Swing Set Safety

Review of The Best Seats In The House And Other Stories (Western Literature Series) (Hardcover)

2010-06-02T18:53:00.000-04:00

Read this book!One of the best short story collections published in a decade.
There is not a single weak link in THE BEST SEATS IN THE HOUSE.It is rare to accomplish in one story what Morris achieves in every story here.There is resounding psychological depth in his depictions of characters who have held off their deepest feelings for too long and are, at last, overtaken by them.
Each passage is surprisingly, quietly moving, whether the story is about lost love ("Losing Julia Finch"), or about the disappearance of a life plan and the appearance of another ("Objects Past the Shoreline" and "The Children of Dead State Troopers"), or about the raptures and unbearable pressures of family ("The Best Seats in the House"
and "Astronauts").

Product Description
Ten short stories by a powerful new voice in fiction.The men who inhabit the stories in this compelling collection live in precarious normalcy, mostly in northern Idaho, balancing dashed dreams with an uncertain progress into maturity, small-town realities with their largely unfulfilled hopes for lives that are somehow vaster than what they have. It is due to Keith Lee Morris's superb gift of giving such eloquent voices to his characters that we cherish their unique humanity and believe completely in the bewildering complexities that lie just beneath the placid surface of their yearning workaday lives.In "The Best Seats in the House," a failed high-school athlete watches as his more gifted son falls under the spell of his charismatic father, a retired coach who "could make people hope . . . that something would be made from nothing." The conflict between the narrator's own lost ambitions and his fear that his son is being set up to fail reveal in unforgettable fashion the painful tensions of parental love.

In "Objects Past the Shoreline," a young man in the process of losing his sight struggles to accept the irrevocability of blindness while clinging to what independence remains. He spends his days reading poetry and exploring the world around him: "I went up close to see-Indian paintbrush, the thick buds scarlet and dusty. I closed my eyes and searched for the flowers' imprint, for the red scar the buds would cut across the blackness." Gradually, the world darkens around him, leading the story to a conclusion of wrenching poignancy.Morris is a writer of remarkable skill, and these stories of small-town men groping for a perspective on themselves and the lives they've come to live are among the most powerful in contemporary fiction. This is the work of a major talent coming into his prime.

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Review of From the Passages of Revenants (The Dark Verse, Volume I) (Imitation Leather) (Hardcover)

2010-06-02T13:55:00.000-04:00

Everything about this book is great!Starting at the appearance alone, the book's cover and binding leave the reader with an ominous feeling.Loved the stories, loved the book, delivery was great, could not ask for a better book.

Product Description
Twenty-six short tales of fantastical horror that will follow you to the visions of your sleep. The stories in this book have been taken from the episodes of Sharkchild's podcast, The Dark Verse, and have since been edited and revised.

The cover of the book is imitation leather with foil stamping on the front, back, and spine; there is no dust cover. All three sides of the pages have black dusting. The artwork in its entirety was created by John F. Stifter, including an illustration on the title page of each story.

Contents
The Unlike Light
Becoming the Sky
What the Flesh Cannot Keep
Gift of the Crossroads
The Changing Feyth - Part 1
The Bearer of All That Can Be Felt
Between the Corridors
The Phoenix Imago
The Chambers of Nature's Machines
The Changing Feyth - Part 2
Sounds of the Deliverer
Dealer of Fate
The Missing Come Home
The Captive Inside
Bringing Back the Unordinary
Time into Death
The Science of Faith
Normal Faces
Names: Unsonselvitzsol
Names: Tillalel
Names: Feltfoldhart
Finding the Host That Sustains
The Skulker
The Coming of the Unexpected
Character Feast
The Something Beyond Silence

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Review of My Last Movie Star: A Novel of Hollywood (Hardcover)

2010-06-02T07:27:00.000-04:00

...and it turns out it goes down a little too smoothly.If you've ever wondered what it might be like to suddenly have the world's celebrity spotlight searching you relentlessly out, My Last Movie Star is a must read.

This book, about a cynical celebrity journalist who accidentally crosses over to become a celebrity in her own right, gives hilarious insight into the seductive but ephemeral allure of sudden fame.

My favorite sub-theme is the author's biting description of the self-important self-adulation of movieland's beautiful elite.The story's protagonist, Clementine James, ends up making some surprising choices when she is thrust into the glare of Hollywood's klieg lights.

One of the inventions that makes this book an original and a great read is the way the writer effortlessly weaves in appearances from the spirits of formerly-exalted-but-now-forgotten movie divas.You'll find out why Demi Moore named her unfortunate daughter Tallulah, among other tidbits.

MLMS will appeal to the serious movie buff, as well as anyone who has wondered about the ridiculous--and lucrative-- conniving that goes on behind the fame-making machine.

Hilarious.Entertaining.Soon to be made into a major motion picture, no doubt directed by Robert Altman, with Renee Zellweger cast as Clementine and Tim Robbins as the manipulative publisher Ed.

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Review of Rocks That Float (Hardcover)

2010-06-02T06:35:00.000-04:00

It takes a few chapters to really enter the world of the old mill village, but then you are hooked on it's cast of fascinating people.We see the community through the eyes of Jimmy, a newcomer to the neighborhood.From the narrator, we are privileged to learn far more about the people of Randleman Road than he ever can. The book is a great look at what becomes of a working class community after the mill closes, something that has happened all over the southeast.

Product Description
Retreating from divorce, geologist Jimmy Steverson buys a tiny mill house on Dillehay Pond. His real-estate agent is disgusted, his father observes that he's reliving summer camp, and his friends think of the place as a weekend fishing cabin. Jimmy likes walking out his back door to his own dock where his bass boat waits, but out his front door lies Randleman Road. The nine houses left isolated on the block after the construction of the super-highway are the remnants of a nineteenth-century Carolina mill village, and the people living in them are remnants, too. An arrest leaves one house vacant, and its unlikely new owner is Karen, a college professor whose life centers on a child with special needs. Karen rebuilds her house and her life, and she anchors Jimmy to the block.

But the world Jimmy's moved into has its own rules, its own language. Across the pond, Totch runs a barbecue place, which is legally a gift shop because Totch can't get a license to run a restaurant; buying an old postcard translates to ordering a beer. Next door lives Mayme Boulineaux, who has no health department permit to sell her popular breakfast breads, known locally and phonetically as "bolenoes," so they're sold in shoeboxes for cash that never enters a cash register. Vivia Wardlaw makes a living at her sewing machine, sending little girls off to beauty pageants in opulent dresses, while she herself is scared to leave her house. Cone Duffy spent his life in the mill and now is buy dying, nursed by his wife Fairy Etta, both as much in love as when they were youths.

The web of neighbor-helping-neighbor is a comfortable net to be caught in, and lax law enforcement is a lure to a young man with marijuana in his kitchen cabinet. Asked to break a rule he can't break, Jimmy forces himself to leave the false security of Randleman Road, and once again become a refugee.

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Review of Conscious Style Home: Eco-Friendly Living for the 21st Century (Hardcover)

2010-06-02T05:56:00.000-04:00

Well, I've never gone to amazon and submitted a review, but I felt compelled to after reading Conscious Style. I am renovating my 19th century farmhouse and found great, simple tips in this book we are using RIGHT NOW! Bamboo flooring is great. Recycled glass tile is amazing. Toxic-free paints have no odor! My only complaint is that there aren't enough color photos...but the 200 photos are beautiful.

Product Description
That is the essence of Danny Seo's Conscious Style philosophy. As a leading environmentalist, Seo believes it doesn't take much time, effort or money to make a difference in the world.It's the small choices we make everyday-from what we wear to what we furnish our homes with-that have a tremendous impact. In this gorgeously illustrated book, Seo describes hundreds of unique, readily available products and easy projects to help you create a comfortable, elegant living space without harming the planet.

In Conscious Style Home, Seo transforms his parents' suburban home. Recycled paint in gorgeous colors brightens the rooms; bamboo blinds allow plenty of natural light; simple white canvas and hemp slipcovers give sofas and chairs a face-lift; recycled glass tiles accent the bathroom; luxurious organic cotton sheets and fluffy comforters stuffed with EcoSpun (made from recycled bottles) make the bedrooms a sanctuary.

So, whether you're planning to paint a wall, re-decorate a cluttered office, plant a garden, re-do the kitchen, or buy a new comforter, Conscious Style Home is an invaluable resource packed with easy projects, creative ideas and suggestions for enhancing your living space, indoors and out.

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Review of Blue's World of Words (Hardcover)

2010-06-01T21:53:00.000-04:00

Beautiful book. I saw first at the library
and then I bought this in Amazon. It is really
cute and explain all the things around the
house,bedtime, seasons and school.

Product Description

Who knows words?
Blue knows words, and so will you!

From Blue's house to her school, and all the places she goes each day, help Blue find words around her world. Includes more than 500 words inside -- find something new each time!

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Review of Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry (Hardcover)

2010-06-01T20:07:00.000-04:00

Saturday Nights With Daddy at The Opry by artist, writer, and photographer Libby Leverett-Crew is the biographical story of country music photographer Les Leverett as told by his daughter. As a little girl, Libby's father would take her along with him on his job as the official photographer for the Grand Ole Opry -- a position he held for over 30 years. This is not only a tribute to her father but also to the people (ranging from Dolly Parton and Minnie Pearl to Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe) who touched the lives of her family and the powerful impact a loving father has on the formative life of his daughter. Enhanced with more than a hundred photographs from her father, Saturday Nights With Daddy At The Opry is enthusiastically recommended reading -- especially for dedicated fans of the Grand Ole Opry.

Product Description

Saturday Nights With Daddy at the Opry is both the story of growing up with a backstage pass to the entertainment world in Nashville as well as a heartwarming tale of a beautiful father-daughter relationship.

From the time she was a baby, Les Leverett, who was the official photographer for the Grand Ole Opry took his daughter, Libby, with him each Saturday evening to witness country music's greatest entertainers. Sometimes Libby carried his equipment, sometimes she played with the other children of Opry performers, but she was always observing.

Now some 40 years later, Libby Leverett-Crew touchingly remembers those Saturday nights with Minnie Pearl, Tex Ritter, Grandpa Jones, Roy Acuff, Dolly Parton, Porter Waggoner, Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, along with a few astronauts, muppets, ballet dancers, actors and actresses, and with Andy Warhol and kd lang thrown in.

Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry is a celebration of music and family--incredibly well written from one lucky daughter's perspective. Includes more than 100 photographs by Les Leverett.

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Review of Baby Blue (Hardcover)

2010-06-01T16:04:00.000-04:00

This wonderful novel gripped me from the first page. I literally could not put it down. The character development was so realistic and so compelling that I feel as if I know Star, Blue, Ceil, and even Jinx and Pa like family. I remember that as I read the first chapters I wished I could hurry the story along because I was so invested in the story as it unfolded. Then, as I got to the end of the book, I didn't want it to end. I got a decaf, a popsicle, etc... just trying to prolong the beautiful drama and emotions I felt as I read it. Also, the author's descriptions, like the "fruit stripe gum" lamp, just etched this clear picture in my mind that is unforgetable. I hope this is just the beginning for this author, as I am looking forward to more. As a teacher, I can see how this novel, with it's sensitive handling of a difficult topic, could be ideal for the curriculum of most middle schools and high schools. I honestly haven't felt so caught up in a book since I re-read Jane Eyre last summer. I hope many others will read it and post their reviews, as I will be interested in your impressions.

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Review of The Designer's Guide to High-Purity Oscillators (The Designer's Guide Book Series) (Hardcover)

2010-06-01T15:31:00.000-04:00

This book is a summary of the journal articles by the three authors.They have done a good job of rewriting them into a coherent, logically flowing book.

The title is misleading as the book deals exclusively with silicon MOS transistors and oscillator types that are suitable for integration including the passive parts.

