine that someone could compose music when they were only five years old and
yet that is just what young Wolfgang, or "Wolfie," Mozart did. Watching his sister Nannerl having
lessons with their father made Wolfgang want to have lessons too, and he showed his father that
though he was only five, he could play remarkably well for someone so young.
Wolfgang's father soon took his talented children on a tour to Munich where they played for the
grand people of Prince Joseph's court. The children were a huge success and gave their father
every reason to feel very proud indeed.
Their next trip was to Vienna and this time they were to play for the Emperor and Empress. Best
of all as far as Wolfgang was concerned was that they got to play with the royal children and they
had a wonderful time. When Mozart and his family went back to play for the Emperor and
Empress a week later, the Emperor covered up the keys of the clavier to see what Mozart would
do. Mozart performed perfectly.
On another occasion Mozart was given a violin as a gift. He was just six years old and hadn't had
a chance to have any violin lessons yet. When some of his father's friends came over with their
musical instruments to play together Mozart wanted to play with them on his new violin. Of
course his father told him that this was not possible because the boy had not yet learned how to
use the instrument. Mozart was very upset and began to cry. One of the friends took pity on the
little boy and asked his father to let him play a little. His father gave in saying that Mozart could
play so long as he was very quiet. It wasn't long before the musicians began to realize that Mozart
was playing his violin very well indeed. They stopped playing, and listened with astonishment to
the little boy playing the difficult music as if he had been playing the violin for months.
In this delightful little book Ann Rachlin manages to make Mozart's story lively and amusing. We
are able to see that though he was undoubtedly a genius and his skills were unlike anything seen
before, he was also a little boy who liked to play with other children, who thought nothing of
hugging and kissing an Empress, and who cried if he was told that he couldn't do something that
he wanted to do. Charming ink and watercolor illustrations bring Mozart's world to life and show
him as being the little boy that he was, fun-loving and generous with his affection. At the same
time we cannot forget that Mozart was one of the greatest composers of all time who wrote an
enormous amount of music in his tragically short life. This book is one of several in a series about
the composers.
Marya Jansen-Gruber
Reviewer
Michael's Bookshelf
Inspiration 7.5 Trial Version: Visual Learning Software Made Simple
Inspiration 7.5 Writer(s): Inspiration Software, Inc.
Michael Riggs
Inspiration Software, Inc.
7412 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy Suite 102 Portland, OR 97225
Email: General inquiries webmaster@inspiration.com
Customer service inquiries CustomerService@inspiration.com
http//www.inspiration.com 800-877-4292 Fax: 503-297-4676 $69.00
"Visual Learning" resembles "information literacy" and the "digital divide" in that everyone seems
to know what it is-in the abstract. Educators, Internet gurus, and Power Point users all agree that
VL is laudable, necessary, that industry may depend on it, etc. The sense of the importance of the
subject rises, the more one reads, as does the feeling that something important is happening, and
that no one knows exactly how to find out what this important event might be. Software has a
way of becoming concrete quickly, and truth emerges in the struggle to get it to work. Inspiration
7.5 is a program designed to assist the user in making diagrams that add information, or that aid in
understanding and processing information.
Diagrams do not information make.. Power Point, for example, lends itself to uses that are
nothing short of dreadful. Nearly everyone who works in a company, or who has attended a
conference in the last decade has been treated to drones reading the content of slides verbatim. As
Edward Tufte, among others, points out, such presentations contain much less information, not
much more. A person can read a thousand words in the time it takes a presenter to read aloud
another badly captioned bit of Clipart.
Inspiration 7.5 can be used as slide ware, but unlike many other applications, this inexpensive
package does not lend itself to those in search of a quick escape from the actual work of design.
For several reasons, Inspiration is weak as a presentation tool, but as what it claims to be, it is
superb. It is simple to use, and while it contains gimmicks, they do not prevent using the software
as a true visual learning tool.
The ideal software for teaching VL learning strategies should contain simple elements, obvious
ways of linking them, and not require those who use it heuristically to work very hard. Inspiration
contains full symbol libraries that reflect its origin in middle and high school education. It also
contains templates on the processes of writing a research paper, comparing one article to another,
and other academic exercises. The basic symbols, however, are simple boxes and circle. They can
be summoned and deployed at a single click. Links require two or three clicks at most, and even
the clumsiest mouse driver can navigate and anchor them. The "one click one process" simplicity
of Inspiration makes the software suitable for generating flow charts, idea maps, and for online
brainstorming as well.
Other features include customizable symbol libraries (users import pictures) and a host of other
features that may require a few minutes to learn. Without any of these, a novice user can begin to
model intricate thoughts within 15 minutes of downloading the program. At a price of under a
hundred dollars, this software is the best buy for beginners, and the choice of smart professionals
who know the true value of simplicity.
To find out more about Inspiration 7.5, visit http://www.inspiration.com/
To read Edward Tufte http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
Texas Imagined: The Night of the Dance
James Hime
St. Martin's Minotaur
New York
ISBN: 0312313225 $24.95 339 pages
Texas, as any Texan will tell you, is never what it used to be. It is variously a corrupted, fallen,
cowardly, copy of its preferred self, always fallen away from some Golden Age. Like many
inscapes of serious modern fiction, Texas is a lost world, caught in its own legend and hovering
between past glories and present realities. Texas, in short, has been the end of many an artist, and
most would do better to relocate to anywhere else.
The real Texas, as is true of most places ,in increasingly resembles all other places. Writers who
situate stories there risk cliche at every turn, for Texas literature easily descends to imitation of
either the Western, or of tepid imitation of Larry McMurtry's early, searing work. In The Night of
the Dance, James Hime not only adopts this literary landscape, but also does so in a genre that
itself is nearly stillborn because the world is so overpopulated with prior attempts. Of all the
foolhardy endeavors any writer could have chosen, to situate a murder mystery in the very real
town of Bremerton, Texas is to choose to have a very slim chance at making something of value.
Add to this already nearly hopeless task a cast of characters that includes an ex Texas ranger, a fat
racist Sheriff, and a hopelessly corrupt politician- and you have a book with about the same odds
for survival as William Travis and company once faced at the present day tourist attraction known
as the Alamo.
Mr. Hime manages to rescue his characters from nearly certain triteness, but that is not nearly all.
The novel opens with a variation on the preacher's daughter- who has been missing for ten years,
since the night of dance. On a day when he doesn't feel like it, a Black cop, self-exiled from the
Dallas Police Department to this backwater, reluctantly takes a call concerning a "boot" found at
an excavation. The preacher's daughter is, of course, attached. This man, one of several complex
sensibilities that we meet in the course of the story, deals with the realities of present day Texas
racism, violence, and sexism without fanfare, and in every hour of his life. Smart, but not brilliant,
he is as complex a character as he might be, without being a hero. It is possible to write great
political novels, but only if the politics exist as events in a convincingly created daily reality. A
certain density of experience must be invoked at every turn, and one passage of authorial
proselytizing can irretrievably damage the most artistic narrative. Mr. Hime's characters remain
inconsistent, unreliable fictions-not disguised spokespersons for authorial opinions.
Mr. Hime has a rare talent for the unpleasant, and the themes of this novel include pollution,
perversion, cowardice, psychosis, racism, and unpredictable love. Dialogue, characterization,
timing, and that elusive rendering of humanity that is known as literary "character" are the only
means by which political matters can exist convincingly in literature. Like every great literary
talent, Hime is not eager to provide readers with some "stand" on the issues - and this quality
separates this excellent work of fiction from bombast. Homophobia, deception, and bitter racism
are the makings of the psychological drama played out in the deadly accurate dialogue and the
tightening plot of this story.
The psychological mysteries of guilt and morality, however, do not a murder mystery make. A
good detective story will surprise readers familiar with the conventions of this genre-will surprise
them in spite of themselves, and will do so credibly, as this novel certainly does.
The novel is light, and one of its finer points is that the fast paced plot stands in contrast to the
slow drawling of its people. As a literary work, this novel's true ancestors are not the work of
McMurtry, or Carson McCullers, or even those of Faulkner. This book belongs instead to the
Entertainments of Graham Greene - where morality and mystery converge. Unfortunately, Mr.
Greene's work is complete.
The Night of the Dance has something for many readers- those who read for suspense, and those
who read for the pleasure of watching as the writer turns the cliche upon itself, and follows the
convention until something new becomes true in the world. Texas is indeed a dangerous place,
but for the writer of fiction, that inscape continues to beckon. For just as cliche is possible, so too
is the possibility of wild originality, true and new voices. With this first novel, Mr. Hime has
claimed a territory worth having, even if difficult to hold.
