I expected more
	Before I started reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," the book had a lot going for it: stellar reviews on the cover, an intriguing title and its status as one of five or six books found in the meager philosophy section at Walden Books in Pocatello.

Unfortunately, despite these advantages, the book failed to deliver anything but ambiguity and disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't very good.

I'm not sure whether the book is a memoir, a novel or a philosophical treatise. In "Zen" Robert Pirsig tells the story of a motorcycle trip he went on with his son, Chris in the 1970s. But the story, I guess, is not really about the bike trip itself but the thoughts the author has about quality and technology.

The only interesting passage of the whole book can be found on page  17:

  "The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower."

That passage is good. The rest of the book is depressing and confusing. Throughout the entire motorcycle trip, the author ignores his son and becomes lost in his own head thinking deep thoughts about the definition of "quality."

I'm not sure if this book was intended as a novel, but if it was, it failed to produce character growth. It's standing as a work of philosophy is not much better. The author's ideas could have been explained in a 20 page essay and been much clearer.

Whatever the book was supposed to be, it didn't impressed me.


Why is the cost so reasonable?...
	...essentially you get what you pay for. This book is certanly NOT representative of what I have come to expect from National Geographic.

I had eagerly anticipated the arrival of my book, but was dissappointed to find within the first few pages that it is uninspiring at best. Most of the pictures are poorly executed and at times seem amateurish. In the past I've found photographs by professionals like Steve McCurry ('Portraits')visually arresting. Not so here.

At least it only cost me $20 oredering from Amazon. If I had been able to preview it beforehand, I would not have thought it worth even the discounted price


BAH!  Correction Please
	"Karl Marx, years ago, gave a description of why this might be happening. He followed the most moral and meritocratic theory for wealth and value: an object is worth as much as the effort it takes to make."

NO IT'S NOT!!! An object's worth is based upon both the supply of an object and the demand for it arrising from consumers. To imply that it comes from the effort it takes to make implies that a milkshake that takes only a few minutes to make is worth far less than a vial of poison that took an hour to make or an atomic bomb that took months to make, which would mean that we should subsidize the military-industrial complex, since all those workers worked hard to create those deadly things.

"Petty-bourgeois' owners, i.e. the mom-and-pop stores and small business in general, of which my grandpa, a dentist, was a part of, are being driven under by corporate chain competition in retail."

This is either to the innefficiency in their store to meet consumer demands or to the massive regulations burdened upon them by the government. All regulations do nothing but add an increased burden on to competition and thus kills them out. There's a reason why the owner's of Wal-Mart recently said that the federal government should increase the minimum wage to over $8, as this would cause many smaller businesses to go bankrupt, lay off employees, and prevent future businesses from starting up to compete with Wal-Mart. Another problem is the subsidies that the smaller store pays to Wal-Mart (Wal-Mart collects millions in subsidies due to Marx's Labor Theory of Value once again) and of the use of emminent domain abuse (which can be justified on the grounds of the "greater good" as opposed to the individual good of your mom and pop stores).

"But no theory is ever flawless, and socialists should be able to correct their past flaws to account for human nature and "reality." There is no reason to believe that heavy social hierarchy and class division is a necessary evil; workers CAN manage their lives just fine through cooperatives."

Sure there is. Human beings are inherently unequal, differing in many skills, abilities, ambition, the choices that they make in life, how they apply their time, etc. etc. Of course, there is isn't any reason that individuals can't create wealth nonetheless, creating goods and services that help others out in exchange for some good or service itself. And cooperatives need to be voluntary first. Nor can cooperatives produce the bulk of wealth.  There needs to be some Division of Labor, Trade and Commerce, etc. or else all cooperatives end up as hunter-gatherering tribes reduced to the real law of the jungle to survive.  This can't happen if everything is collectively owned.

"Since workers are the sole producers of goods from scratch to end"

NO! Entreprenuers, innovators, etc. provide much of the creativity, design, direction for the purchase and use of capital goods, negotiation of deals, evaluation of threats, problems, and consumer requests, and other such things. It wasn't the workers at Microsoft who created cheap desktop computers, it was Bill Gates, the workers are merely a form of mass-production who help out, but ultimately mass produce a good or service in exchange for privately owned wages, caused by supply and demand.


PAIN AS GOD'S MEGAPHONE
	Since God is Infinite Goodness, we must conclude that the appearance of reckless divine cruelty is a delusion.  When we are comfortable, we are too shallow-minded to realize that we need God.  Since God knows that He is the only thing that we really need, He inflicts pain upon us to wake us up to this fact.  So pain is God's megaphone.  If some people, such as the Jews, try to love God without going through Christ, it is not yet God - merely the best approximation their fantasy can attain.  Hence poor God is forced to keep screeching at them through His megaphone.  But even people who try their hardest to love the true God, such as Job, or C. S. Lewis for that matter, cannot adore God as much as He wants to be adored, so He uses pain over and over again to "plant the flag of truth within their rebellious souls."