If you make such circuits, this will be a good book for you.If you design BJT or JFET oscillators you will not find this book very useful.

Product Description
The Designer's Guide to High-Purity Oscillators presents a comprehensive theory and design methodology for the design of LC CMOS oscillators used in every wireless transmission system. The authors introduce the subject of phase noise and osciallators from the very first principles, and carry the reader to a very intuitive circuit-driven theory of phase noise in LC osciallators. The presented theory includes both thermal and flicker noise effects. Based on Hegazi, Rael, and Abidi's mechanistic theory, a sensible design methodology is gradually developed. In addition, new topologies that were recently published by the authors are discussed in detail and an optimal design methodology is presented. While the book focuses on intuition, it rigorously proves every argument to present a compact yet accurate model for predicting phase noise in LC oscillators. By so doing, the design of an LC osciallator can be handled in the same manner as an amplifier design.

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Review of The Creative Memories Way (Hardcover)

2010-06-01T12:33:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading this book and must say that it is wonderful. There are numerous ideas for getting organized, finding the time and finding the inspiration. So many of us keep saying we need to do this and that but we never get around to it. You can take some of the ideas from this book and apply it to other aspects of your life as well. We all need some motivation now and then and this book provides it. I know that using the tips I found in this book I've been able to not only get motivated to work on my pictures (and journaling) again, but since I am accomplishing something with my pictures I get more energy to do other activities.
From my standpoint this book is not some great big advertisement for Creative Memories - yes it probably will help spread their message of preserving photos, but they don't push on you to only use their products.

Product Description
Everybody has a story to tell. Your life is an incredible, compelling story. But if you're like most of us, the treasured records of your life-shoeboxes full of rarely-viewed photographs and valued memorabilia-are scattered throughout your house, where they are can't be enjoyed by anyone. At the same time, important memories are undoubtedly slipping away because you have no system for recording them on paper.

Album-making, or "scrapbooking," has never been easier-or more important. Nor has it ever been more rewarding. Don't miss out on this simple, fun-filled way to nurture your family and celebrate your life. Experience the immediate and easy-to-achieve benefits of Creating Keepsake Albums and Building Your Family Legacy...The Creative Memories® Way.

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Review of Collectors Guide to TV Toys and Memorabilia: 1960S & 1970s (Collector's Guide to TV Toys and Memorabilia) (Hardcover)

2010-05-31T21:13:00.000-04:00

This beautiful, completely revised, latest edition, 296 page volume has colorful, laminated hard covers.There are over 1,300 full color, sharp, large photos of very type of TV toy and memorabilia.If you were around inthe 60's or 70's or enjoyed re-runs of some of these shows you'll reallyenjoy using and owning this book. Having the book is almost as good asowning the items!It includes shows from Beverly Hillbillies to FantasyIsland, to Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Partridge Family, Patty Duke,Welcome Back Kotter and Saturday morning shows. Estimated values are shown. Very, very nice book.

Product Description
With hundreds of new photos and updated values, this 'TV guide' includes cast listings, number of episodes, and peak rating positions. Collectibles from over 50 of the most beloved shows from the 1960s and 1970s are featured in this comprehensive guide. More than 1,300 color photographs of popular TV collectibles not found in any other guide fill its pages.Their passion for TV toy collectibles runs deep. REVIEW: From the Beverly Hillbillies to Wonder Woman, this book features collectibles marketed during 46 television shows' original runs. Not only does this book bring back fun memories and recollections of favorite television episodes, but it also educates collectors on the current values for these items.

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Review of How They Met: Famous Lovers, Partners, Competitors, and Other Legendary Duos (Hardcover)

2010-05-31T20:18:00.000-04:00

For all those who have wondered how Antony & Cleopatra, Lucy & Desi, Sears & Roebuck, Liz & Dick, Smith & Wesson, Stanley & Livingstone, Napoleon & Josephine and countless other 'couples' first met, this book is just what the doctor ordered.

Author Joel Green gives us the straight skinny on 80 famous couples - how they met and their subsequent fate. A few of the inclusions seem to run to "flavor of the month" - Brad & Jennifer, Ozzy Osbourne, etc. - or worse - does anyone really care how Roseanne and Tom Arnold got together?? - but it's all good, clean fun. And entertaining and informative!

***
A suggestion to the author: Think sequel. Consider the following: George & Martha Washington, Lunt & Fontaine, Winston & Clementine Churchill, George & Libby Custer.

Product Description
Everyone loves popular biography, especially when served up in concentrated, fact-filled listings, each one enhanced by an eye-catching photograph. How They Met tells the entertaining and often enlightening stories of all those twosomes for whom the total was much more than the sum of their parts. It's an irresistibly insightful celebration of the icons of entertainment, business, and more--from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to Ben and Jerry.

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Review of On the Head of a Pin (Hardcover)

2010-05-31T14:32:00.000-04:00

On the Head of a Pin
Mary Beth Miller
The murder of Helen Mitchell, the local homecoming queen, tears a small town apart.Josh's drunken friend, Andy, accidentally shoots Helen at his party while playing with his father's rifle.Andy and Victor, Andy's dangerous friend, force Josh to help them bury Helen's body in the woods and frame Michael for his girlfriend's murder.Michael leaves town because of a fight with his father before he learns of Helen's death.Once he finds out, the only things that keep him going are his obsession for finding Helen's murderer and rescuing his brother from the abusive father he left behind.When Helen dies, Michael loses his ability to paint and draw, and part of his path to the truth and to clear his name is learning to trust adults again.Although Josh did not commit the murder, it haunts him because he blames himself for his sister's drowning accident the previous year that has left her comatose.He tries to act normal while guilt and his sudden loss of faith literally eat him alive.Michael's and Josh's stories collide when they must face Helen's murderer in an attempt to bring out the truth.Mary Beth Miller, author of Aimee, successfully masters the double male teenage narrative, allowing the reader to forget the gender of the author and become lost in the story.Miller also confronts the issues of guilt, loyalty to friends, the importance of social groups in teen society, and teens trusting adults in this contemporary action novel.

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Review of Falling Forward: Tales from an Endurance Saga (Hardcover)

2010-05-31T14:24:00.000-04:00

Great book.Really pulls you into the story and Dallas makes you feel like you are there with him during the runs.

Product Description
Falling Forward is a beautifully written story of one man's quest for individual accomplishments in the sport of long distance running (marathons, ultra-marathons, and Iron Man.)

His most spectacular exploit was running three ultra-marathons...on three consecutive weekends he ran 100 miles, 100 miles, and 50 miles in Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas respectively, and on the fourth weekend he won his age division in a big 5K in yet a fourth state. Indeed, in the three years following the resignation of a long held professorship, he ran a dazzling array of races. In the process he set several age-group records and won the Tennessee State Running Tour championship.

And he's over sixty.

Smith draws on this race saga to write a book of genuine adventure, one accessible to runner and non-runner alike. He writes like he runs, with a sharp eye for the details surrounding him -- and he embraces all, taking the reader along for the journey.

His story deals honestly with the stark reality of pushing endurance to the limit. The experiences are at time poignant and funny, at other times painful and scary, but always human and personal. Falling Forward covers a lot of territory.

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Review of Season of the Snake: A Novel (Hardcover)

2010-05-31T11:18:00.000-04:00

Last night I stayed up too late finishing Claire Davis' "Season of the Snake," it was that good. There was no way I was going to sleep until I found out what happened. Exquisitely creepy, enthralling novel set in Idaho and Eastern Washington State with the Snake River playing a part. The life and times of a herpetologist, her husband and her problematic sister. Perfection. Can't wait to see what Davis gives us next.

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Review of The Limits of Hope: An Adoptive Mother's Story (Hardcover)

2010-05-30T19:37:00.000-04:00

This book is very disturbing. It is certainly disturbing in the way it was intended to be, as it details the problems experienced by a fatally idealistic family and their two adopted daughters who came from a background of abuse and neglect. One must, of course, condemn the fact that the family was kept in ignorance of the girls' problems. This is explained as a product of the time, in which everyone involved in adoption is described as believing that a loving family is all that is needed to heal even the most severely abused. Now such secrecy would be criminal; 30 years ago it is still an indication of inexcusable ignorance on the part of all the adults involved in the process. The truly disturbing aspect of the book for me, however, is the attitude of its author, the girls' adoptive mother. Although she claims her daughters and the rest of the family were abused by the system, she seems not to see the significance of her own failures. She admits much that must be painful to admit; for example, she sees in retrospect that the two newcomers were always seen as separate in important ways from her already-formed family of two parents and three children. Does she understand how truly awful that must have been for the girls, how lonely it must have been always on the outside, how terrifying to encounter expectations they couldn't possibly live up to? The insensitivity of the mother to her daughters' problems is mind-boggling, never mind that it happened 30 years ago. With all allowances for the difficulties she encountered trying to parent these troubled children--and I would not try to minimize that--she still falls short in understanding that they are the true victims. Instead one has a sense that too much of her rage is on her own behalf: rage that *she* didn't get the support she needed, rage that the girls turned out to be much for difficult for *her* than she expected. It is quite painful to read her monotonous detailing of the girls' delinquent and self-destructive behavior, not only for the obvious reasons, but especially because of the eager tone in which she recounts the outrages and how difficult it was for her to deal with them. She has yet to reach the point where she understands that, whatever her sufferings, those of the girls have been worse, because the destruction is of them, because they entered the family with various handicaps and with no resources to deal with these, and because they were the children and she was the adult. I guess I cannot contradict her claim to love them deeply, but I would like to see her gain a better understanding of their pain and see how her own must take a back seat to theirs. Of course she has been cheated of a normal mother-daughter relationship with them, but life has cheated them of much, much more.

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Review of The Breath of Rapture (Hardcover)

2010-05-30T18:44:00.000-04:00

I This book is the most refreshing piece of literature I have read in a long time.If you are tired of all the catch phrases and the status quo, this is a must read.

Have you ever tried to express your feelings and beliefs and not been able to find a word to describe them. I think it's sad we all categorize each other.You have to be either and atheist, agnostic, christian or deist, etc.

Some of us, I think a lot of us, don't fit in a any of those boxes.We see the world through a totally different perspective.

Kurt Niece did a great job of portraying this in his characters.He gets down to the basics of simple humanity and kindness, our natural instincts.He ties realities and laughter into a very refreshing yet insightful read.

This book has a spin that you would never imagine and yet after you read it, you think to yourself, not a bad idea. :-)

Keep writing Kurt, the world needs your insight!

Product Description
It's not your Pastor's Rapture...Ordinary people on an ordinary day become intertwined, the day of The Change.Diversity, humor, satire, politics, religion and relationships are all fundamental to an evolving story told in three segments.The day of The Change, one month later, and 12 years later.This unexpected tale is heavily character driven and the opinions expressed are relevant, overdue, and perhaps just in time.

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Review of Ten Again (Hardcover)

2010-05-30T16:58:00.000-04:00

From the start of this compelling novel, young Mike takes you back into the world of youthful energy and boyhood mischievousness. With his younger brother and a gang of rowdy hooligans, each day over the course of a year brings a new adventure. Highly recommended!

Product Description
“Hey, Mike, what're we gonna do today?” It's 1960, and Mike is ten again, at least in his mind. Looking back on his final year of elementary school, he reflects on the many challenges that confronted him then. Junior high and the opposite sex loom on the horizon—his mini-version of the New Frontier. From the neighborhood baseball field to the local movie theatre, from Halloween to Christmas morning, and from Bozo buckets to a once-in-a-lifetime trip across the country to Disneyland, Mike is constantly in motion—and often in trouble. But he has his younger brother Tommy and a few close friends to help him navigate the vast suburban wilderness. This snapshot of a bygone era shows the last generation allowed to be kids taking full advantage of it—and having the time of their lives.