Michael Riggs
Reviewer
Nancy's Bookshelf
Twisted Oak: Eyes of Discernment
Tim Johnson
Publish America
www.publishamerica.com
ISBN: 1592866794 $21.95 256 pages
Twisted Oak is a gripping and fast-paced Christian horror novel that will certainly keep you up at
night. There is more than just suspense to this story, it is also dripping with eerie atmosphere and
dark descriptive settings. From murder to demons to nightmarish imagery, this book grabs you
from the first page.
This was not a normal read for me and I was pleasantly surprised by author Tim Johnson's poetic
style of writing. Each character was given ample description and emotion, easily bringing into
their world. What I liked best was the intense speed of the story, not once did I feel any part was
drawn out or overdone, as I have often encountered in some horror books. From the cover to a
detailed map of the places mentioned in the story, to the dark photos within, it is a well thought
out and intelligent piece of literature.
We follow the horrific images of Marcy, a teenage girl suffering from nightmares that may very
well be real. She is also part of a group known as the "Wildfires" who come together to do drugs
and create some mayhem. It is being part of this group that suggests there is more to this
character than we think. As prime suspect in the murder of her three friends, we watch as the
story unfolds, trying to figure out her link to it all, and all the while supplying plenty of twists and
turns that keep us guessing until the end. With each character that comes into her path, others are
subjected to the grisly visions; and blood seems to be on the hands of even those least likely.
It seems that anyone living in Twisted Oak is subject to the strange happenings. Several people
become sick from bacteria found in the water, only it isn't water that they have been drinking.
What is the sinister thing lurking around town? Are the people having dreams, hallucinations, or
actual visions? Sound intriguing? Well, it is. Twisted Oak stands out from many horror books
today and makes a nice little niche for itself. With the inserts of religion I did not find this book
preachy, nor is it meant to be. The spiral effect of people and the good versus bad, or dark versus
light, is a journey for your own mind to take and will be based on your own beliefs and
values.
Tim Johnson has created a haunting story and it's well worth the read to find out how everything
plays out in the end.
The Town That Forgot How to Breathe
Kenneth J. Harvey
Raincoast Books
www.raincoast.com
ISBN: 1551925923 $TBA 480 pages
The Town That Forgot How to Breathe will no doubt leave you breathless! Set in unique
Newfoundland, author Kenneth J. Harvey zeroes in on the culture and expert dialect of those
living there. Somewhere between fantasy and an eerie nightmare there is an exciting story to be
found among the pages.
It is indeed a disconcerting thought, that you may be going about your normal day and suddenly
find yourself unable to catch your breath. Immediately, panic sets in and everything stops around
you, all that you are left with is the pounding of your heart to remind you it's not a dream.
The townspeople of Bareneed are suddenly faced with this very scenario as a breathing disorder
develops and spreads through the town. Baffling both the doctors and the government, the town
is quickly blocked off, not allowing people in or out. Anyone could be a carrier and all trust is
lost. Along with the loss of breathing, are outbursts of anger and thoughts of violence from
neighbors once considered quiet and gentle. Suddenly the very air they breathe is in question, but
the answers may actually lie in the sea.
Legends and folklore surround the sea, and along with the mysterious occurrences, ancient sea
creatures emerge from the depths, some even spouting out the head of a doll from their mouths.
One by one, bodies are washing up on shore dressed in garments not worn for ages. What is the
connection? Who is responsible? Can the people be saved? These are just a few of the many
questions you ask yourself over and over as you get lost in the bizarre and unknown.
You are given a complex yet creative set of characters each with their own idiosyncrasies, ideals,
and secrets; ranging from the artistic and gifted little girl, able to see what others cannot, to one
person who may know the truth and why the deaths have begun. We feel the pain of the doctor,
tortured by the increase in patients admitted to the hospital, unable to understand or cure
them.
Rich and colorful imagery keeps this story in a tight web of suspense and impeccable storytelling.
The dialogue was infectious and true to Newfoundland. The author understands how to keep a
reader in a tight ball of wonderment. Even the cover is haunting yet a beautiful piece of art.
Check out the works of Kenneth J. Harvey as he shows us there is much to learn about the ways
of the water and the affects of a spreading illness on an unsuspecting town of close-knit
people.
The Carrot and the Mule
Joseph Foti
Publish America
ISBN: 1591297575 $17.95 124 pg.
The Carrot and the Mule is a somber, yet raw story of a true love gone wrong and the
implications that are left with the one hurt the most. It is a very human and multi-faceted journey
that provides insight to the "creature of habit" style of living we often experience. I was both
disturbed and enthralled as I frantically turned the pages.
Roger is a well-to-do and bright young man, smitten by a beautiful and intelligent woman Sara,
who he considers the "cream of the crop". His love for her blinds him from everything else in his
life, so much so that he puts all of her needs and wants above his own -- and suffers silently in the
process. Because he tears himself away from the close situation, he is unable to admit to the
problems and make the changes necessary to keep the spiral effect from happening yet again.
From early on, we learn Roger was abused by his family and placed in situations that did not allow
him to trust. Very few things made him happy, but in meeting Sara, he felt everything had finally
come to fruition.
Sara becomes his whole focal point and in turn he lives for nothing else, ignoring the signs and the
person she is changing into. Everything he knows to be true about her, all the special qualities and
traits he held so dear -- begins unraveling one by one. Even Sara's friends and associates, an
eccentric and colorful list of users, abusers, liars, and dishonest strangers, begins to corrupt his
life. Only Roger can find the strength to stop the cycle of anguish before it threatens to destroy his
faith in love. Is this story very far from the truth of how many of us live our lives? I believe Joseph
Foti has pinpointed a very poignant method of showing us how we can lose sight of ourselves.
Not only that but we can so easily place all our hopes and dreams in others, only to be
disappointed when things go wrong; or are not as we originally envisioned them to be. There is a
very humble lesson to be learned from this story and it speaks right to one's heart and soul. People
fall victim to their ideals, thoughts, visions, and those of others. Often we look for someone we
consider strong and above us, placing them on a pedestal and escaping from our own past and
future. With Roger we go through his pain with him, wanting desperately to hold out our hand for
support and tell him to wake up and see the light.
I thoroughly enjoyed this emotional ride for its realism and clarity. The author gives us a satisfying
story with a surprise twist, leaving one scrambling through to the last pages. There is something
to be said when an author keeps you thinking, weeks after you have put the book down.
Nancy Jackson
Reviewer
Neal's Bookshelf
Villa Incognito
Tom Robbins
Random House under the Bantam Dell imprint
New York, New York
No address for the company is provided
ISBN: 0553803328 $24.00 241 pages
Any book by Tom Robbins is a difficult affair, but a rewarding one. I spoke with a long-time
friend of mine just last night about the difference between a book by Tom Robbins, say, and a
John Grisham.
John Grisham, if you put your mind to it, can be a half day read.
It's hard to stay focused on Tom Robbins for more than ten minutes with all his tangential
meandering, but his meanderings are so tight, so well written, you can't stop.
We both agree that we'd rather be reading the one Tom Robbins than the five John Grishams that
we could have read in the time spent on Skinny Legs and All or Even Cowgirls Get the
Blues.
Who dares, I mean, really, who dares to write in second person these days? But he did, and it
worked, in Half-Asleep in Frog Pajamas.
Villa Incognito, for me, is Tom Robbins' least productive work to date. That said, I still
recommend it above anything by most popular authors. When one writes well, even failures are
great accomplishments in and of itself. Let me elaborate.
Tom Robbins has had a profoundly positive and proactive influence on my writing and where I go
with it. He has extravagant metaphor, crazy phrasing, and his thematic elements are frankly the
best honed I've ever seen in an author, and all of this applies in Villa Incognito. In this, the book is
worth reading, beyond worth reading. Where Robbins fails critically in this book is a lack of
depth. I wanted more, to put it in the whiney tone of a five year old. I read this book in two days,
which inched me ever closer to that Grisham line than I'd ever hoped to with Robbins, blurring
what I consider the genre/literature line with an author I hold in high esteem.
We are introduced to a cast of characters. Pru, Bootsey, Dickie, Stubblefield, Mayflower, Tanuki,
Ko (in varying forms over genealogy years) and Dern. Following a prelude involving a Japanese
Tanuki man god, Dern, Stubblefield and Dickie are MIAs from the Vietnam war who decided to
stay upon mixing with the locals, less out of a desire to rebel and more out of a fascination with
the people and their culture. Pru and Bootsey, being related to Dern, are astonished when Dern
turns up in jail on charges of drugs (this is how the three MIAs support their hideout, Villa
Incognito). Enter a love triangle between Dickie and stubblefield involving a descendant of
Tanuki's former lover, and the plot begins.
Now, that's a horrible summary for the complexity that is this book, and please dismiss it as such.
It's just there to provide a reference for my criticism to follow, in case you haven't read the book
(you should).