Where does this notion of an Infinitely Good God come from?  Given mankind's painful existence, "an inference from the course of events in this world to the Goodness and Wisdom of the Creator would be preposterous."  God had to reveal Himself to mankind by Revelation; thus it is in the likes of Abraham and Moses, who identified God as righteous, that all peoples are blessed.  Lewis informs us that God expostulated with His own creatures on the basis of their own ethical conceptions - "What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me?"  One has to wonder if Lewis has ever actually read the Bible.  Can anyone really deny that if a leader of today did exactly the sorts of things that Abraham and Moses did that they would be decried by all of sane mankind as monsters?  I have never understood why, or how, I am supposed to pretend that this is not true.  Of course, God is wiser than me, so if I could only see it from God's viewpoint, I would see that the butchery of whole populations, including babies and animals, was actually an act of love.  In MERE CHRISTIANITY Lewis condemns this line of reasoning in eastern religions as "damn nonsense."  Undoubtedly, we get the impression of a just and loving God through the teachings of Christ, but the conviction that God is Infinite Goodness, Omniscience, and Omnipotence did not come from biblical revelation; it was developed by medieval Christian philosophers by reasoning through extrapolation -- a process that Lewis, rather inexplicably, deems impossible.

Lewis's insistence that people have free will needs to be examined.  Even as he describes it, since we are born in sin, we cannot use free will to avoid sin, and most people are blind to their sin.  Hence, it logically follows that there can be no free will without the ability of self-perception.  The evidence suggests that incessant pain, especially when inflicted upon children, destroys this ability.  Abused children typically grow up to be abusers.  In my own case, I adamantly insist it was the drug, marijuana, which first gave me introspective ability, at the age of 23.  Prior to that moment, God knows that I had no free will.  Free will is not a realized trait that we are born with, but a potential ability that requires a great deal of effort to develop.  In most people it remains largely dormant.  Since free will is dependent on self-knowledge, the role of religion needs to be the development of introspective ability.  Dogmatic adherence can only hinder this.

Lewis is at least honest enough to acknowledge evolution.  Unfortunately, it is hardly possible to reconcile the notion of evolution of man from animals with his fairy-tale notion that animals only exist by destroying each other because they were corrupted by Satan before man's appearance on Earth.  Somehow, the perfectly good "Paradisal Man" descended from animals already corrupted by Satan.  Lewis can be abominably silly sometimes.

Lewis is given to disjunctive, either/or, logic.  Either the common human experience of supernatural awe is a mere twist in the mind with no biological purpose, or it is direct experience of the supernatural - a Revelation.  I would once have scoffed at this, but a Numinous vision of Christ was the major turning point of my life.  The problem is that this Revelation was not at all consistent with Mere Christianity.  According to Lewis, the purpose of pain is to break our will, since it is our tarnished wills that keep us from God.  I had only recently come to realize that I had not had free will until my sense of self was awakened by an illegal drug.  I experienced Christ in the very moment that I was cursing Christ for demanding that I beg forgiveness for that which He was responsible.  Albeit, at the time I was an atheist, and was only cursing at what I had been taught about Christ.  I experienced Christ as the core of my being, not as an entity completely separate from myself, and as an awakening of will, not a surrender.  Lewis assures me that the feeling of being one with God, rather than a creature of God, is Satan's ultimate deception.  But I have also experienced Satan within myself.  If Christ were not the core of my being, I would never have survived Satan.  I know the difference.  I do not acknowledge that Christianity has the authority tell me what my experience of God must be.

I am a scientist by training, not given to superstitious credulity, however much like it what I have written above must sound.  In my attempt to make sense of my experience of Christ and Satan battling within my mind, I have come up with the following myth:  It is, at least, not completely unreasonable to assume that consciousness is an inherent quality of existence.  This consciousness would first be in a primordial state, probably in some way responsible for evolution, though not by anything like intelligent design by direct control.  There could be no distinction between good and evil; in fact the terms could have no meaning, until consciousness evolved to a complexity capable of self-awareness.  As self-awareness developed, so did awareness of pain and terror, and a rebellion against achieving a level of awareness capable of experiencing pain.  The human mind, as the vessel of consciousness experiences these antagonistic trends and, for whatever reason, tends to personify them as God and Satan, or their various cultural equivalents.  What makes the Christian God so detestable is His complete refusal to accept responsibility for anything.  Satan can therefore be described as "God's self-ignorance."  Buddhists are apparently able to put themselves into the conscious state of inanimate matter, hence there insistence that good and evil are identical.  C. S. Lewis tells us that "it is not God's purpose that we should go back into that old identity."  I think I agree with him on this point.  Mankind's goal must be to attain free will be becoming conscious of what we really are.
(Peter Payne, author of CAPTAIN CALIFORNIA:  A YOUNG MAN'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE EVIL WITHIN HIMSELF)