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Review of Breaking 90 with Johnny Miller: The Callaway Golfer (series) (Hardcover)

2010-05-30T07:55:00.000-04:00

To Breaking 90, someone may expect some swing drills especially from Johnny Miller but sorry, it doesn't.

The books itself is target to the one those already know how to hit the ball well. It will give you the suggestion, information and knowledge on how to play "Good golf" but not how to do "Good Swing"

The first section, "Johnny Miller's Better Golf" is the most valuable section for me. Its give you a "better" idea on how to play and how to practice. Other sections later in the book, are just "experience sharing" section which is nice to read but may be not good enough to remember.

Overall, if you are a good golfer and would like to get someting from the expert to make you even better. This book is the good one. But if you still fighting with your swing flaw, try another one.

Product Description

The most comprehensive book ever published on achieving golf's major scoring milestone.

Legendary pro and NBC-TV commentator Johnny Miller shares his wisdom and shot-making skills to help players of all ages and abilities break through to the next level of performance. Clear text and easy-to-follow illustrations make Johnny's practical instruction easy to grasp and to use.

The book examines the mental game, course management, and lessons from experienced pros; it covers everything from stance and swing to pressure and momentum. Also featured are tales from the golf wars by such favorite writers as George Plimpton, David Owen, Charles McGrath, Frank Hannigan, and others. Breaking 90 with Johnny Miller is a totally up-to-date approach to golf instruction -- the essential primer for today's golfer.

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Review of A Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Reject Became a Liberty Belle (Hardcover)

2010-05-30T03:33:00.000-04:00

I loved this book.I'm a lifelong Blue-stater who has been turning off the news for the past six years because I just can't bear to watch.But this book reminded me of my dream of hosting fabulous dinner parties where people talk about what really matters.In this book, Nancy shares what really matters to her, and whether you agree or disagree with her choices isn't the point, because (huge sigh of relief here) she isn't trying to convince us.She tries to make us laugh, and succeeds.Because of this, I'm giving her the ultimate non-fiction compliment: she reminds me of a right-wing Anne Lammott :)

Product Description
The heartland's answer to Sarah Vowell and David Rakoff, Nancy French tells it like it is--one laugh-out-loud anecdote after another about a red state American's experiences living in the blue states.

For the first 20 years of her life, all Nancy French knew of the world was Paris--Paris, Tennessee, that is. When the former homecoming queen trades in cow-tipping, big hair, and the Catfish Capital of the World for a new life in the Big Apple, she is in for a real education. With a keen sense of humor, French discusses everything from the South's obsession with church attendance to the blue-state notion that red staters think as slowly as they speak.

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Review of Chasing the Green (Hardcover)

2010-05-29T13:31:00.000-04:00

Very well written story makes for a relaxing read: sufficiently detailed and diverse plotlines stitched together tell the story without losing the reader.

Product Description
Inspired by a true story... made into a motion picture.

Chasing the Green is the story of two brothers who became millionaires in the 1990s while still in their 20's. They were among the first to market electronic terminals for credit card transactions. They were confident and bold, and thus ignored warnings by the government to "respond" to numerous complaints regarding their practices. Ultimately, they were nearly destroyed by the FTC, who sought to demolish their company at the behest of their competitors in the industry. The FIRST EVER case brought by the FTC against an ISO (independent sales organization) in the electronic transaction processing industry!

Chasing the Green is about young ambition in the 1990s, and the intense desire to succeed. It is also about two independent, intensely driven men unready to accept the importance of working in an interdependent world. They learn, late in the game, that when we refuse to acknowledge the demands of others more powerful, we do so at our peril.

Our story centers on two ambitious brothers, Adam and Ross -- who, with their friends, build a start-up company into a multi-million dollar empire. It follows not only their triumphs, but their antics (so many funny stories) -- and their selfassured camaraderie that would later prove their undoing.

About the Author

Craig Frankel retired at the young age of 38 after selling his and his brother's company. His passion is golf. He still spends much time with his close friends. He produced his first film named PJ and has completed his second Chasing the Green. Craig Frankel was raised in N.J. until he graduated high school. He then moved to the Dallas area where he still lives today.

Website: http://www.chasingthegreen.com/

Reviews

"Chasing the Green" truly motivated me and inspired my entrepreneurial spirit. To overcome great obstacles in life and in business is challenging, and this book definitely shows the reward that can be achieved by unleashing the power of your true potential.

Leisa Hart, international fitness expert and star of BUNS OF STEEL® exercise videos.
http://leisahart.com/

"Chasing the Green" is an engaging and inspiring story about human ambition, drive, and spirit. The book demonstrates the energy of young entrepreneurship and illustrates the obstacles facing small businesses when challenging the bottom line of major corporations.

William Devane, actor

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Review of Low-Voltage/Low-Power Integrated Circuits and Systems: Low-Voltage Mixed-Signal Circuits (IEEE Press Series on Microelectronic Systems) (Hardcover)

2010-05-29T13:05:00.000-04:00

Read this while working on my MS project on Low Voltage Filters, later procured it via Amazon.com for $100+ price. This book is useful in the sense it captures a variety of low voltage design topics in a single book format. Although some of the content might be considered "not low-voltage enough anymore", the basic issues and concepts still apply.

Good for somebody trying to gain more experience and understanding in LV circuit design - transistor level, system level.

Product Description
"Leading experts in the field present this collection of original contributions as a practical approach to low-power analog and digital circuit theory and design, illustrated with important applications and examples. LOW-VOLTAGE/LOW-POWER INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS features comprehensive coverage of the latest techniques for the design, modeling, and characterization of low-power analog and digital circuits.

LOW-VOLTAGE/LOW-POWER INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS will help you improve your understanding of the trade-offs between analog and digital circuits and systems. It is an invaluable resource for enhancing your designs. This book is intended for senior and graduate students. It is also intended as a key reference for designers in the semiconductor and communication industries.

Highlighted applications include:

Low-voltage analog filters
Low-power multiplierless YUV to RGB based on human vision perception
Micropower systems for implantable defibrillators and pacemakers
Neuromorphic systems
Low-power design in telecom circuits"

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Review of A Cold and Silent Dying (Marti MacAlister Mysteries) (Hardcover)

2010-05-29T11:07:00.000-04:00

I'm not a mystery reader.I'm a little too impatient to find out what happens. I'm also not very fond of cops. But I immediately embraced this story from beginning to end about a troubled man who, because of his troubled past, has grown to hate women.That bit of anger helps him kill them, especially women who don't have close family to look for them.Unfortunately, he messed up and messed with one who did have family connections, leading to the two police officers who came aboard to stop him.Factor in a troubled veteran, a dog, more homeless people, a politican, and a Robosupervisor (Robocop+Supervisor) and this story makes for great dialogue, strange behavior, and a decent plot.I enjoyed the book.

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Review of Citrus, Sawmills, Critters and Crackers: Life in Early Lutz and Central Pasco County (Hardcover)

2010-05-29T10:17:00.000-04:00

Most historical books of this area center around Tampa and Tarpon Springs, ignoring the rich and unique atmosphere that is Lutz and central Pasco County of the early 1900's and late 1800's. That's what makes this book so special. It is jammed packed with local history as well as hundreds of old photos, and as a native to this area, I couldn't put it down. Native or not, if you love old Florida history and want the real history of backwoods Florida with all of its lore of the railroad, logging industry and of the pioneers of its times, you will love this book.

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Review of Seriously: A Novel (Hardcover)

2010-05-29T07:36:00.000-04:00

A promising first novel, written as series of character sketches, each chapter is titled with the name of one of the residents of the crossroads in which the narrator finds herself.Through this method the characters come to life in bits and pieces, the way we actually get to know people.The characters are never wholly good nor wholly bad, we see them in their humanness with their flaws and their strengths and the reader is reminded of how complex people are and to resist judging them or pigeon-holing them.I look forward to reading more by this writer.

Product Description
Tamara Johanssen's life has taken an unplanned turn:With help from her successful sister, she moves to the rural crossroads of Dustin in upstate New York, where she opens a modest art gallery.Dustin, population 39, is small in size but large in personality.Tamara meets Boz, a rich, married man who becomes her friend and lover; Donna and Iris of the 'womanart' factory, specializing in strawberry potholders; Detering, the snoopy postman; Shirley Girt of Girt Real Estate, who calls Dustin 'the up-and-coming arts town'; and the Doctor, whose shockingly amusing secret is uncovered, and kept, by Tamara after his death.She cautiously engages with the hamlet's oddballs and eccentrics, eventually learning important personal lessons from their determination, humor, vitality, and heartbreak.These unlikely relationships give Tamara the strength to make peace with her traumatic past-and to finally 'stay put' in her present.

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Review of Products Liability Law Hornbook (Hardcover)

2010-05-28T13:48:00.000-04:00

I have been studying product liability law, and handling product liability cases, since 1979, and I have read most of the major works on the subject.Most of those works examine a limited number of subjects from a limited point of view, often evading altogether the thorniest issues.Even the Restatement (Third) of Torts:Products Liability treats many important subjects, such as the meaning of design defect, in a relatively superficial fashion. This hornbook is dramatically different.In what is clearly the work of a lifetime, Professor Owen examines every facet of product liability law from numerous different perspectives, pointing out all sides of virtually every issue with complete objectivity.Scholars and practicing lawyers alike can look to this book for a thorough and analytically sound evaluation of the issues they are likely to confront.Indeed, anyone interested in truly understanding product liability law should not refer to the Restatement (Third) without also referring to this book, both for context and for a candid assessment of the competing views.

Product Description
Products Liability Law addresses the major issues of products liability law in a clear, logical, and comprehensive fashion.Professor Owen presents the variety of products liability topics in organized progression, from introductory discussions of the nature and history of products liability law in America and abroad, through detailed inquiries into the theories of liability, product defectiveness, causation, and defenses, to explorations of selected special issues, including punitive damages.

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Review of Living with Kids: Solutions for Family-Friendly Interiors (Interior Design and Architecture) (Hardcover)

2010-05-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

Unlike many other decorating and organizing books for families,this one is completely unpretentious.All the rooms featured in the book are stylish enough for adults, yet fun and functional for children.This book lets you know that, hey, it's all right to leave some blocks on the floor or some papers on a desk as long as you're living in a way that works for your family.This book is full of attainable decorating ideas that real-life families will appreciate.Best of all, it's a colorful, easy read with decorating suggestions instead of decorating rules.Some people may find the size of the print a bit small.

Product Description
Many parents think decorating is something that happens after the kids grow up. But the anticipation of chocolate smears, juice stains, and rough play doesn't have to resign parents to a home devoid of style.

Living with Kids is the book families with children have been waiting for. It goes beyond creating kid-specific spaces like nurseries and playrooms to decorating and organizing the entire home to help adults and kids coexist in harmony-and in style. The key: establishing centers of activity for everything, from play and relaxation to grooming and schoolwork. Whether readers are anticipating a new baby or living with a teenager, this book offers clever solutions for establishing an environment that can adapt to the ever-changing needs of growing children.

Useful tips and sidebars suggest great ways to store and organize kids' stuff so it doesn't take over the house, to create multiuse rooms that make the most of the space, essential products and accessories that stand up to the wear and tear of kids yet appeal to an adult sensibility, and more.

Realistic and creative, Living with Kids addresses a timeless challenge with savvy, modern solutions.

Writer and design specialist Eugenia Santiesteban currently serves as assistant editor for Elle Decor.

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Review of Christmas at Grandfather's House: a heart-warming novel in stories (Hardcover)

2010-05-28T13:21:00.000-04:00

I've never spent much time in small towns, but novelist Mark Leever made me feel as though I had.Specifically Wharton, where reading this book makes it hard to believe it is a work of fiction since I now feel a part of all the families there and their Christmases past and present.