We're introduced slowly to Tanuki at first, and then Pru and Bootsey, then the three MIAs in their
varying predicaments, and then finally, Ko, the love interest. Just as we're getting to know them,
the book ends, and rather abruptly.
There is something to be said for the fact that the final quarter of the book (this is sort of
spoilerish, sorry) deals with the fact that September 11th abruptly seemed to change and end a lot
of everything, at least, that's what I'm assuming, otherwise it wouldn't be in there, right?
And, to be honest, seeing all ends tied up and the story complete, I am lead to wonder what my
problem was, what made me feel clipped.
I put the blame on Switters, the hero of Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, Robbins' last
work. By far in my opinion his best work, this book had all of the above, plus another 240 pages,
doubling the length and scope of this book. The thematic elements in Villa Incognito ARE the
book, and they are well done. What suffers is the getting to know the characters phase, which we
skipped right over. I'd estimate that there are 4 scenes with the peripherals of the book, and
maybe 8-12 with the mains, and that's a decent amount of time to get to know people, but thought
the ideals and eschew in perspective with regards to Buddhism, Tanukis, Japan, Laos, and even
9-11 stick with me, having read this book, I am hard pressed to tell you many distinctive
characteristics of any of the characters, or better than that, I can't really tell you what most of
them would do in a given situation, whereas with a very defined character (let's take it to the nth
degree and say Superman), you always know how they might react to a give situation.
Here, in the space of 240 pages, rather abruptly (spoilers ahead) Ko goes from loving fiancee to
running away with no reason save the draw of the Tanuki, Stubblefield decides to disappear
himself with no motivation after being characterized as in place and happy for 30 or more years,
Dickie goes from a long time in the encampment to owner of Villa Incognito, and Tanuki's
mystery is never really fully explained, save that he leaves people perpetually pregnant. And if you
look into the Tanuki, as I did, this makes some sense, but it's really kind of obscure and hard to
take, even taking myself out of the conventional western literature paradigm and into Tom La La
land, which I lovingly do every time I crack one of his covers, thusfar, to this book.
Okay the crux of all literature is a conflict and the change in character that comes of it, you'll
probably bludgeon me over the head with right about now, if you have any sense, but picture
this.
Bob is a construction worker. He hates his job. We see him in several reasons why he hates his
job. Then, one day, a crane drops on his boss, he realizes the error of his ways, and he becomes a
writer.
That's a book plot, right there. Cut and dried.
Now read this one:
Bob is a construction worker. He hates his job. We see him in several reasons why he hates his
job, over the course of years. His friends are part and parcel to the hate, but they can't leave
either. Fear of losing their house, fear of their co-workers having to work harder, fear of the boss'
hate keeps them at the job. In fact, the boss is a real mean guy. He wields a pipe and bludgeons
anyone who thinks of quitting. They fight him, time and again, sometimes through pranks,
sometimes through lawyers and unions, but ultimately the boss just smacks the union men with a
pipe, or smacks the lawyers with a pipe, and they go away. So one day, causing the crane to
explode, one of Bob's friends kills himself to drop the crane's remains on the evil boss, who's
crushed, with his pipe still twitching in his cold dead hands.
Okay. Now, there's the difference detail can offer. I ripped the idea straight from Stephen King.
But the point here, that you see, is that detail matters, even in a somewhat arbitrary plot where
say you want to explore underlying themes, such as what it means to work and not write, what it
means to have to kill your body for money, or in Robbins' case, what American theology has
lacking in the way of a random architecture of the universe and how 9-11 and the past 30 years
have polarized society into an advertised-to congealed mess. And that's just what I took from it.
The point is, I can't be properly (or at least, MOST ENTERTAININGLY) given these things
without characters that you at least know well. It's why the longer books by Dostoevsky with
their strict morals take so long to get to their point. You wanna say something epic, you gotta get
someone really epic to say it.
Each character did have ONE distinct ideal, but they didn't have many flaws or crisis of character.
For instance, Stubblefield we knew to be a verbose man who believed the universe in flux, and
likely thought death not to be an end, but a new beginning, and he also did a lot of good things,
such as making people question themselves and ferrying drugs to the sick that they might not
suffer. But then, he just gets tired and drops into a chasm for no apparent reason. Really. If, like
with the construction workers, he had earned a lead pipe, it might make sense. Meaning, if he had
ruminated in the book about the effects of the afterlife beyond a cursory touch (actually, Dickie
did the falling thoughts) his arbitrary death might have made more sense. Moreover, had Ko at
least flirted with a reasoning for having to rescind into the forest once little Takuni man was born,
I might have bought the conclusion of her character a little better.
And that's fine, that's well, that's good. All of these things are debatable. But here's the crux of the
matter, where I hand you fine folks my gut and take a risk.
I've written three novels myself. The first novel was of normal length. The second, extraordinarily
long, extraordinarily in need of research, and plodding, heartfelt, thematic, and lost in a sea of
work. The third book was shorter, more fun, and almost seemed like an exercise in writing to me.
I had to take it easy, do less heady work to make up for the last novel.
My guess is that having written Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, Tom made an epic
masterwork, and decided that the next novel could be a little more off the cuff, a little more flip,
and a little more free. And it certainly is, and it is well. But the characters, for this, suffer.
At times, as well, the typical Robbins fly-in-your-face metaphor seemed a little, I don't know,
forced.
And by the gods of this book, if you didn't know how hard it is for me to write those words. I
mean, I'm a Tom Robbins freak. I saw him in person, had him sign books, and talked to him about
getting published, and his work, his writing style, they all mean the world to me. But one thing
that means more to me, ultimately, is honesty.
And this book is honestly his low work on the totem pole, for me.
That said, like I mentioned before, this book still beats most all books out there for heart, stamina,
speed, strength, and just kick you in the head style. I've lamented his book now for so long I've
missed to truly good, but this is only because I've become accustomed to Tom's irreverent and
inimitable style.
Go and pick this book up. It's not a bad book, not at all. I merely point out as I do because if you
saw a statue by Michelangelo with a missing arm, you'd lament it, but the rest of the sculpture still
beats other sculptors with full bodies, get me?
I give this book 8 of 10.
Star Wars: The Unifying Force
James Luceno
Ballantine Books and the Del Rey Imprint concurrently in Canada and New York Offices
No address is provided in the book.
ISBN: 0345428528 $26.95 529 pages
I've gotta ask, what is it with the twenty-some odd book series and James Luceno?
First, he wrote the Robotech series, with the late Brian Daley, a powerhouse anime market tale of
the Zentraedi and the Invid's dealings with the human race. Adopting the pseudonym, Jack
McKinney, they created an entire universe of interlocking characters and ideas that captivated a
younger version of me not once, but twice. My typical fare as a boy was NOT science fiction, and
yet I read all 21 books in the Robotech series not once but TWICE. And I'll likely read them
again. They're not Crime and Punishment, to be sure, but they are certainly something worth
sitting on the porch and reading on a quiet summer day.
Following this, he did a series of obscure pieces, most notably to me Kaduna Memories, a strange
story I had trouble enjoying as a child.
Then I grew up.
Nostalgia properties are big, as any comic book retailer will tell you. Transformers, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe, He-Man, and yes, even Star Wars. If you can call Star Wars
nostalgia, that is. Really, the same bunch of geeks have been bowing and dropping their money to
the throne of Lucas for the better part of 25 years now, and I can say that with impunity because I
am among their guilty numbers.
Like I said, though my current case seems to be working against me, I'm not a big fan of science
fiction. If you had to ask me what Science Fiction I read, I'd just point to Jack Vance in my youth,
Jack McKinney (AKA Luceno) in my teens, and Star Wars, generally. Star Wars, because Star
Wars is less science fiction and more action-adventure. We don't, save in expensive books few
buy, ponder the science of the Star Wars Universe. We watch the lightsabers swing, we ponder
the nature of the theological properties of the Force, we pick at varying points of plot that seem
inconsistent, and we argue who's hotter in chains, Amidala or Leia.
Face it. That's what we geeks do.
So in the middle of Dostoevsky, political diatribes, Bukowski, Steinbeck, and a million other
name drops, I typically insert the Star Wars author of the month and give them a piece of my
check to let them try and make me feel like a kid again.
And nine times out of ten, they fail. The books are written by people used to a built in audience,
working with a medium they have little to no control over, for a huge movie conglomerate, and
with rare exceptions, such as killing Anakin and Chewbacca for this series (something that really
came off with all the efficacy of a staged Superhero death, though Chewbacca's was certainly well
written), the stories involve a problem, the heroes figuring out the problem while spouting familiar
dialogue ("Oh my!" "I have a bad feeling about this!" "Trust me." and "May the Force be with
you." What did you expect?), and then the miraculous resolution that hardly ever involves
character development or real consequence. After all, in a series of books nearing a hundred in
number, you have to maintain a known status quo, or if someone skips a book they will become
frustrated and stop reading.
It leads to 21 books series, the New Jedi Order in particular, which Luceno wraps up, I will say,
well.
For those of you not in the loop, here's the story of the Star Wars book legacy:
Timothy Zahn, a popular science fiction author, was tapped to write a Star Wars trilogy of novels
set five years (approximately) after the end of the original Star Wars trilogy. These novels met
with a great deal of success, created new characters everyone loved, and spawned a franchise, in
which the Jedi and the Star Wars universe spiraled further and further into the future.
Soon five years after the original trilogy became ten, then fourteen, then 21. Enter a crisis. The
books changed companies from Bantam to Del Rey, and the new direction was decided
upon.
Instead of the typical fare of the Imperial forces somehow resurging and the Rebellion (now the
New Republic) fighting them down, the Empire and New Republic declare a truce, and then are
brought to bear on a new threat, the extra-galactic menace of the Yuuzhan Vong, a warlike race
existing outside of the Force and utilizing weapons of an organic nature that trounce those of the
species in the Republic.
Sound familiar? It does if you've read Robotech. The Zentraedi, a species from far away, invade
Earth's space, not for occupation, but for the Flower of Life. The Earth is outmatched, power for
power, until they slowly start succeeding in fighting the Zentraedi, but only at the cost of Earth's
destruction.
Or, in the Star Wars universe, the destruction of Ithor and Coruscant, largely.
Not to say that this is a horrible thing. When you get Luceno behind the wheel, this series shines.
When you get, say, Greg Bear or some of the other authors, it's tended to flag at times. And this
from the mouth of a man who WANTS the books to be fun, because he feels obligated to read it
to stay in the loop.
The hardbacks were very good in the series, because they allowed you to see larger aspects of the
universe and have plots with consequence. For instance, killing Chewbacca in the first book,
Anakin in another, Coruscant falling in yet another, and finally, in Luceno's book, the finale of the
war. Other than Lord Nyax, an inspired creation in one of the many available paperbacks of the
series, the rest more or less just introduced elements that the larger novels used to make the
others look bad.
And this book in particular, used it well.
There were many aspects of the plot that I enjoyed. Admiral Ackbar, a notable Star Wars
character, passing on, is a poignant moment on the eve of a battle in which the heroes are
overwhelmed and must fight on multiple fronts. The battle in the World Brain with Jacen, Jaina,
and Luke felt all the consequence of the final battle in Return of the Jedi. The Millenium Falcon
being pelted almost to debris by the new Vong warriors had me, for the first time, sincerely
worried they might destroy the old ship. And the funeral for both Anakin and Chewbacca (more
of a memorial) on the eve of many changes in the Star Wars Universe of the future was well put.
The writing was tight, the pacing excellent, and overall, this is a great Star Wars book. I expect
no less from Luceno, a pet favorite of mine in terms of what he writes, but even that aside, this
book stands second only to the first book where Chewbacca died in terms of impact. And Fett?
Seeing Fett again, having followed the stories, was priceless. Even rehashes of ideas of the Force
(someone FINALLY realizing that good and evil are not black and white over the course of 100
books...phew) come across well, with the entire Jedi Order as an idea being re-examined.
That said, you likely have no idea what in the blazed the text of this last paragraph means unless
you've read 21 books and put out a probably minimum of 200 bucks. More like 250, but I'm
assuming some of you got discounts.
I'm not going to do that again. I love Star Wars, but I'm done spending so much money on a story
that sometimes I can take, sometimes I can leave. In other words, this book is a great one, I
recommend it, but all in all, the series was highs, lows, and expectations without delivery in
almost every sense save the hardbacks.
I am interested to see where they go with this shattered universe, but unless that first page lacks
the safe, popular, and time-tested writing that publishers have naively come to rely on, I'll be
reading some Dostoevsky on the summer couch, unless the book is written by Luceno or
Zahn.
That said, I give this book 7 of 10. The aesthetic of the brand takes from the writing, as does the
confines of the Universe (Action without consequence is a good way to put it.), but Luceno's
writing makes for a passable read, as does his obvious passion in anything that he does I have
read.
Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland Oregon
Chuck Palahniuk
Crown Journeys, an imprint of Random House of New York
No address is provided in the text.
ISBN: 1400047838 $16.00 175 pages
I met Chuck Palahniuk once, on the cusp of a reading in college.
I was studying to be a teacher, when what I really wanted to do was write all day long (what I do
now, to my own detriment), and I was still in the nave state of mind to think that speaking to an
author might convey upon the potential writer a sense of what it takes to get published, a certain
something a book needs to get published.
Only now, in my cynical experience, do I realize that a larger portion of the deal is merely who
you know, how you know them, and if you can make them a dollar.
That said, at the time, I revered Chuck as a God. I'd just seen Fight Club after reading the book,
and I found (find) him to be one of the new guard of literature, possibly breaking at least some of
us from a rather stale litany of popular fiction and possibly leading us to the merger that Stephen
King speaks of where the popular meets the literary...in short, I had high hopes for the man.
And I couldn't see him speak. My teaching classes, aside from not being very accommodating to a
necessary 40 hour a week work schedule to accommodate work, tuition, and food in short supply,
demanded that I attend random, mandatory meetings at the cost of what little free time fun I
had.
So, fuming, I went to the meeting, and I kept my copy of Fight Club with me, hoping to catch the
man on the way to his car or sneak into the reading I couldn't afford somehow.
At the meeting, the teacher droned on and on, and the words of Chuck went through my head.
Space Monkey that I am, I snuck out. This decision, among others similar inspired from such
thinking, lead me to be the man of irreverence and poverty I am, so you could say that without
Palahniuk, I might not be writing this now, or rather, the volumes of work I tend to write when
not making commentary.
I snuck past a guard, went to the end of the line, and ended up the last person to get his book
signed and speak with a very tired Palahniuk after a reading and a Q and A.
He seemed normal, and I asked him what it takes to get published, and he lied and told me
persistence. Or maybe he didn't lie, but then, I'm rather persistent, and I don't have a book
deal
So reading Fugitives and Refugees came as a bit of a shock to me, after reading other works of
Palahniuk. You see, he's a disgusting writer, a real balls-to-the-walls ahoy man who takes you by
the head and puts you in a world of filth, the world of reality. I picked up Fugitives and Refugees,
billed as "A Walk in Portland Oregon" and figured I'd be into some really crazy stories based in
my own locality, being born and bred of Tacoma Washington and accustomed to madness and
street life.
What I found was half of that, and half of an odd kind of sell-out.
In "Postcards" from over the years, in his typical style Chuck sells you on his past, telling of how
he wished to be a writer, and how he lived the things that lead one to have the good material to
write about...generally tearing yourself apart for craft. He tells these stories with a great degree of
craft and tact, measuring, calculating, and then ramming home the locality he was raised in.
And then, there's the rest of the book, a crazed jumble of half advertisements, half stories of
where he grew up and the people you can find in Portland Oregon. It is, in effect, a kind of
Stephen King travel brochure, at some points scaring the bejesus out of you with horror tales in
real places, and at other times telling you stories of zookeeper characters and where to find the
best gardens.
All in all, I found myself wishing that Palahniuk had taken this work, these characters, these
people, and woven them into a story, perhaps involving himself but not necessarily. As a story,
these people, including the Red Tide of Santas he speaks of in such a crazed and loving fashion,
would kill. Instead, he makes them real, aesthetic, and gives them phone numbers that we can
reach out and touch, rendering them less effective as an idea of literature, but more profitable for
the city of Oregon and the book company that sponsored this, which is why I add in the touch of
punk rock "sell out" to my critique of this piece, which is, in reality, quite good in many
respects.
It makes me wonder how much of this piece is really an advertisement and how much is really a
portrait of the things Chuck loves, which takes from its efficacy for me.
I had a great argument with an English professor once (and who knows what they know about
literature, eh?) about whether or not it was positive that Walden, as a work, told the reader how
and where to find the woods that Thoreau lived and wrote in. My argument was that Walden hid
the way to get to the woods well enough so that it would be difficult to find, making it less
important as an actual place and more important as journey the reader takes with Thoreau. The
teacher insisted it was so that the reader could go and touch that which was referred to.
This goes to show two things: Teachers and students in English programs are remarkably over
concerned with the intrinsic bologna of literature as opposed to its overall effect, and perhaps
here, for me, Chuck fails in that he not only makes the way to Walden rather evident, he gives us
the phone number and asks us to go visit and spend hard earned cash.
What does this do to the work? Well, for me, it denigrates it a little bit. But if you're not really
into the whole selling out/punk rock give-us-your-money-is-bad movement, this book is probably
(loath though I am to say this of Palahniuk, for fear of Fight Club men coming to take me away)
cute.