In the first story, Fine Thread, you are visiting your grandfather's house and you remember exactly what it was like to be 10 years old there at Christmas....30 years earlier.

Mary Ellen, despite her successful escape, takes us back to Wharton to face the ghosts of her past in The Wharton Echo.

In Snowflake, 12 year old Thomas Mullen and his grandfather lead us through a Christmas Eve in 1985 that turns magical and although we know "nothing lasts forever," we find that Christmas is a time for wishing and remembering and perhaps that is what lasts forever.

Seasons' Greeting is a great title for this wonderful story as indeed the seasons are plural!

Then there's my favourite character - lovable, comical Carlton, in Ninety Degrees who spends a riotous Christmas Eve at the hospital.

All the stories come together in a nice, neatly wrapped package in Christmas Day and throughout them all we see Dr. Glover.
Dr. Glover is just one of the reasons I love this book. In 1985 Dr. Glover had been the town's medical practitioner for 53 years.He is the connecting thread throughout all of the stories.He seemed to be at the grassroots of the small town and grew with it over the years, along with his expanding girth!But the good doctor is not without fault.

Christmas at Grandfather's House has a powerful, pleasing, all encompassing quality, brilliant in its ambiguity and now is sine qua non on my bookshelf!It brims with interesting characters, and they all make me feel that they are as real as the people in my own family.

As in the author's own words regarding snowflakes..."each precious gem carrying with it a simple but true promise of Christmas"....and so each of the tightly connected stories that make up Christmas at Grandfather's House are gems unto themselves with each story having its own unique theme: love, salvation, hope, forgiveness - to name a few - and the overall motif of the book culminates with a humanness all its own.

To see what happens to Dr. Glover, Tommie, Carlton, Mary Ellen and the rest of the people who love, live and breath in Christmas at Grandfather's House, you'll need to read the book!

Product Description
If you have ever spent Christmas at your grandfather's house, Mark Leever will remind you of those unforgettable times and have you yearning for them again in this beguiling and profoundly moving book. Comprising six stories carefully connected by time (Christmas, 1985), place (the town of Wharton), theme, and character, Christmas at Grandfather's House is a holiday collection unlike any other: it unfolds like a novel. By turns comical, charming, and poignant, each story is a treasure of the heart, combining the childhood miracle that is Grandfather's house, with the miracle of Christmas that makes every one, and everyone who shares it, unique. A man who realizes the enduring value of family in his remembrance of a long-past Christmas Eve . . . A boy and his grandfather who try desperately to save an old woman's life with the most improbable medicine of all . . . A granddaughter who learns that love is expressed in many different ways . . . A woman who will do anything to help a husband being robbed of reality by age, and a man who will do whatever he must to remain in his wife's reality . . . A teenage boy who brightens an Emergency Room . . . And through it all, a town doctor who has devoted his life to the family and friends he loves, while harbouring a dark secret . . . a secret that at last comes to light on a snowy Christmas Day. Written from diverse points of view, Christmas at Grandfather's House weaves readers into that very special fabric of small town life, revealed through the eyes of grandsons and granddaughters, grandfathers and grandmothers, as they give and receive gifts far more precious than anything money can buy. Readers will never think of Christmas the same way again.

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Review of Little Lost River: A Novel (WEST WORD FICTION) (Hardcover)

2010-05-28T04:23:00.000-04:00

We all know that you can't judge a book by its cover, but if we didn't know that we would go for this book at first touch. Holding Little Lost River in your hands, it feels substantial, solid, like it is meant to endure. The cloth binding backed by a page of quality paper with actual texture harkens back to the days when publishers offered substance to their readers. Best of all, Johnston's writing in this book matches the vessel that bears it: substantial, enduring, endearing. Johnston shows us the textures of life in the everyday places we live. She is especially successful at using metaphors that are both subtle and expansive. The title of the book comes from a river that runs "underground and [shows] up again a hundred miles away, in tiny springs that barely resembles the river it used to be." (264) This provides a guiding image for the unforeseen flow of life that Cindy and Frances experience. Along the way, the conversing reflections between the two young women are moving. As I listened alternatively to Fran and Cindy each sharing her perspective on life, I came to understand my own life better. I remembered that some people who made little more than a cameo in my life have still left a deep impression. I saw how I often judge too quickly before knowing the journey that has made people who they are. And more importantly, I learned again that tracing that journey along side of a person can awaken compassion to replace the hastily made verdict. Bubbling up in the middle of the book is the voice of another young woman that works this miracle well. This beautifully bound book covers life in its highs and lows. Johnston invites us to witness life in all its fragility and the love that is necessary because of such fragility.

Product Description
Set in Boise, Idaho in the early 1980's, Little Lost River is the story of two young women who come together in the wake of tragedy.Cindy Morgan is still reeling from the loss of her mother when an accident leaves her boyfriend missing and presumed drowned. When Frances Rogers happens upon the accident site, she stays with Cindy until help arrives. In the aftermath of that night's events, as Cindy faces her future with a determination often misunderstood as indifference, Frances becomes her source of both support and compassion.

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Review of Child Of Many Rivers: Journeys To And From The Rio Grande (Hardcover)

2010-05-28T01:49:00.000-04:00

This book really reflects the unique culture and the unique people who inhabit the banks of the Rio Grande in far west Texas. The writer shares her personality and her life with the reader without getting too sentimetal. It is an amazing little book- easy reading but with depth and soul. A modern autobiography which pulls the reader in and makes them a part of that experience.

Product Description
This title is winner of 2005 Southwest Book Award and 2006 WILLA Literary Award Finalist. 'A charming memoir...While the legacy of [Lucy's] father's life is fragmented ...her mother's background offers a brilliantly detailed picture of border life with its poverty brushed aside to allow joy and the tantalizing smell of Mexican food to enter...Affectionate, articulate, and always straightforward' - "Texas Books in Review". 'Adds to the growing body of literary voices emerging from the border region of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. The uniqueness of Fisher-West's voice is found in her ability to represent the Rio Grande as a source that unites people rather than as a divide that separates two nations. Her story celebrates the rich complexity a bicultural, and in her case, international life offers' - Meredith E. Abarca, "El Paso Times". 'A delightful source of information about a way of Latino life that is sadly disappearing into the melting pot of Americana' - "El Paso Inc". Lucy Fischer-West knows the power of birthplace and of borders and rivers.Her memoir begins with the story of her parents, one reared in Germany, the other in Mexico, and how they found each other on the Texas-Mexico border. Fischer-Wests own journeys take her from her birth in the Hudson River Valley; to her upbringing on both sides of the Rio Grande; across the Atlantic to Scotland and then France; and, finally to India's River Ganges, halfway around the world from the El Paso barrio where she grew up. Hers is an ordinary life made extraordinary by its path and by the people who, having touched and enriched her life, stay with her, as nurturing to her spirit as the rivers that help her mark time. By focusing not on the conflicts of border life but rather on everyday experiences made rich by her appreciation of them, Fischer-West honors her rivers and the people who travel them, cross them, live on their banks, and bathe in their waters. Her story touches on the emotions that bind us to others: anger, sorrow, equanimity, exuberance, and serenity. 'A true child of the Rio Grande, Lucy Fischer-West is a woman at home in the world' - Joyce Gibson Roach.'The clear voice of my paisana, Lucy Fischer-West, pleasurably transports me back to my native city, El Paso, Texas. The stories of her Mexican mother and German father, and her own international river-braided tales, enrich the complex literature of the border' - Pat Mora. 'When one reads Lucy Fischer-West's "Child of Many Rivers", one is not reading so much about the great rivers, vividly remembered, that have run through her rich and complex life and travels - the Rio Grande, the Hudson, the Clyde, the Ganges - but of the deeper currents that run through all our lives from their sacred sources: all the strong and generous women like the author and her mother, like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who work bone-hard through the most difficult poverty, heartbreak and tragedy, who nourish and nurture our souls, who feed us their rich stories and make our deserts bloom' - Lex Williford. The only child of a Mexican mother and a German father whose paths crossed in a Juarez bullring, Lucy Fischer-West teaches high school English in El Paso.

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Review of The Janitor's Boy (Hardcover)

2010-05-27T21:42:00.000-04:00

The Janitor's Boy is a classic Andrew Clements school story about real people. In almost every young person's life, there comes a time when their parents become more than 2-dimensional objects. Jack is embarrassed because his father is the school janitor. But soon Jack will learn that there's more to a person than what they do for a living.

One day, his father says hello to him in class and the other kids really start in on the teasing. Jack retaliates against his father by putting a huge mound of gum under a desk. The plan backfires and Jack's punishment is to work with as a janitor cleaning off the gum under desks for 3 weeks after school.

In that time, Jack learns a lot about his father and the work that he does. It's more than just a learn it by walking in his shoes story, though. Jack and his father have time to communicate and Jack might even find that they have more in common than he wanted or expected.

A good book about real people.

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Review of Encyclopedia of Electronics Circuits, Volume 5 (Hardcover)

2010-05-27T19:38:00.000-04:00

IF you are looking for a source of Circuits that components are still available this is it. This being one of 7 volumes from a year that is very much in demand. The variety of circuits in this volume spans from the ultra simple to moderately difficult as well as useful. It is supplied with analog and digital, radio, communication, fun, utility as well hard to find circuits. It also has circuits that have been brought forward an modernized to make use of current components. There are also circuits that are new and employ IC technology and MOS-LSI chips. The index in this volume also makes reference to earlier volumes that have circuits that this volume does not cover. This book can pay for itself rapidly for the right person.

Product Description
no description

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Review of Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones (Hardcover)

2010-05-27T17:40:00.000-04:00

Quincy Jones embodies the best of what it means to be fully human.He's always been on the cutting edge, at least a generation ahead of everyone else: in movies, in theater, in television, and, of course, in music.Now, in the disguise of an artist, he transcends art into healing.

This is a great book and works on so many different levels: as intimate biography, as powerful literature, and the story of one who transcended suffering into healing.And what an interesting life!

But this is more than just a fascinating story.He offers a wise roadmap to self-discovery and wholeness, both individually and culturally.Read it and be inspired by his courage and wisdom.

Somehow, the corrosive idea that the evil guy is interesting and the good guy is boring has entered popular culture, especially in rap and hip-hop.Only an artist of Quincy Jones' stature could show by extraordinary example even to the most angry and dispossessed that it is possible to be both loving and cool, generous and hip, selfless and self-fulfilled--and that it's a lot more fun and exciting to live this way.Come for the music and stay for the love.

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Review of Talk Talk (Hardcover)

2010-05-27T09:58:00.000-04:00

With TALK TALK, his eleventh novel, T.C. Boyle has constructed another literate, thoughtful page-turner. The protagonist is Dana Halter, an independent, feisty, attractive woman in her early 30s. She teaches school, enjoys an occasional evening out at loud nightclubs, and has a younger boyfriend named Bridger Martin who adores her. In short, she's a normal, responsible young woman who also happens to be profoundly deaf. The problem is that apparently there's another Dana Halter out there, as she discovers when she's arrested after running a stop sign. This other Dana Halter passes bad checks in multiple states with her driver's license number, her social security number. And this Dana Halter has skipped bail twice. So despite Bridger's best efforts, Dana spends a humiliating, uncomfortable weekend in the San Roque county jail.

"Dana Halter" is only one of the identities that the antagonist Peck Wilson has collected in the years since he was released from prison in New York State. As the book opens, Peck lives as Dr. Dana Halter in a Marin County waterfront condo furnished with nothing but the best for his kitchen (he's a very gourmet sociopath) and his bed (a Russian beauty named Natalia.) He is an old hand at identity theft and manages them carefully, wringing them almost dry before moving on and covering his tracks.

When the real Dana is finally released from jail, she finds that the authorities aren't overly concerned with prosecuting this so-called victimless crime. It's up to her and Bridger to retrieve her impounded car and field phone calls from irate creditors. But Bridger acquires the thief's cell phone number from one such creditor and makes contact. Peck, wanting to cut his losses, informs the wary Natalia that his name is not Dana after all, and trades in her BMW Z4 on a wine-colored Mercedes S500 for their escape from town. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse, Jetta vs. Mercedes chase across the continent that culminates in a final showdown of sorts at a train station in Peck's hometown of Peterskill, New York.

The plot packs a wallop matched by Boyle's inventive language and multi-faceted, believable characters. Dana's "handicap" has made her tough and stubborn; we see the tremendous effort it takes to make herself understood, and how frustrated she gets when she can't. Bridger has learned to sign and she reads lips, but under the fatigue and uncertainty they face, sometimes communication between them breaks down. The thief, Peck, wears his sense of entitlement as naturally and easily as his Italian suits, and in the long stretches of narrative from his point of view, we are equally fascinated and repulsed by his absolute disregard for anyone but himself. Natalia, who he thinks he loves, is really just another fine possession, more complicated than a car perhaps, but manageable by charming lies or threatening fury.

T.C. Boyle is in fine fettle here. He can linger on a character's momentary interior state for a page and a half without boring us, because he can also cover a few days effectively in a single paragraph. Boyle's cleverness makes us smile. "At the impound yard --- CASH OR CREDIT ONLY NO CHECKS --- they waited in line for twenty minutes while the people in front of them put on a demonstration of the limits and varieties of hominid rage." And his incisive similes keep us firmly in a character's head. Here is Peck in an ecstatic mood: "Then it was back down what had to be one of the most scenic highways in the world, the road sliced right out of the side of the mountain like a long abdominal suture holding the two pieces together, and the view had never seemed so exotic to him, sailboats on the river like clean white napkins on a big blue tablecloth, the light portioning out the sky in pillars of fire."

TALK TALK succeeds because it ponders the mysteries of identity and communication while seducing the reader with that most primal of motives: revenge. Will Dana have it, and if she does, what will it cost her? Or will the wily Peck slip under the radar once again?

--- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

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Review of Anatomy Lesson (Hardcover)

2010-05-27T01:56:00.000-04:00

For an author that has written under a variety of pseudonyms in a variety of genres, Raymond Obstfeld does his birth-name proud with his latest novel, Anatomy Lesson:a smart, rapid thriller/mystery that takes some of the genre's conventions and turns them inside-out.

Initially, upon reading that the protagonist, Stevie Croft, was an Assistant D.A. with what Obstfeld refers to as "hyper-memory", I was a bit disappointed.For me, the detective with the photographic memory had been overplayed, beginning as far back as Encyclopedia Brown in my school days.Obstfeld, however, takes what could have easily become cliché and turns it into an imaginative, integral part of the plot.

Though Obstfeld's portrayal of strong women seems a bit heavy-handed (the two strongest female characters in the book have traditional men's names: Stevie and Frank), and the dialogue, while entertaining, can be distracting (particularly when it comes to the reader's attention that nearly everything said in the story is witty), the fact remains that the story is engaging and well-crafted.The scenes are beautifully constructed with enough detail to create a visual while not bogging the reader down with unnecessary information.

As Stevie Croft begins to investigate a grizzly multiple-murder for which her father has been framed, she is pulled into the psychotic world of a person who calls himself The Tutor.The Tutor begins challenging Stevie's hyper-memory with seemingly impossible clues which, if successfully solved, can exonerate her father or, if not solved correctly, can cause the punishment of a loved one.

Within the first few pages, the reader is plunged into Stevie's life and The Tutor's game.Obstfeld creates a fast, even pace that compels the reader to keep reading as fast as he or she can, almost as if the lives of The Tutor's victims-to-be depend on it.I enjoyed Anatomy Lesson and look forward to reading more of Obstfeld's work.

Product Description

Stevie Croft, Orange County's most successful prosecutor, is running a losing campaign for district attorney when she is assigned to the most heinous crime in the county's history. A body is discovered composed of the severed parts from five different people, all crudely sewn together to form one grotesque corpse. Stevie has the chance to ride this high-profile case right into office. Then the killer begins leaving cryptic messages for Stevie in her home, in her office, even in her purse. Calling himself "The Tutor," he claims that deciphering these clues will not only lead her to his identity, but save the lives of his future victims. His taunting clues target her darkest secret: since she was 10, Stevie has hyper-memory, a combination of photographic memory and total recall which causes her to precisely remember everything she's ever seen, heard, or read. While often a strength that gives her a competitive edge, this condition is also her Achilles heel-excruciatingly painful migraines are often a by-product. As her pain escalates, so do the killer's clues.

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Review of Eye Contact (Hardcover)

2010-05-26T21:44:00.000-04:00

What a disturbingly beautiful book. I read this in one big gulp because the mystery was too compelling to put on hold. In that genre it reminded me most of Ross Macdonald, not because of formal qualities but because it was more about the mystery of relationship than the actual crime. As in her previous book, Cammie McGovern writes with tortuous brilliance about betrayal and love. At the heart of the story is the mystery of Cara's autistic child, Adam, but her broken friendships with Suzette and Kevin, which prefigure and establish the lifework of raising Adam, are equally compelling. If Adam is a mystery, so is Cara. She seems destined to have become the mother of this child, even though there's nothing divine or cosmic leading her down that path. Her interests, her failures, and her nature lead her to become a good mother and a detective of the human soul. Cara is a wonderfully flawed person, a richly reflective and loving mother and friend. She confronts the "autism epidemic" without much anger or rancor, perhaps because her choices have led her to be a single mother and maybe because she's learning what she needs to learn. I kept being struck by how well-equipped she was for loving Adam, even though she often feels inadequate and certainly is not as well-supported by her community as she might be. Like many protagonists she has a maddening tendency to go it alone. In the course of the novel she learns to rely on others, which helps her let Adam do the same. That's always good to see, especially given Adam's autism and her fear and isolation. The secondary characters are vivid and moving - especially the other children. Most of them are somewhere on the autistic spectrum, but after a while that seems like a meaningless distinction. The term differently-abled took on real meaning for me. McGovern's narrative is shared by enough capable, perceptive people to make us appreciate each person's perceptual gifts. One must do that to solve a mystery - at least in our day and age. At several points characters think they've found the essential clue, and the reader goes along with it. In the end, the situation is too complex for the "lone gunman" solution. Of course, that's also true of autism or of life. It takes a village - and speaking of that, I loved the small-town ambiance of this novel. At first Cara seems to have left her past behind, like a person who has moved to the big city, but over the course of the novel her past keeps knocking until she turns to face it. Thanks to the setting, that movement seems natural instead of contrived. This is a beautifully written work, but what you'll remember most are the intensity of feeling and the author's honest account of parenting an autistic child. I closed the book in awe and wonder - this life is beautiful and heartrending. So is the book.

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Review of Flesh and the Devil (Hardcover)

2010-05-26T18:42:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of listening to Kola Boof's interview on KPFK radio in Los Angeles yesterday and I went down to ESO WON books and bought a copy of "Flesh and the Devil" and read it in one night.It's sublime.

I was not familiar with West African culture to this extent previously, but after reading this book and after hearing Queen Kola talk about her life, I consider myself truly intrigued and infatuated with her.The book does have some grammatical errors in the text that I thought were too large to overlook, so I gave it four stars for that reason.However, this novel about Shane and RooAmber is a riveting and beautiful story about black lovers and about the beauty and worth of Africans and African-Americans as a people in general.I enjoyed the way Kola Boof writes her "love scenes" in particular and I thought she is very bold the way she writes about men.The color complex was touched on unsparingly and I applaud her for being brave enough to do that. I look forward to more of Kola Boof's work.

Product Description
By turns...erotic...melodramatic...violent...and (sniff) "LITERARY"...Kola Boof's 1995 Arabic novel finally arrives in the hands of the people she wrote it for...the Black Americans...thanks to Egyptian poet/activist Said Musa's winning translation.

Billed by the publisher as: "essentially the story of the Black Americans"...the novel unfolds like an tempestuous, languid snake dance, both in Africa and the United States..."abruptly" spanning several thousand years in the passionate, uncontrollable longing between one black man (Prince Shango Ogun) and one black woman (Princess Ife Ife). Encompassing everything from slavery to ancient homosexuality to women being raped by the Moon...the novel begins during West Africa's Story of Creation and from there shows off the thriving kingdoms of West Africa before moving on to the Atlantic Slave Trade and finally...to modern day Black Americans in Washington, D.C. and Sag Harbor--at which point the dark skinned African Prince and Princess have now become "light skinned" Americans named Shane Roberts and RooAmber Childress--both married to white people. It's a sensuous, melodramatic, brutally VIOLENT novel made high pitch by showy characters like the glamorous Queen Ambi, the heroic King Katanga, Shane's modern day "white wife" Rosaria and RooAmber's tender homosexual protector in both ancient and modern times--Dinari--who has a romance of his own.

The book is not as literary as Boof's now classic short story collection "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin", which has recently gone back into print, but as an early work it showcases both her campy qualities and her anger "undistilled" (Watch Out!). Only Kola Boof can remind one of Susan Sontag, Jackie Collins, Toni Morrison and Jacqueline Susann all at the same time.

Kola Boof acknowledges in the book's touching AFTERWORD that she is not a West African but a North African woman from Sudan, and that it's her experience being raised by Black Americans in Washington, D.C. that moved her to write a book about their ancestors and the GREAT LOVE and NOBILITY that the Black Americans come from.

Still, as a "Kola Boof book", it's bound to cause controversy. It was refreshing but breath-stopping, for instance, to read detailed accounts of the American slave trade from an African woman's viewpoint.

Well, I'm off to visit the book's enchanting Pink Lake in Senegal. Can't wait to see it.

--Ivan Richards, Editor

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Review of Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means (Hardcover)

2010-05-26T15:54:00.000-04:00

Something that I haven't seen in any of the reviews of Vollmann's book is this: "Am I going to want to read it?"After all, if you're spendng $120 or so on the thing, and you're interested in more that just looking at it on your bookshelf, it should be considered. Sure, Vollmann has written an important book by all accounts, but that doesn't mean I'm going to read it. Or even a quarter of it.

Well, good news: Rising Up Rising Down is very readable; moreso I think that his recent novel Argall, on which I remain stuck on around page 350.The book does get heavy of course in its theories and efforts to explore the connections it needs to make.But the chapters themselves are usually very short, and few examples in it last so long that you lose interest.A few more pages and he'll be talking about something else in a different country and different time. I raced through the first volume, and half of the second. At that point I got sidetracked with some other things, but I can't wait to get back into it.

In many cases you actually get nice short versions of difficult to understand historical events. For example, one hundred pages on what happened in the early Soviet Union when farms were turned into state owned collectives and the famine that resulted is actually much easir to read than a 500 page book on the topic,Frankly that's enough for me, and if I want to know more about it beyond that, Vollmann gives me a list of plenty of other books to check out on the topic as well.

I'll leave it to others to go into the strengths and shortcomings of this book.What I wanted to do here is just encourage people who are on the fence about buying this thing to not be discouraged by its length or topic or bewildering talk of Vollmann's "moral calculus."It is in fact a very interesting read, and the fact that you learn a lot at the same time hasn't hurt me a bit.

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Review of Gluten-Free Baking: More Than 125 Recipes for Delectable Sweet and Savory Baked Goods, Including Cakes, Pies, Quick Breads, Muffins, Cookies, and Other Delights (Hardcover)

2010-05-26T15:48:00.000-04:00

I'm not a celiac, but I am allergic to wheat, so for many years, I have sought out gluten-free recipes for the breads and pastries I've been deprived of.After trying countless recipes turning out crumbly cookies,hard, dry bread, and odd-tasting pastries, I found Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly, the best book out there.The results of these recipes taste as good as (no kidding) the ones served at a high-end pastry shop.