It's also very short, which is convenient. I was able to read it in a night. But then, it left me
wanting for more...more stories, more of an environment. Sure, there are a lot of places in
Oregon, and some things happened there, but what's your point, Chuck?
Regardless, well read. A good book. And were it not for the inherent nature of the brochure as
opposed to a good story, this book would be a 8 of 10 instead of a 7.5 of ten for me. It's a slight
difference, but it does color the work. As does the 16.00 price tag. Do what I did, and go to the
library.
And be sure to wink at the librarian and call her "Sir." for me.
Charles Bukowski: Sunlight Here I Am, Interviews and Encounters 1963-1993
David Stephen Calonne, editor
Sun Dog Press
22058 Cumberland Dr., Northville, MI 48167
ISBN: 0941543374 $15.95 288 pages
The first time I read Charles Bukowski, I experienced something that poets rarely, if they are
sincere, experience...a sense of jealousy. And I am one CYNICAL poet.
Since the age of ten, I've written poetry as often and as well as possible. Usually the poetry is
rather lowly regarded (Since when is poetry not?) and ignored, even by the people who are
supposed to pat you on your head when you write. Mothers. Fathers. Intended fiancees.
My problem is that my poetry isn't really poetry. I just take lines, lines that mean the most I can
possibly make them mean, and I arrange them in a coherent narrative. In modern poetry, as well
as poetry since time out of mind, such a thing is called madness, because, as you might know,
there are conventions of form, and typically, if you don't use the spondee, the trochee, the
anapest, the extra stress, consonance, assonance, things of this nature, you're considered morally
flawed and some lower level of retarded.
And really, to a degree, I am, so I continued poetry in the style that felt the most right to me, and
this style spoke to me. I could read the poems conversationally, and still with a sense of style and
literature.
With Charles Bukowski, most people happen upon him and then start imitating his style. With me,
it's kind of the opposite.
My fiancee at the time came up to me with a copy of "Play the Piano Drunk Like A Percussion
Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed A Bit" and pointed out that it was the only poetry
book that cost under twenty dollars and had more than a hundred pages in it.
I told her that I hated poetry, and handed it back. And I do, really. Most of it is horrible, elitist,
badly written, overly exaggerating, allegorical, metaphorical, and just plain silly without reason.
Poets that win major award have lines like:
"I suckle my nipples and grieve"
and
"Shall I postpone my acceptation of realization and scream at my eyes?"
And that's crme de la crme, folks. Many apologies if my years of extensive research have left me
somewhat nave to the real geniuses.
Speaking of which, she forced the book into my hands and said, "No, no. Read it. This guy
doesn't seem to be like the other ones you don't like."
With a little sneer, I started reading Poems Like Gunslingers.
I turned to her. "This guy's almost as good as me."
She nodded.
I continued reading.
I turned to her. "Hey, this guy's better than me!"
"What?" She'd never heard humility from me before didn't you read? I'm a poet!
I continued reading.
"This guy is out of his mind!"
Thus spoke Bailethustra, and thus began my Bukowski collection.
Charles Bukowski is the world's most underrated poet. You won't find him in any anthologies,
and this is for a good reason. His poems use lots of dirty words, and people who tend to think in
many syllables always have trouble coming back down to the words that have four letters and one
syllable, losing for themselves a great deal of accessibility and strength of relation with their
audience. Frankly, it's the reason, in my opinion, that poetry is going the way of dinosaurs in favor
of Yu-Gi-Oh.
He writes of things I'd never really been privy to, like crazy bar fights, homicidal women, and life
on skid row, but he writes them so brutally, so honestly, and so straight that you feel that you're
there with him. A key realist and minimalist largely looked over by academic institutions and now
being put into the discount bin, the world may never really see what Bukowski did for form and
style, save those few who still read and live by his gun, and thus fail.
Because those multi-syllabic men control book contracts.
But thanks to John Martin, and a legion of cult followers, books continue to be printed both by
and about Bukowski, and this book of interviews, by Calonne, is the latest in a series of critical
examinations of the way Bukowski lived his life.
He has been characterized by many as a great man to be speaking with, or was least he was, now
that he is dead, but I couldn't believe it. An alcoholic who wrote alone at night, I had trouble
believing such a man could woo a crowd or speak coherently outside of his books, which he had
time to look over. I even refused to believe that the first draft best draft idea applied to him, his
work was so direct and insightful.
This book shows otherwise. In conversation, as in his work, Bukowski is rather innovative, if not
a little random and into foolishment. Meaning, he was not a man afraid of contradiction, but
everything he said seemed geared to having poignancy and being, for lack of consonance and
assonance, poetic in the most beautiful of senses, the street sense.
So holding the book my fiancee gave me, I kind of turned to her, and I said, "This guy writes like
me."
Meaning, most people read Buk then imitate him. I read Buk and realized that there were other
people out there with my disease, the need to minimize and say things simply, if roughly, and with
a sense of pride in being whatever you are, not alluding to a fictional historical culture you have
little to no awareness of, the trend for much poetry, lacking the habitual need to urinate metaphor
in a stream down the page of broken lines for emphasis rather than efficacy.
So you might say the man has made me a fan, and I've plowed through all of his books, taking
little in the way of form but more in the way of inspiration, for while the professors may spit at the
name of Bukowski, he gives me a bit of solemn hope that even if I never garner anything of
nobility for writing in the dark alone, I will nonetheless be partaking in something noble despite
my lack of convention.
And though our society seems beyond geared towards such a life, the reality is that you're a punk
until you're 21, and then you become a junior investment banker or a forklift operator, and
Bukowski, as I am attempting to, transcended this.
I am attempting to do the same, so to read a book about such a travail was enlightening, and more
than a little informing of the hardships ahead.
He gets repetitive at times, and he also gets belligerent, offering ideas that many would find hard
to accept. He gives random answers, but strong ones, offering insights into life and meaning you
would expect from the profoundly religious or aged, rather than the irreverent and blunt. For
instance, despite his hard life, including alcoholism, childhood beatings, and near death failures to
maintain employment or worth in life, you can find insight from page 252, in an interview for
Portfolio, when he is asked and answers:
Q: Is there something or somebody out there that most people have missed? For those who don't
believe in God life can be a horrific experience. Do you still have hope, or have you given up,
cashed in your chips? If there's something out there to take away the crap, how do we achieve
some sense of meaning or happiness in life?
A: Most people have missed everything, the fine paintings, the good books, the great classical
symphonies. They believe that survival consists of commercial success. And those who believe in
a standard God are the ones who are having the horrific experience. Their minds are filled with
thousands of years of garbage. They buy the standard. We face the factors of life as they are. If
we get kicked in the ass we don't figure it's God's will. Or if we do something exceptional we
don't give credit to the Above. We use our minds which are free of standard concepts and beliefs.
We are fortunate ones. As for death, I am ready for death, I will face it on my own terms as I have
attempted to live my life. Happiness and meaning in life are not constants but I do believe at times
we can have both if we can arrange to sometimes do what we want to do, what we truly feel like
doing instead of following pre-set rules. It's all quite simple and worth fighting for. Those who
bow before false ways and false gods garner the confusion and the horror of wasted lives.
Pretty good for off the cuff, no? And likely drunk.
The modern Li Po and perhaps the biggest influence in my life, I can offer for Charles Bukowski
no less than my highest recommendation, and Mr. Calonne has here created a series of the
strongest and most poignant words ever uttered by what some call a worthless misogynist bum
and others call a model for new American literature.
You make the call, I am obviously biased, but I give this book 10 of 10. Worth every penny. As a
man with no future prospects to speak of save quiet rooms, the written word, and a hope that it is
more noble to be honestly silent than profitably loud, Bukowski, and thus his words in this book,
mean much more to me than most contemporary literary blockbusters that mean so much to so
many, but ultimately tell so little to so few.
Neal Bailey
Reviewer
Rick's Bookshelf
Dude, Where's My Country?
Michael Moore
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.twbookmark.com
ISBN # 0446532231 $24.95 258 pgs.
There have been many adjectives associated with Michael Moore: activist, liberal, wacko, kook,
extremist, troublemaker, rabble-rouser, left winger, Emmy Award winner, Academy Award
winning filmmaker, New York Times listed Best Selling author, and scores more. However, the
one I hardly ever see or hear, the one that I think suits him most, is Patriot. And never has that
title been more fitting than in his latest best selling work, Dude, Where's My Country?
Mr. Moore has shown by his past work he is not afraid to take on tough and/or unpopular issues,
bringing to light the absurdity of modern industry and politics; to ask tough questions, and not
rest complacently until he gets the answers he, and we deserve. He is neither rude nor brash in his
presentation, but instead logical, well researched, and sincere, with the tongue placed firmly in
cheek satiric humor that has brought him his well-deserved success. Dude, Where's My Country is
his most insightful, passionate work yet, and it shows on each page.