No wonder, since the author was trained not only at Le Cordon Bleu, but also at Le Notre Patissier, the leading pastry school. She has the experience of running her own restaurant, cafe, and catering businesses as well as teaching others how to cook.She'd been exploring gluten-free baking for her clientele even before her son and daughter were diagnosed as celiacs!All these credentials add up to a well-tested, easy-to-understand, and enlightening collection of recipes.But the highest recommendation comes from my wheat-eating friends, who really DON'T realize that anything is missing or "weird" about these treats, something they've never been able to say about my past efforts,despite claims by the authors of those recipes that they'd never tell the difference.

Reilly's training allows her to explain how certain classic baking techniques can provide air and lightness to gluten-free recipes, which can otherwise suffer from the density of particular alternative ingredients.She reveals which ingredients can create elasticity and provide structure in lieu of gluten, so that readers can feel empowered knowing not only how to make these recipes, but also why they work.I gained so much confidence in baking that I even made the scrumptious Black Forest Cake, a labor I probably wouldn't have even attempted in my wheat-eating days.(By the way, it's totally worth the effort.)Amazingly, the recipes range from the simplest brownies to baklava, so there's something for all palates and skill levels.

With all due respect to Bette Hagman, author of The Gluten-Free Gourmet books and an undisputed pioneer in the gluten-free quest, I would love to see Reilly's take on yeast breads as well as on gluten-free cooking.I think there's enough of the gluten-free pie to go around, and all of us in the wheat-free community (and our friends) would benefit.

Product Description

If you are among the 1 in 250 American adults intolerant to gluten or allergic to wheat, you know how frustrating it can be to crave -- but not be able to have -- a buttery scone or a slice of warm pie. And if you have kids who are gluten-sensitive, you know how much they miss being able to bite into a chewy chocolate chip cookie when they come home from school or share a friend's birthday cake.

Now you don't have to sit wistfully by while family and friends indulge in dessert or other confections. Inspired to create delectable treats for her own gluten-sensitive family, Cordon Bleu-trained chef Rebecca Reilly believes that eating should be a pleasure, no matter what your dietary issues are. In Gluten-Free Baking, she shares more than 125 recipes for sweet and savory baked goods, from crispy cookies and meltingly tender muffins to elegant tartlets and quiches and stunning layer cakes.

Baking without wheat can be notoriously tricky, but by using Reilly's detailed step-by-step recipes, anyone will be able to turn out moist Pumpkin Bread and tender Sour Cream Coffee Cake. S'mores made with gluten-free Graham Crackers, Crisp Ginger Molasses Cookies, Lemon Squares, and Pound Cake are kid- and family-pleasing favorites that will no longer be off-limits. And no one who tastes the glorious Chocolate Pecan Torte, Ginger Brie Quiche, or homey Blueberry Pudding Cake will ever think they're missing something by eating gluten-free.

In addition, you'll find specifics on everything you need to know about gluten-free baking but were afraid (or didn't know enough) to ask, including how to stock a gluten-free kitchen, tips, techniques, and sources for ingredients, plus a list of resources and information on celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

Tempting color photographs show you that these are desserts with eye as well as mouth appeal. With Gluten-Free Baking you'll never again miss out on the opportunity to feast on sinfully rich desserts!

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Review of The Second Nine Months: One Woman Tells the REAL Truth About Becoming a Mom. Finally. (Hardcover)

2010-05-26T04:30:00.000-04:00

I picked up this book and could not put it down until I'd finished it.Glembocki has a real gift for being brutally honest - saying what so many people think but rarely utter - and doing so in a really hilarious and page-turning way. Memoirs can often seem cheesy or self-aggrandizing and this was neither.Sometimes shocking, often funny, extremely well written, and very moving.

Product Description
In the spirit of Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, a reality check for new moms.

I want to walk out of Target and leave Blair there, wailing.... Nice people work at Target. Surely someone would take her home and care for her and buy her pretty things.

So begins Vicki Glembocki's brutally honest yet hilarious memoir of her agonizing transition into motherhood. Why agonizing? Because no one told her how tough it would be. Finally, Glembocki lays out the truth about those first months with baby: the certainty that you're doing everything wrong; the desire to kill your husband, your mother, your dog; the struggle to balance who you were with whom you've become--a mother. Unlike any other book on motherhood, Glembocki breaks the New Mother Code of Silence, proving that "maternal bliss" is not innate, but learned. Funny and wise, she connects with new moms on a shockingly intimate level, letting them know that they are not alone.

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Review of One Fell Swoop (Hardcover)

2010-05-25T18:31:00.000-04:00

I loved One Fell Swoop - it's my kind of book.What's not to love about considering the infinite variety of possibilities in life?The book starts with one couple's tragedy and explores it from all kinds of angles - through different characters, from the past and into the future, from the center and the periphery.A slice of one person's life is a slice of many other's lives, but the position in the pie and the size of the slice is different for all involved.There are many characters, all starring in their own stories. Each is respectfully represented with spot on dialogue, and we get to sample what it's like to be someone else, to care about different things, to understand why someone might react differently to the same stimulus.That's why I read, and that's why I recommend this book to anyone.It's funny, sad, touching and thought-provoking.Congratulations on your great first novel, Virginia Boyd!

Product Description

On a hot August afternoon in 1977, Regina Clayton caught her husband with his secretary. She sent him to his Maker with the help of a Colt .45, then sent herself as well.

Everyone in Riley, North Carolina, knows the story. Everyone in Riley has a story of their own. And that, of course, is the real story.

Because in a town like Riley, the past lives close to the present and the future. And everything can change in one fell swoop.

An innovative, meticulously crafted novel as poignant, comic, and tragic as life itself, One Fell Swoop is the remarkable debut of a major new literary talent.

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Review of The Town That Came A-Courtin' (Hardcover)

2010-05-25T11:13:00.000-04:00

"The Town That Came A Courtin' " is one of the best novels I have ever read.I picked it up on a Tuesday afternoon and did not put it down until late Tuesday night when I finished it.It's a wonderful love story..the way love stories should be written!This book draws you in, doesn't let go, and leaves you begging for a sequel (hopefully sometime soon!).And what a role model Abby is for all us Southern belles (I see a lot of Ronda in Abby!).Like Abby, I too have a mother who wants nothing more for me than to be happily married..and I recognized a bit of my mother there!When I was reading this I felt like I was there in Bliss with her (and I would like to find a town like Bliss to live in)!We single Southern women all hope for this kind of love ourselves!I walked away from this book with a huge smile on my face and hope in my heart..and on a side note, I have read the book twice (so far)!

Ronda has a definite gift for storytelling, no doubt about it.Do not miss this book!

Product Description
Folks around Dexter, Georgia, where Abby Houston grew up, say the obituary-writer-turned-worldwide-bestselling-author is the luckiest woman alive. How else to explain all her good fortune? Her mama, though, has a different take: "Lucky in life," she says, "means unlucky in love."

Her mama must be right, because Abby's been getting her heart broken since the sixth grade. But ever since she crossed into Bliss, Mississippi, a heavenly warm feeling has washed right over her. Abby's used to making up quirky, charming characters in her books, but here in Bliss it almost seems like those characters have sprung to life-and Abby is fantasizing about moving right in. And the love affair is mutual. Because the townspeople have set their matchmaking minds in motion, and they aren't about to let Abby leave without a little love in her heart.

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Review of Guide to Wireless Network Security (Hardcover)

2010-05-25T09:48:00.000-04:00

John's book Guide to Wireless Network Security provides a step-by-step approach to everything you'll need to know about wireless network security. The book also has information about many topics relevant to wireless network planning, design, and implementation of intrusion detection systems and intrusion prevention systems. It also shows you how to conduct information warfare. The book is organized into eight parts as well as an outstanding and usable glossary of security, wireless network and Internet networking terms and acronyms.

Product Description
A major, comprehensive professional text/reference for designing and maintaining security and reliability. From basic concepts to designing principles to deployment, all critical concepts and phases are clearly explained and presented. Includes coverage of wireless security testing techniques and prevention techniques for intrusion (attacks). An essential resource for wireless network administrators and developers.

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Review of On Becoming Fearless.... in Love, Work, and Life (Hardcover)

2010-05-25T07:27:00.000-04:00

I can't tell you how touched I am by this book.Here is Ms. Huffington, a woman known for her political influence and intellectual pursuits, who chose to write a book about her intimate relationship with fear.What an amazing gift that a person accomplished in so many ways paused to share her story of living with, yet breaking through, fear.

Prior to reading this book, I held a belief that great people did not have to work with the same type of inner chatter - "the world's worst roommate," as Ms. Huffington so aptly puts it. Ms. Huffington has given me such a gift; to see that it is not some better, less fearful mind that makes her success a possibility, but rather her feisty excitement at moving through and past her fears!

If you are considering this book, I highly recommend it!If you like this style of writing, in which wisdom is collected and woven together through a series of stories and anecdotes, I also recommend that you check out Ariel and Shya Kane's most recent book, Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment. Like Ms. Huffington, the Kanes are skilled at using their wisdom and life experience to guide their readers past the limiting fears and ideas that naturally impede well being, so that life can be lived at its best: as a daring adventure!!!

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Review of Challenges of Information Technology Education in the 21st Century (Hardcover)

2010-05-25T03:13:00.000-04:00

Challenges of Information Technology Education in the 21st Century (2002), edited by Prof. Eli Cohen of the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepeneurship & Management (Poland) and the Informing Science Institute (USA)is an invaluable resource for Information Science teachers at the undergraduate and graduate levels. But its interest goes well beyond this fairly restricted audience, as it contains guidelines for class action, models of teaching and for research, and very practical advice on curricular development that can be used successfully in all disciplines (including the humanities). It offers both a rationale for curricular format and content changes (justified by what Prof. Eli calls a "revolution" in IT education) and an analogue to the demands associated to future careers in college and in industry. Furthermore, by the end of the book, any careful reader will be much surprised at how much he/she has learned about institutional history, group dynamics, sociology and psychology of groups, the relations between IT and science, technology, and policy, as well as the connections between university, industry, and management.
The book is divided into four interconnected sections (Section I: Examples on How to Teach Specific Topics; Section II: Teaching Techniques and Pedagogy; Section III: Impact of the Web on IT Teaching; and Section IV: Developing an IT Curriculum). Together they represent a heterogeneous variety of 13 articles by Information Science experts from countries such as China, New Zealand, Australia, and the USA. The worldview present in all chapters takes into consideration that the population of teachers and students is not disembodied from institutional contexts. Taking into account that teachers perceive teaching and learning differently from students, the diversity of their cultural and racial backgrounds, the need to practice from real case studies, and the contrasting methods required by distance learning as opposed to classroom learning further reinforce the embededness of the process. The philosophy of education present in the chapters emphasizes the importance of teamwork in problem solving, the need to train students for flexibility in adjusting quickly to ever changing conditions typical of business applications, a sensitivity to the demands of industry as well as those of academia (and of their ever fluid relationships), and a "deep approach" to learning about IT. This model of learning and teaching is incompatible with more traditonal and passive teaching methods that have proved to be too weak to replicate the dynamic nature of real working situations in industry and that leave employers dissatisfied with the low level of preparedness and independent thinking on the part of their newly graduated employees. The "deep approach" involves reliance on groups, delegating tasks to qualified individuals or teams, brain-storming, discussing best solutions on the fly and with little guidance from management. It encourages the view that students construct knowledge in their minds rather than that they should expect information to be offered to them in its entirety by all-knowing teachers.
The contributors of Challenges of Information Technology in the 21st Century have made their homework. All chapters include detailed literature reviews of the field of expertise that their authors are complementing and/or superseding. All start with clear summaries that the reader can use for quick browsing, and end with concluding remarks and useful and updated bibliography lists. They also offer definitions, practical (and experimented in the field) perspectives, modules, tables, ideas for syllabi, tools for self-assessment, and many other guidelines for successful IT teaching and learning on an international scale. Although the vocabulary of IT is quite technical, the articles are easily intelligible to non-experts. I can see this book becoming a required reading for IT and business students, as well as for future college teachers. The book opens new horizons to interested parties and is, as typical of Prof. Eli's other work in the field of IT, incredibly honest every step of the way. I highly recommend it.

Product Description
When teaching in the area of Information Technology, it is necessary to constantly update curriculum, to deal with new challenges brought forth by students, and to modify teaching methods to accommodate these new situations. Challenges of Information Technology Education in the 21st Century strives to address a variety of pertinent questions surrounding the rapidly changing area of IT education, such as: What topics are important for the 21st Century? How does the Internet change the task of teaching? What is the role of the professor in a world of online learning? This exciting new book will be an invaluable resource for educators in the field of information technology.

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Review of Ordinary Monsters (Hardcover)

2010-05-24T16:16:00.000-04:00

Novak will seduce you with her masterful and engaging retelling of Shakespeare's tale. Her characters, sharply drawn and all too human, will endear themselves to you right off the bat. Like me, you will find yourself only too willing to follow them down every dark and narrow passage they travel. I indulged myself with Ordinary Monsters -- I started reading on a Saturday afternoon and didn't put down the book until I was done. You'll want to do the same.

Product Description
A mother's search for her lost son leads her to an almost mythical California desert town.

Nestled in a hidden valley, Lágrimas is the last stop for a host of eccentric and questionable souls. When Joyce arrives looking for her son on a tip from a hitchhiker who claims to have seen him there, she settles in a bit too quickly for the locals' comfort. Much to her crushing disappointment, the boy she's been led to is not her son, but an emotionally battered teenager who communicates solely through lines from The Tempest. The locals, suspicious of Joyce's intent, believe that she has brought with her the forces of the Owl, a devastating storm that threatens to demolish Lágrimas once every decade.

Like a storm, the histories of Joyce and all of Lágrimas' inhabitants come raining down over the course of this riveting novel. Emotionally wrought and ultimately redeeming, Ordinary Monsters is a remarkable story about the sorrow of loss and the gift of healing.

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Review of PREFERRED LIES AND OTHER TALES: Skimming the Cream of a Life in Sports (Hardcover)

2010-05-24T13:41:00.000-04:00

Jack Whitaker spins stories not only about exotic people and places; he also reveals a great deal about himself.His content and style clearly communicate a man who deeply appreciates the important things in life, aperspective that allows him to keep his long professional career, with itslegion chance-of-a lifetime experiences, in perspective. Whitaker's bookis a testimony to gratitude, not ego. "Preferred Lies and OtherTales" is, ultimately, stories less about sports, and more about life. In a culture flooded with hype, Jack Whitaker is a voice of hope.

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Review of Crazy Horse in Heaven (Hardcover)

2010-05-24T09:25:00.000-04:00

The jacket notes provide a prologue to the author's most recent, most praised, and most horrific work.Don't be misled by the somewhat mystic title; this book is no "Hymm to the Chesapeake," Arthur's firstbook of lyrical verse."Crazy Horse in Heaven," according to thejacket, takes place following the holocaust of the third world war, a factthat, though the story's catalyst, is ultimately irrelevant. Ten men,representing the darker sides of human nature, embark upon a latter-dayodyssey in search of literary works necessary to facilitate a secondgenesis.The book overflows with philosophical, psychological and physicalhorror, all within the confines of an environment which has become a cosmicmelting pot of heaven, earth and hell.A melting pot, inhabited by angels,demons, and human beings, where everything, yet nothing, is as it seems. It is a world where one thought, one idea, or one brief perception canalter the landscape...topographically, mentally, and spiritually. A brutalnarrative, penned in Arthur's lyrical style, foreshadows deeper paradoxes. It is a profane world in which (the act of) love becomes robotic anddehumanized; where realities become personal, and, in the words of onecharacter,"...flicker into dominance, irregularly, temporarily."Ultimately, the novel focuses on the struggles of three men...the Professorof Literature, Pgeon, the Native-American, and the spirit of Crazy Horse;all of whom pursue their goals and seek some type of resolution andabsolution.The return of Crazy Horse sets the wheels in motion for thebook's climactic battle. In "Crazy Horse in Heaven," Arthur showshis talents as lyricist, poet, and playwright.It is a book worthreading..."the universe is mad; All traveling through All Places andno Places at once."

Product Description
After the conflagration of the third world war breaks the bonds of consensual reality, ten brutal and psychologically damaged men set out on horseback into a wilderness of inexplicable natural phenomena. Crazy Horse in Heaven is a wild and haunting epic of light and dark. Filled with unpredictable philosophical, pyschological and physical horror,it delivers a shadowy nightmare of the mind in which the hidden powers of the new and ancient world-- heaven, hell, angels, and demons--assume at least a momentary and literal existence. Intensely lyrical, the writing itself is stunningly brilliant.

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Review of Iban Art: Sexual Selection and Severed Heads (Hardcover)

2010-05-24T06:04:00.000-04:00

To say that IBAN ART: SEXUAL SELECTION AND SEVERED HEADS is a specialty item is putting it lightly: it's a 'must have' for any college-level art or cultural collection - and just as likely not a first pick for general interest public libraries. Michael Heppell spent two years in Sarawak studying Iban dispute management between 1971 and 1973, developing insights and a knowledge of Iban history and customs which are essential for any who would understand regional Asian concerns. IBAN ART provides fabulous photos of Iban textile designs, beadwork, carving patterns and more. Iban tattooing is a focus on both human and material forms and receives much inspection and close analysis. There is so very little written on the region that IBAN ART is an outstanding recommendation for any comprehensive Asian collection - and for any art library seeking a wide representation of other cultures.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Product Description
The author describes the ikat, sungkit, pilih, and other forms of Iban weaving, the sculptures, the tattooing, metal forging, and other art of the Iban in the context of their oral sagas, stories, poetry, and love songs. He shows how art was used as a pre-literate scholastic aptitude test to ensure intelligent Iban married other intelligent Iban to increase the likelihood that their children were intelligent and were more likely to prosper. Women also chose men on the basis of their prowess at war to ensure the household, physically, was secure. That meant heads and headhunting. The book shows how weaving and headhunting came to be ritualized, the one encouraging the other, so that sexual selection was bound into the Iban's holy trinity of taking heads, growing rice, and birth or regeneration.

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Review of Thumb Flagging (Hardcover)

2010-05-24T02:55:00.000-04:00

Thumb Flagging is our opportunity to join free-spirited characters in a be-here-now, hippy-dippy journey hitchhiking across the country. Our guide is the work-in-development Jay "Jaybird" Patterson, who seeks his own personal growth on this journey. His mentor for the first part of his trek is a genuine "concrete diva" named Willy Jacobs, a philosopher of the highway who employs quirky remedies to help Jay overcome his anxiety disorder and find his identity. So off we go on a nomadic adventure with these Kant-quoting, pot-smoking, bourbon-drinking, freak flag-flying poetry-reciting drifters. As Willy puts it, "There are closet bohemians and there are front room bohemians. We happen to be front room material at wholesale value."

We wander along with Jaybird and Willy as they encounter a series of kooky characters, from the ominous to the omnipotent, who provide a ride as well as an earful on our hip-hopping journey. Soon we become accustomed to the pick-up and drop-off pattern, which provides a steady rhythm to the book, much like the cadenced sound of tires slapping the pavement as we cruise down the road. While Peterson paints Jaybirdy and Willy as freewheeling, techno-color eccentrics, the ancillary characters tend to be drawn in a paler, simpler shade. The author chooses to sketch those fleeting characters in broad stroke archetypes who often come off as simpletons or stereotypes particularly in contrast to Willy's self-taught genius, all-around gentlemanliness, and strict code of honor. Nevertheless, Willy counsels that each ride offers an opportunity for a new life lesson. After meeting a xenophobic, homophobic military man, our bohemian guides find enough common ground with him to share a chuckle, prompting Jaybird to ruminate, "After the laugh I thought to myself: what can I learn from this ride? How can this experience help me to be a better person?"

Just as the true traveler's life is more about the journey than the destination, Thumb Flagging is more about the characters than the plot development. Although the story contains a vaguely menacing bad guy as well as a bit of intrigue and romance, the true north of Thumb Flagging remains Jaybird and his efforts of personal growth. A peek at the author's blog confirms what readers may have suspected all along, that Jaybird Patterson may just well be a thinly disguised version of Jerome Peterson. Like the author, Jaybird Patterson meets another drifter, and the girl of his dreams, in Durango, Colorado. Once she comes on the scene, Jaybird has the opportunity to transition from the student to teacher, passing on the lessons learned from Willy and the road.

Peterson attempts to render Jaybird and Willy as colorful, likeable characters, and chooses an assortment of invented vocabulary and zany turns of phrase. However, the author's persistent use of "ya" in place of "you" feels like a forced attempt at quirkiness that fortunately peters out as the story goes on. Over all, Peterson's quirky poeticism and off-kilter style sketches an outline of the goofy flavor of these drifters and their hitchhiking odysseys. As Willy advises his student of the sidewalk, "Just put on a hat of happiness, place a morning star in your eye, and cornflake it."

Any hippies-hit-the-highway story risks falling in the psychedelic shadow of Hunter S. Thompson's seminal book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and like most other works Thumb Flagging pales wanly in the comparison. While Thompson's work forged the road, this story struggles to catch up, as most any other follower would. All the same, we appreciate the opportunity to tag along for the ride with Jaybird as he travels many miles and many adventures to get from insecure doubter towards confident adult. In the immortal words of the Grateful Dead, what a long, strange trip it's been.

Quill says: Hit the highway with these quirky drifters on a journey of one man's self-discovery.

Product Description
The lure of the open road and the undeniable wanderlust of the heart have overtaken the life of young, kindhearted Jay Patterson. When he meets confident, free-spirited Willy Jacobs, Jay hesitantly becomes a bohemian of the highway in this tale set in the late seventies. Their unforgettable cross-country journeys by hitchhiking and riding the rails lead them to extraordinary situations beyond their imaginations. Willy is a friendly street-smart drifter who applies his zany roadside therapies to help Jay overcome his crisis of confidence. As the unlikely pair travel, Willy philosophizes and uses his strong personality and energy persuading Jay into becoming a hitchhiking junkie. The vagabonds meet with unexpected encounters and come face-to-face with themselves and the harsh realities of the open highway. They stumble upon many others who are traveling and tending to their own physical, psychological and emotional wounds. Paranoia strikes at the heart of their journey as they cross the path a number of times with a mysterious psychopathic couple. While traveling alone from Arizona to Maine, Jay meets a female drifter. The decisions they make could result in a magical relationship or a tragic goodbye. "To share more of the plot would spoil this richly satisfying read. I will say that there are some subplots, that are interesting, and as a retired road warrior myself, I once again found myself floating back to my own experiences.Thumb Flagging makes for a wonderful read. Jerome Peterson has done an outstanding job on the character and plot development. We meet the young neophyte Jay Patterson, and end knowing the worldly wise Jaybirdy!" -- Simon Barrett http://www.bloggernews.net/121913

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Review of Unlearning to Fly (Hardcover)

2010-05-23T18:13:00.000-04:00

Halfway into the book, when I didnt find anything about flying, I thought may be here in this book, its a metaphorical act.