Dude's overall focus is on the tragic events of 9-11, but this is not just another tribute to the fallen
on that tragic day, this is a series of questions sent out to President George W. Bush, and each
sincerely needing answers. Questions such as: What are your families' ties to the families of the
ruling class in Iraq? Why were the ones in residence in the U.S. at the time of the attack flow out
of the country at public expense, never even questioned about what they might know? Why was it
(and I have seen the video on the web which shows the entire event) that you, as the President of
the United States, sitting in a classroom listening to elementary school children read to you, once
told of the attack-you just sat there and let the children finish their presentation? You were just
told about the planes crashing into the tower, and that it was being considered an attack and not
an accident-yet you sat there. Where were the Secret Service Agents that should have whisked
you away? Your daily schedule is well known-you could have been next, but you sat there. You
have said it was because you didn't want to alarm the children. C'mon, you're the President, you
could have just said, "I'm sorry but I have to leave now." They would have understood-especially
when they all saw the news later that day. I think you put those children at risk by remaining
there, as does Mr. Moore. These questions and others will make you think more than you
realize.
Dude, Where's My Country also delves into other topics, yet all singular in their attacks on
President Bush-not the man (OK-some are), but the job he is doing, which Mr. Moore feels needs
to come to an end as soon a possible in a peaceful and legal manner. Since Bush has said he felt
God chose him to be President, it is only fair God has a chance to respond-and boy does he ever.
Why we are in Iraq the real reason (hint-think oil fields), and the one that was my favorite-the
Whoppers told by G. W. Bush presented as Burger King Whopper Value Meal menu
choices.
This is clearly the work of a man who loves his country, and wishes to make us all aware of what
he sees as the problems we have and how best to correct them, told with humor, reverence, and
fully researched and documented quotes and statistics. Let me stress once again that this is not a
dry read in the least; Mr. Moore teaches and informs with humor; making you smile, sometimes
even laugh out loud, but always think over what he has to say. Do I agree with everything he
writes? Not really, but he did open my eyes to the spin put on the news, and now I watch with
much more of a questioning viewing that I did before. To me, his book served its intended
purpose-and that is the highest praise I can give.
Dude, Where's My Country is written out of love, concern, and respect for The United States; all
it is, has been, and is capable of becoming-and that says a lot of how great this country is. We live
in one of the very few in the world where dissident speech is not only allowed but also
encouraged and where citizens are able to freely speak their minds without the fear of government
reprisals for their viewpoint.
We need more Patriots like Michael Moore, but until they feel the call to add their voices, I'm
thankful we have his-it's men like him which make me proud to be an American, and after you
read Dude, Where's My Country, you'll see what I mean.
Stellar: The Teeniest, Tiniest, Star in the Whole Universe
Linda S. Fitzgerald
Illustrations by Debbie DeFazio
e-Streams Media
Liberty, Indiana 47353
ISBN # 0974574503 $19.95 85 pgs
As an adult male, reviewing books for children can sometimes be tough for me. I'm not so far
removed from being a kid (just a few decades is all) that I have forgot what it is like to be
young-well, younger. However, I still have to look at what I am reviewing with adult viewpoints;
does the story entertain, does it hold up, is it well written-those type of qualifications. I have to
tell you that with the book Stellar: The Teeniest, Tiniest, Star in the Whole Universe by Linda S.
Fitzgerald and illustrated by Debbie DeFazio, it not only meets but also exceeds all the
requirements on many different levels.
First, you need the main character, ideally someone to which a reader of any age can relate. Here,
his name is Stellar, and he is an awkward bumbling little star with lots of boo-boos. His points are
broken and he doesn't shine as bright as he once did. He feels sad and ugly, and prays to God to
be shiny again. Tell me who among us has not felt that way; "Please God, if only I was taller, or
thinner, or prettier, or had more money, or whatever, I would be all set." A universal cry to be
sure.
Next is the wish becoming fulfilled. In some stories, a fairy godmother or some such does that,
but here God Himself does it! It seems there is something big happening soon, and God needs a
star to shine (don't get ahead of me) so He chooses the smallest and most humble of stars to do
His work. I have to commend Ms. Fitzgerald on her portrayal of The Almighty; she presents him
not as someone to be feared, but as an easy to talk to, filled with love and compassion Creator.
We also have an appearance of Jesus, and of The Holy Spirit, both shown in not the almost
stodgy way we are used to seeing them, but as real and easy to relate to and understand as anyone
you know. This adds richness to the story, which I have to tell, you was like a breath of fresh
air.
Finally we get to the outcome-the moral if you will, since all good stories have to have one, and
this one's is a joy. I won't tell you the ending, or the moral, you may have already figured it out by
now, but suffice to say it leaves you with not only a satisfied conclusion, but also a good feeling.
By the way, don't be too surprised to find yourself smiling at the end-I was.
Beautiful full-page illustrations in glorious black and white by Debbie DeFazio add to the
enjoyment of the little gem of a story enjoyable by all readers, regardless of their ages. This story
is one which I feel will be read over and over, and handed down as cherished memories of
childhood reads much as Curious George, Dr. Seuss and others are for my generation.
Pick up Stellar: The Teeniest, Tiniest, Star in the Whole Universe by Linda S. Fitzgerald and
illustrated by Debbie DeFazio and discover for yourself how we are all part of God's plan no
matter how insignificant or ugly we might think we are. Besides, any star that takes a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich with him to meet God, and offers it to Him is all right in my book.
Words of Wonder:
The Life and Times of Otto Binder
Bill Schelly
Hamster Press
PO Box 27471, Seattle Washington 98765
www.billschelly.com
ISBN # 0964566990 $18.95 255 pgs
Throughout the history of Mankind's endeavors, some names have always fallen through the
cracks, and never more so than in the arts. For every Michelangelo there is no doubt someone just
as good, just as gifted, whose name is lost to the ages. When it comes to the art of writing,
specifically science fiction and comics, even the most novice of readers have heard of Arthur C.
Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, even Stan Lee. However, how many of you can say the
name Otto Binder (rhymes with tinder) is familiar? That's what I thought. Now, thanks to this
wonderful biography Words of Wonder by Bill Schelly, Mr. Binder is at last given the recognition
he deserves.
He was a pioneer in the science fiction writing field starting as a teenager in the 1930's, creating
riveting tales that sparked many young imaginations. He was the creator of the Adam Link series
of stories as well, perhaps better known as 'I, Robot'. In the 40's he began to write for Fawcett
Comics and soon became the main writer for Captain Marvel, the adventures of young Billy
Baston who, when he speaks his magic word "SHAZAM!" turns into the World's Mightiest
Mortal, and created many of his supporting characters in the process. This was followed by years
of writing for National Periodical Publications, now DC Comics, on the Superman series of titles.
During his stay there, he created or worked on the first stories of Supergirl, the Legion of
Super-Heroes, and Krypto the super dog and many more. He was one of the most prolific writers
the field has even known, with some 3000 scripts to his credit, yet the majority of the stories
remained uncredited on paper as was the norm at the time. When his career in comics was over,
and after the untimely accidental death of his daughter, he spent his remaining days writing fiction
and non-fiction books on UFOs, until his death in 1974 at the age of 63.
One of the things I like best about this book was how it read more like a novel than as the series
of cold facts, which too many biographies tend to turn into. Never once was I bored, or wanting
to just skim the page to get through a part, instead I savored every word. This was a true joy to
read. Mr. Schelly has created a loving look at a life filled with ideas and fantasies far beyond the
borders of this reality. Although I must admit, I was only marginally aware of the work of Mr.
Binder prior to reading this book, I now feel as if I know him and his life intimately; the signs of a
biography well done. He is shown warts and all as they say, allowing a fuller picture of the man
and the genius that he was to immerge more than just a gushy tome overflowing with faint praise
ever would. The respect and admiration shows on each page and with each detail of this rich life
to which we now have privy; and we as fans of the field are so much the better for what he has
written. I would be remiss if I did not mention the beautiful black and white photos and
illustrations that fill the pages interspersed throughout as well as an 8-page color cover section in
the center. If that was not enough, Mr. Schelly also did the cover art for the book you see
here-another impressive feat to be sure.
Thank you Mr. Schelly for writing Words of Wonder: The Life and Times of Otto Binder, helping
to assure the life and works of the gifted and brilliant man no longer wallows in semi-obscurity,
but can at last bask in the glow it is due. Do I think he will ever become a household name like
Asimov? Probably not, but with the impressive job done herein, he's off to a good start.
Rick Mohr
Reviewer
Stephanie's Bookshelf
Knuckles and Tales
Nancy A. Collins
Biting Dog Publications
www.bitingdogpress.com
P.O. Box 2739, Duluth, GA 30096
ISBN: 1587670151 $16.95 267 pg.
Have you ever read something and felt as if you were there, standing a few feet away from the
characters, their voices filling your ears? I just did. Nancy A. Collins, known for her "Sonja Blue"
books, has put together a group of chilling, richly detailed Southern Gothic stories that will surely
make any horror lover shiver.
First published by Cemetery Dance, "Knuckles and Tales" is a cover to cover eerie pleasure,
bringing the reader into the town of Seven Devils where a soldier, whom one of her characters
refers to as "The Nutcracker", comes home from the civil war to a family with opens arms, with
exception to his daughter, in the first tale "Sunday Go To Meeting Jaw". Then as your trip
through Seven Devils continues you are pulled into "How It Was With The Kraits", "The
Pumpkin Child" and "Raymond".
The second part of the book, entitled "The Confederate States of Dread" opens with "The Killer",
a story revolving around the infamous Jerry Lee Lewis, and is followed by "Cancer Alley", a
freaky little tale called "The Worst Thing There Is" and "Catfish Gal Blues". And what would a
Southern Gothic novel be without the Gator Boy in "Big Easy"?
What I loved most about "Knuckles and Tales" was the way everything flowed together and
Collin's great sense of southern slang, which I could easily relate to. I felt right at home in Seven
Devils, especially since I live in the South. If I could say only one thing about Nancy Collins, I'd
say she was a natural story teller.
This bizarre collection will leave you with chills, goose flesh, some Southern insight and a few
good chuckles. Have I mentioned it was nominated for a Stoker? "Knuckles and Tales" is a book
every horror fan should crack open.
The Reckoning
Dan Thomas
Black Death Books
PO Box 588, Effort, PA 18330
www.khpindustries.com
ISBN: 0967922062 $18.00 273 pg.
Dan Thomas' "The Reckoning" is more than your average tale about blood thirsty vampires and
flesh craving zombies. It holds a growing web of trickery, testosterone and terror within it's
smoldering pages. It spills over with what I personally LOVE to read in a horror novel: sex,
bondage, blood and breasts. Okay, maybe not breasts- but Dan Thomas' evocative writing fashion
could even make a straight girl like me foam at the mouth over the book's villainess- vixen.
In "The Reckoning" we find a highly celebrated business man, Royce McCulloch, struggling with
his average, middle class family life. His wife's breasts could use a few extra cup sizes and his
stepson loathes him and would rather hide out in his closet than hang out with him. His life
doesn't seem too tragic- yeah right. Then out of nowhere he runs into a mysterious woman with
enough breast meat to feed a sex starved army for months.
After his brief run in with the woman, Monica Pleshette, he can't seem to get her out of his head-
her scarlet red hair, her mesmerizing eyes, her huge well, you get the point. When she shows up
at his office, hoping he can help her with her lingerie business, she really gets under his skin, and
his life, along with his pants, fly out of control.
So man meets hot woman, man cheats on wife with hot woman- interesting enough isn't it? Too
bad his latest sex fix is a zombie out to seek revenge for something he did to her years ago. Oh,
and her boyfriend- a sloppy, commando-built con/ vampire, who was once his best friend , has a
score of his own to settle. After much blood, sweat and tears, Royce is handed a choice by the
undead couple: either strike an illegal deal with his old pal turned vampire, Cliff, or watch his
family suffer.
I was very impressed with this book. The horror and erotica blended well together and didn't
out-weigh each other. Although the book does sort of have that "men's only book" type of feel to
it, I was able to get into it and laugh at how well Dan Thomas describes the main character's
manliness and his love for big bodacious ta-tas. For Dan Thomas' first novel, "The Reckoning" is
a grand read. It is gruesome, sexy, exciting and is indeed a guilty pleasure.
Stephanie Simpson-Woods
Reviewer
Sullivan's Bookshelf
Envy The Seven Deadly Sins
Joseph Epstein
Oxford University Press
ISBN #0195158121 $17.95 109 pages/indexed,
This is one in a series of seven lectures and books, prepared and presented by different, prominent
authors. Each covers one of the deadly sins. All cosponsored by The New York Public Library
and Oxford University Press, the other talks and volumes elaborate on pride, anger, sloth, greed,
gluttony, and lust. These topics did not derive directly from the Bible, as one might think, but
were spelled out by Gregory the Great in the Sixth Century.
"Although I don't wish to seem rivalrous," writes Epstein, "nonetheless among the seven dadly
sins, envy, I feel, may be the most pervasive, interpenetrating as it so insidiously does the other six
major sins, greed may begin in envy, it certainly figures in lust and gluttony [...]; it is a division of
anger, if of the hidden, smoldering kind; and pride and envy are inextricable, with the wounding of
one's pride leading on to envy as surely as spite follows defeat. But I hope I am not being unduly
prideful in making the claims I do for envy, my own charming little deadly sin."
The author goes on to explain in this thin volume how humans fall into the so-called sin of envy.
It seems to be universal and all pervasive. Christians, as a group, however, feel that envy can be
rooted out of humans. On the other hand, Greeks, who are mostly Christians, too, as a nation,
seem to accept the fallibility of man where envy is concerned. Rather than trying to eradicate
envy, Greeks seek to mediate its worst aspects. Perhaps the citation of Iago in Shakespeare's play
Othello, is the best example of how far envy can take one down the path to further, and to
greater, sins. Poor Othello pays a heavy price, too.
Epstein doesn't spare his own weakness for envy and cites many examples where he wished for
what others had: better looks, more athletic body, superior mind, nicer car, bigger home, etc. And
as always with this author, he does his telling with flair and good humor. In short, it's pleasant
reading while learning.
This reviewer envies Epstein's writing ability!
A former editor of The American Scholar magazine, Epstein is married and has written several
books, including the acclaimed SNOBBERY; THE AMERICAN VERSION. He has taught at
Northwestern University, also.
Recommended to saints and sinners alike!
The Human Question: What People Believe About Evolution, Human Origins, and the Beginning
of Life
Hervey Cunningham Peoples
Red Lion Press
ISBN # 0972233067 $19.95 288 pages/indexed,
Numerous individuals were interviewed about the questions posed in this book. Those people's
responses are quoted throughout. They include Creationists, who believe in the Bible literally.
Often called fundamentalists or Christian evangelicals, these believers see absolutely no possibility
that Evolution or the Big Bang occurred. And they definitely do not accept that man came from
apes. Only God created man, and the world, say Creationists. They, by the way, have been around
for a long time, though sometimes under different guises, like Intelligent Design.
Also in the group of interviewees but at he opposite pole, are the Evolutionists and believers in
science generally. They are either agnostic or atheistic, those who don't know if God exists or
those who don't believe in a supernatural power at all respectively. And so they don't believe that
a God created earth or mankind. Instead, they see life as having begun through a scientific process
and further, that no God intervenes in life at all.
Then there are the moderates. Their views are middle-of-the-road. Most accept that Evolution
and the Big Bang happened, but that there is a God who may have started those processes.
Moderates outnumber Creationists and Evolution-only thinkers. This is why, the author points
out, the U.S. can be so advanced scientifically yet remain a very religious country.
The author, who has worked in this subject area for over a quarter century, is an academically
trained molecular geneticist whose hobby is anthropology. She resides in Florida, where this
volume has already won a nonfiction book award.
Along with the foregoing (and the interview questionnaire itself in the appendix) the writer makes
a fairminded explanation of the varieties of belief in the U.S. Hervey does't condemn any belief
out of hand. She uses a reasoned appproch to lay out each variation. And though she is an
academic, she gives due deference to the deeply religious believers. Moreover, she explain, so to
speak, "where they're coming from."
After all is said and done, however, with all sides of the issues defined and thoroughly explained,
she does, in the final chapter entitled 'What is the Answer?,' come to the logical conclusion that
"...life has evolved naturally." Evolution is, therefore, the most reasonable belief.
Recommmended for believers and nonbelievers!
Jim Sullivan
Reviewer
Taylor's Bookshelf
...To Love, Honor, And Vacuum
Sheila Wray Gregoire
Kregel Publications
PO Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501
0825426995 $11.99 1-800-733-2607
...To Love, Honor, And Vacuum by Sheila Wray Gegorie is an emotional and spiritual "self-help"
instructional to balancing the challenges of marriage, housekeeping, and financial difficulties while
maintaining respect for oneself and mutual respect in one's lifelong partnership. Written from a
specifically Christian perspective for women who feel "more like a maid than a wife and mother,"
...To Love, Honor, And Vacuum is an inspirational and warmly positive source of sympathy and
practical advice.
How Tall Is God?