Lullaby for Lloyd:
This is a small chapter, but at the end of it, it seems like a book. Its about the author's adopted brother. The reader is already aware of the parents good nature. The story can be seen from a sibling's, parents of an adopted child or from the adopted child's point of view. And the innumerous people who put up with pranks of a brat.

Three Paragraphs:
Her experience as an obituary writer. How they moved from 'in your own words' of the bereaved family to the stock three paragraph format. When she writes her own grandfather's obituary, one can see how to keep it from getting overly public, all things unique about him have to be shorned off the paper.

The Metaphysics of being stuck:
From here on you enter the promised land of the book. While it is about stall in the flying process, it does not end without touching (let me trace the path) the split between moving and still - explorers fascination - student pilot - her solo flight - ambition vs societal expectation - motherhood.

Angle of attack:
The writing technique in this is worth admiring.
Analysing the cause of death of an acquaintance, she has a lot more to tell about flying, about accidents. Including some writing on 'accident reports' has added texture to this essay. There are many quotes from many authors, but one mostly used are of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "Wind, Sand and Stars" who stars in the next essay 'Blue Storm'

The beginning is foreboded in the title, but it branches into many journeys.

Product Description
Unlearning to Fly is the memoir of a bookworm growing up in Alaska-among people whose resilience, restlessness, and energy find their highest expression in winter ascents of Mount McKinley or first descents of wild rivers. These are the flying stories of a fearful pilot, one who admires but does not emulate the more daring exploits of her father and her friends.The accounts of Jennifer Brice-at times poignant, funny, and downright nerve-racking-are engaging recollections of deadly, near-deadly, and occasionally comic encounters between human nature and Nature writ large. The unlikely romance between her parents, the Good Friday earthquake, the Alaska oil boom, a stint as a newspaper reporter, and the trials of a student pilot form a few chapters in Brice's remarkable life. These are the stories in which the physics and metaphors of flight-center of gravity, angle of attack, wake turbulence-illuminate Brice's remarkable life story, recounted in prose that takes wing. (20070916)

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Review of Before: A Novel (Hardcover)

2010-05-23T11:48:00.000-04:00

BEFORE

A review by Matt W. Miller
Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University
Author of Cameo Diner: Poems

In BEFORE, Joseph Hurka incorporates his powerful instincts as a storyteller with a poet's meticulous attention to image, music and metaphor to craft an exquisite and haunting tale of a group of people on the night before 9/11. The narrative, which moves lightly and necessarily back and forth between time and space, pulls the reader along with great intensity. In the joy of reading the story it would be easy to miss the echoes of image and metaphor that affect the lives of these people and tethers them together between the years, countries, and cultures that separate them. The idea that we are all in some way voyeurs is demonstrated in the parallel narratives of a stalker, a photographer, and a young man looking through thousands of photos of the Holocaust in an attempt to discover the fate of his family. The recurring images of sunflowers and cicadas demonstrate that we are all connected by the natural world. From Nazi-ravaged Bohemia during WWII to bohemian Cambridge, Massachusetts on the eve of September 11, 2001 we are inserted into the lives of men and women who bear life's wounds not with hyperboles of heroics or villainy but with the basic strength and weakness that we all possess. As a writer, Hurka does not take the easy path of merely creating sympathy or pity for the humans that people his story. Like Chekhov or Carver, Hurka is able to make us feel empathy for these people by showing that these people are us. The choices they make are the ones we may have made in similar situations, after experiencing the same blows that life inflicts. Whether it is an old man recovering from a stroke and haunted by his memories of being a boy fighting Nazis to avenge his slaughtered family, a photographer finding her place in a society of slippery meaning and morality, or even a Gulf War vet who has become a midnight stalker of women, we see something of ourselves in all of them. We understand them even if we don't always condone what they do or did in their life. That we can feel all this about these people the night before Al-Qaeda terrorists will kill thousands of people of U.S. soil may even unhinge the locked doors of that day's emotions and judgments. BEFORE is exactly what the title suggests. It is the story of how everything that comes before affects what happens now and what happens later. The human capacity for deep and detailed memory, not only in our own minds but in the methods we have developed to record history, are constantly at work on the way we experience and act in the world. Like the spider's web, where if you touch one strand all other strands will feel the vibration, so is the human race. The act of one person affects the lives of others all over the world and across time. We see this now in the world where we still fight over the actions and words of people written thousands of years ago. Like all great art, BEFORE challenges, and even disturbs, the way you think and feel about the world and yourself. Like all of life's important experiences, reading this book will not leave you unscathed but it will leave you closer to whole. And it will underscore the fact that in life there are no easy answers except, perhaps, for each other.

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Review of Nice to Come Home To (Hardcover)

2010-05-23T10:53:00.000-04:00

If it looks like chick-lit, it must be, huh?But that ain't necessarily so.

It's hard to deny that the marketing of 'Nice to Come Home To' is geared towards the female gender, but that would be selling it short.The story encompasses more than girl-stuff.It's life-stuff.

Flowers makes her characters real:situations, dialogue, development and flaws.The reader can relate to all - even the cat.The writing is smart and clever which is what is usually missing in most novels that get pigeon-holed into this market.

I'd encourage you to check the book out - regardless of age or gender. I believe 'Nice to Come Home To' would be something anyone who picked it up would enjoy.

I did.

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Review of The Confessions of Max Tivoli (Today Show Book Club #22) (Hardcover)

2010-05-23T03:02:00.000-04:00

Imagine being born an old man and growing physically younger. Imagine grappling with physical and chronological ages that are at odds with each other for all but a brief period in your middle age. Imagine falling in love and stopping at nothing to be near the one you love. Max Tivoli has had such a life. He is a protagonist like no other, and now he writes his confessions. No, not his memoirs... his confessions.

Max bares his soul, revealing the paradoxes, the ironies, and the cyclical patterns in his unique and tumultuous life. He documents his struggles against the currents of time, where he has had to keep reinventing himself as time moved inexorably forward for others. He laments the deceit and rejection he has had to practice to follow his mothers advice to "be what they think you are."He describes how his best friend, in stages, plays the role of his son, his brother, and his father. He memorializes a love that transcends drastically changing age differences.

Taking place in San Francisco around the turn of the twentieth century, when gaslights and carriages make way for electric lights and automobiles, the action centers on the three time periods in Max's life when his path crosses that of his love, Alice. In each of the three sections he reluctantly reveals, bit by bit, the surprising details that comprise the core of his life. His need for acceptance and love is portrayed in an entirely new and fresh way. The story evinces emotions that are powerfully heartrending. The writing is lyrical and full of imagery. This incredible novel will take your breath away, and I recommend it highly. If you only have the time to read one literary novel this season, make it this one.

Eileen Rieback

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Review of Gorgon: Paleontology, Obsession, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History (Hardcover)

2010-05-23T01:25:00.000-04:00

Today's schoolchildren, fascinated by Jurassic creatures, learn that the dinosaurs were mostly wiped out by a meteor that struck the area of the Yucatan 65 million years ago.This explanation was put forward only a couple of decades ago, and though it was revolutionary at the time, it has been confirmed so well that it is hard to imagine that there will ever be evidence to disconfirm it.Peter D. Ward, now a professor of geological sciences at the University of Washington, worked on evidence for this Cretaceous extinction, and then turned his attention to a previous extinction, one that makes the Cretaceous look like a fender-bender.In _Gorgon: Paleontology, Obsession, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History_ (Viking), Ward has told the story of his researches into the Permian extinction, which 250 million years ago exterminated forever 95% of the species then living.This is a personal account, a memoir to tell about field adventures, the atmosphere in modern South Africa, and the theory he has come up with.It is a fine introduction to current ideas about the Permian extinction, and what it is that paleontologists do.

The Gorgon of the title was a beast something like a tiger, ten feet long.The fearsome Gorgon was not a mammal; it had eyes at the side of its head and it had scales on its body, both characteristics more associated with lizard-type creatures.And the Gorgon itself left no descendants.It was one of the victims of the Permian wipeout.Ward was in South Africa in 1991 to research another type of fossil, but circumstances sent him into the heat, cold, storms, flies, ticks, snakes, ants, and scorpions of the Karoo desert.The stratification there, and other evidence, brought fundamental changes in the way paleontologists view the Permian extinction.The eventual explanation includes that there was not a single, rapid event, but a series of short, successive ones altering the atmosphere and changing the population of creatures that could survive to beget the dinosaurs and mammals that were to come.The explanation isn't final; no scientific explanation really is, but it is how things stand right now.

In addition to being a scientific memoir, Ward's book describes visits to South Africa when that country was going through amazing changes.On one visit, he was interrogated by severe and unfriendly white passport controllers, for instance, whereas years later he would be greeted by welcoming black ones.He would also visit during times where he could show his white self anywhere with impunity, whereas years later to be white "meant that one had money and was fair game."He was informed on a later visit to avoid a certain region because it was Thursday; seeking clarification, he learned that Thursday was cremation day.AIDS had come, and he was being advised not to be downwind of the burning of the week's accumulated bodies.Also, Ward is open about the effect of his career on his family, which he obviously loves, but he loves his travel to the field as well.Leaving them again for Africa, he can't find words to explain why the hunt is so important for him, and the parting becomes an unsweet sorrow, even an angry one."Why do we do what we do?" he asks.It is a great question.He has answered the scientific questions as directly as he can, and in his report of struggling to overcome many physical, emotional, and societal hurdles to find answers, he has given an indirect but satisfying answer to his personal why.

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Review of Motor Learning and Control: Concepts and Applications (Hardcover)

2010-05-22T22:33:00.000-04:00

I have used this text this year in my motor learning class. It covers all the basics from both a motor program view as well as a dynamic systems view and is a must for any student interested in teaching, coaching or applying motor learning techniques to their everyday lives.

Product Description
Designed for introductory students, this text provides the reader with a solid research base and defines difficult material by identifying concepts and demonstrating applications for each of those concepts. Motor Learning and Control: Concepts and Applications also includes references for all relevant material to encourage students to examine the research for themselves.

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Review of Directing For Television (Hardcover)

2010-05-22T17:11:00.000-04:00

"Directing for Television" provides a rare look into an often unsung profession - television direction.Any student of broadcasting or TV production ought to read and learn from the great directors who create the 'look' of everything we see on the small screen.My only wish is that the individual interviews were longer.By covering so many styles of directing, Rose seems to have been forced to keep each interview to a relatively brief length.Still, you will be hard-pressed to find this kind of insider's information anywhere else.

Product Description
TV directors face tremendous creative challenges in their work. Putting on a new episode of situation comedy every four days or directing a live news event requires great skill and discipline. "Directing for Television" looks at the work of more than two dozen TV directors and examines their role in the complex process of TV production. This book is the result of five years of conversations with directors representing virtually every part of the TV schedule. Author Brian Rose explores the craft and artistry directors utilize in coming to terms with each of the major TV formats. Among genres discussed are late-night television (with directors Jerry Foley "The Late Show with David Letterman" and Ellen Brown of the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno"), news magazines (with Arthur Bloom of "60 Minutes"), network newscasts (with the directors of "ABC World News Tonight", "NBC Nightly News", and the "CBS Evening News"), afternoon talk shows (with the directors of the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and the "Maury Povich Show"), sports (with directors Bob Fishman of CBS Sports and Doug Wilson of ABC Sports), and music specials (with director Steve Binder). Other formats covered include news specials, soap operas, early morning talk shows, prime time comedy and drama, pilots, and local newscasts. "Directing for Television" provides a fascinating inside look at the challenges of TV directing, such as the impact of new technologies, the never-ending pressure of time and economics, and the role of the TV director in a producer-oriented environment. Of interest to TV production students interested in the techniques and creative approaches of TV directing, industry professionals concerned with how directors approach their craft, and students and teachers of TV production, criticism, and history.

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