Phillip W. Rodgers
Kregel Publications
PO Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501
0825436346 $12.99 1-800-733-2607
The latest title in the outstanding "Discovering God" series from Kregel Publications, How Tall Is
God? is a simply wonderful rhyming picture book imaginatively written and colorfully illustrated
by Phillip W. Rodgers for young Christian children. How Tall Is God? is the story of a playful
young bear who muses about the vastness of God's love and influence. This marvelous picture
book for youngsters is a warm, uplifting read -- and ideal for just before bedtime! "God's very big,
son," Dad said with a nod. "There's no building or mountain as big as our God."
My 60 Seconds
Deborah Knapp
TurnKey Press
Phenix & Phenix (publicity)
2525 W. Anderson Lane, Suite 540, Austin, TX 78757
0974185876 $14.95 www.turnkeypress.com
In My 60 Seconds, Deborah Knapp offers effective guidelines for helping Christian children learn
how to pray and appreciate God in short spans of time. Designed especially to help young ones
take advantage of the 60-second "moment of silence" often granted them in public schools, My 60
Seconds features 180 individual pages, each numbered for a day of the school year, and each
featuring a spiritual quote from the Bible, the beginning of a prayer, and lines upon which a child
has the option to finish writing the prayer. For example, day 40 offers the quote "We have
freedom now because Christ made us free." (Galatians 5:1), and the unfinished prayer "Dear God,
I do thank you for the freedom you have given me. I want everyone to have this freedom. Today,
Lord, please bless..." followed by blank lines, followed by "In Jesus' name I pray. Amen." My 60
Seconds is recommended to Christian parents as an excellent spiritual and timely resource for
their children having to maintain their religious values within a secular school system.
Science And The Study Of God
Alan G. Padgett
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
255 Jefferson Avenue, S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49503
080283941X $22.00 1-800-253-7521 www.eerdmans.com
Written by Alan G. Padgett (Professor of Systematic Theology, Luther Seminary, St. Paul,
Minnesota) who draws upon his lifelong fascination with and enthusiasm for science, Science And
The Study Of God: A Mutuality Model For Theology And Science presents a thoughtful and
thought-provoking perspective called the "mutuality model", which rejects the idea that religion
and science should be at odds for understanding the world and the place of humankind in it.
Exploring diverse topics such as thermodynamics, time, resurrection, and the historical Jesus
through lenses of both science and faith, Science And The Study Of God is a deeply insightful and
highly recommended meditation on the profound questions of existence from a Christian
perspective.
Christianity And Classical Culture
Charles Norris Cochrane
Liberty Fund, Inc.
8335 Allison Pointe Trail, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46250-1684
0865974136, $10.00, 1-800-955-8335, www.libertyfund.org
Originally published in 1940, Christianity And Classical Culture: A Study Of Thought And Action
From Augustus To Augustine by Charles Norris Chochrane (1889-1945) is a thoughtful,
insightful, informative examination of the contrast and sometimes clash between the classical era's
culture and struggle to understand the world in purely rational terms, and the completely new
understanding of the world developed and spread by Christianity. From divisions of church and
state; to the impact that Constantine and the spread of Christianity had; to a technical dissection
of propositions concerning sometimes starkly different worldviews, Christianity and Classic
Culture has survived the test of time to remain a pillar of philosophical, religious, and cultural
analysis.
Before You Live Together
David Gudgel
Regal Books
Creative Resouces Consulting (publicity)
2300 Knoll Drive, Ventura, CA 93003-7383
0830732527 $9.99 www.regalbooks.com
Before You Live Together by Pastor David Gudgel (Bethany Bible Church, Phoenix, Arizona) is
a helpful and soul-searching resource for Christian readers seeking to examine whether it is the
right time to take their relationship to the step of sharing living space. Written with reverence for
love, with respect for human needs, with wry humor, and with biblical reasons to follow God's
plan for a romantic relationship, Before You Live Together is a thoughtful and strongly
recommended pastoral study that poses challenging and relevant questions for couples today.
Mission Possible
Stephen H. Hammond
Pathway Press
PO Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250
0871486210 $11.99 www.pathwaytrade.com
Mission Possible: An Investment Guide For Christians by finance and securities expert Stephen
Hammond is a very practical and "reader friendly" resource written especially for strictly faithful
Christians seeking to wisely invest and manage their money. Written for readers who do not
necessarily have much experience with finance, Mission Possible covers the basics of budgeting
and savings, asset allocation and diversification, stock selection, when to sell, technical
analysis/reading charts, and much more. Extremely practical advice, such as why one must never
enter a stop-loss order (if one leaves standing instructions to sell a $27 stock at $23, those
entrusted with one's portfolio have been known to deliberately run down the price during a
normal day and liquidate the stock, so that when the stock fluctuates back to its regular price the
person with the stop-loss order is bilked) packs this wise, no-nonsense guide, which also never
forgets the mandates of faith in making financial choices.
The Decline & Fall Of The Catholic Church In America
David Carlin
Sophia Institute Press
PO Box 5284, Manchester, NH 03108
1928832792 $24.95 1-800-888-9344
Written by sociologist and lifelong Catholic David Carlin (Professor of Philosophy and Sociology,
Community College, Rhode Island), The Decline & Fall Of The Catholic Church In America is an
insightfully critical study and critique of the erosion of the Catholic Church's influence from the
election of John F. Kennedy to today. Taking the staunch view that the root of the Catholic
Church's problems lie not in the scandals that reach the daily headlines, but rather a shift in
American culture to embrace secularist, libertine, and anti-authoritarian values, that caused
American Catholics to adapt by downplaying their faith, The Decline & Fall Of The Catholic
Church In America is a thoughtful and thought-provoking wake-up call that holds out the
possibility, albeit not with overmuch optimism, that the American Catholic Church can do what it
needs most to turn itself around.
From Paul To Valentinus
Peter Lampe
Fortress Press
100 Fifth Street, Suite 700, Minneapolis, MN 55402-1210
0800627024 $42.00 fortresspress.com
From Paul To Valentinus: Christians At Rome In The First Two Centuries by Peter Lampe
(Professor of New Testament, University of Heidelberg, Germany), amalgamates world history,
archaeology, theology, and social analysis in a scholarly and informationally impressive
presentation on the rise and shape of the earliest Christian churches in Rome. Extensively
researched and superbly presented, From Paul To Valentinus successfully strives to present a
multifaceted picture of a once-struggling faith's crucial formative era that would be of immense
interest to both academia and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the history of
the Christian church.
The MacArthur Scripture Memory System
Nelson Reference & Electronic Publishing
PO Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214
www.nelsonreference.com www.thomasnelson.com
0785250611 $29.99 1-800-251-4000
The MacArthur Scripture Memory System is an important and highly recommended multimedia
collection for Christians that presents 52 powerful, meaningful, and inspirational Biblical passages,
as selected by Pastor MacArthur, and in a format conducive to study and memorization so that
one can better keep the word of God hidden in one's heart. The entire kit includes 3 audio CDs
with over three hours of John MacArthur's insight into the significance of the 52 selections,
business-size cards with printed passages that can be taken anywhere, a 24-page booklet with a
straightforward plan to memorize the passages, and an interactive CD-ROM with dynamic
desktop wallpaper and screen saver featuring the text of each passage, and which changes weekly.
The MacArthur Scripture Memory System is a superbly useful study package.
Dare To Be True
Mark D. Roberts
WaterBrook Press
Creative Resources (publicity)
2375 Telstar Drive, Suite 160, Colorado Springs, CO 80920
1578567041 $13.99 www.waterbrookpress.com
Dare To Be True: Living In The Freedom Of Complete Honesty by Mark D. Roberts (Senior
Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, Irvine, California), is a spiritual self-help guide especially
appropriate for Christians struggling to remain truthful in a spin-saturated world that punishes
honesty and rewards well-crafted lies. Offering a plan to cultivate an honest credo in relationships
(including the one shared with God, improve one's feelings of self-worth and straighten one's
character), Dare To Be True draws upon the wisdom of scripture to encourage improvement in
one's life and soul.
What's Your Motivation?
Annette R. Johnson
Allwrite Advertising and Publishing
PO Box 2363, Atlanta, Georgia 30301
0974493503 $13.95 www.e-allwrite.com
What's Your Motivation?: Inspiration And Instruction For Those Wantings To Understand Their
Purpose Throughout Life by educator and public speaker Annette R. Johnson is a motivational
guide which especially appropriate for faithful Christians seeking to spiritually re-orient
themselves. Guidelines for learning to love oneself, develop a spiritual connection with the Higher
Power, share a successful relationship, help one's children reach their potential, learn how to listen
to God, and much more fill the pages of this excellent advisory. The diverse subjects cover range
from money, to finding the right life partner, to overcoming internal and external obstacles, and is
enhanced with thematically appropriate quotations from Scripture to reinforce the practical
wisdom offered.
John Taylor
Reviewer
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
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