I must be missing something...
	I am a chef and an avid collector of cookbooks. I find the recipes of this book to be mediocre at best, terribly organized and lengthy. I am not interested in Lawson's endless anecdotes, rather, I would prefer her stories to be replaces by pictures (an essential for cooking books, in my opinion), of which there are none. I was disappointed, and would not recommend this book to anyone. For basic, great recipes, I would suggest any of Ina Garten's books. Her recipes are no-fail and the books are well done.


Too much French for me
	The chief problem with this book is that the writer incorporates the French perspective by using citations in French with no translations.  I took 2 years of high school French but I'm not that good!  This could be overlooked except that, for obvious reasons, I was very interested to hear the perspective of French writing on this lopsided defeat.  The experience was like someone telling a long joke and them mumbling the awaited punchline, or someone tearing out the last page of a riveting mystery novel.  I simply can't believe key citations weren't translated.

Otherwise the study of Henry V was great, and I would like to hear more about him (except since he died young I probably heard it all already.)  The treatment of the battle was superficial, but perhaps given the lack of material this could be understood, but more could be done


Disturbing novel about being above moral law
	Have you ever done something wrong but justified it so that you wouldn't feel bad?  Have you ever seen someone else do the exact same wrong thing and condemn him? In this story, the main character seems to believe that even when he does bad things he's still a "good guy" because "good guys" don't do bad things.  Dizzing logic, huh?  Throughout the novel, you review his senior year of high school with him.  It starts out with the story of how he got the nickname "Killer" to why it's okay for him to take illegal drugs or break a public statue.  The flashbacks of the past year are woven within the present day drama of him trying to convince a scared and angry young woman that he didn't rape her.  He won't let her leave the room until she believes it.  The ending is less than satisfactory for me.  I would much rather the main character have received retribution and the girl receive justice


Meh
	Jesus, talk about the little girl crying "wolf." When I picked up this book, I expected to read a truly terrifying tale about how people got sick with a horrifying disease that no one knew/knows how to deal with. What I got instead was a lot of perseverating and a lot of emotional presumption.

The book starts out promisingly, even if Preston surrenders freely to flowery prose. We're given the account of Charles Monet, one of the first documented cases of the Ebola virus. From there on, Preston gives a description of the virus, what it does, how it does it - the works. Then, he moves on to the Human Component, the cast of characters, so to speak, for the big story.

The big story is, alas, not so impressive. It's a case of an Ebola outbreak amongst a shipment of monkeys that everyone thinks is going to cause awful problems to come about, but nothing of the sort happens. Basically, people run around in bio-hazard gear, fret a lot, and monkeys die. In between, Preston manages to surpass his self-indulgence to talk about other cases of the Ebola virus, cases of people being infected, "crashing and bleeding out," cases that are a lot more interesting than a shipment of monkeys, unless you're a PETA type.

The worst thing about The Hot Zone is just how self-indulgent Preston is. He starts to novelize his subjects a few chapters into the book, which is a noble idea, but not when they don't die at the end. Basically, he's trying to make you care about these people, and all for naught. And by the time that you're supposed to be truly concerned, you actually WANT them to die, because you're tired of hearing about him describe, in active detail, what they eat in the morning, what they do in the afternoon, and how they lie in bed with their spouses at night. When you're addressing a subject as fascinating as a Level 4 virus, why are you spending time talking about Nancy Jaax's hands and karate prowess? Moreover, when you've finally gotten to the monkeys, why are you talking about what kind of monkeys they are and how they dwell in the wild? Does anyone really care?

I wish I could say that this book moved me in ways other than to reverse my peristalsis, but I can't. Preston's ornate metaphors that pepper almost every page of this book are tiresome and unnecessary; he had the chance to write a compact little thriller about an averted crisis of global proportions, but he instead chose to "get into the minds" of his subjects. And what a bore that became. There were only two redeeming aspects of this book: one was the description of the African, human Ebola victims, and the other was the description of the virus itself, although, again, both were sabotaged by Preston's inability to write.

If you want to know something about Ebola, go get An Idiot's Guide to Dangerous Diseases and Epidemics. If you're pining for the namby-pambiness of the Human Element, read The Hot Zone. Personally, I like to avoid rereading the Uncle Tom's Cabins of scientific accounting


Only For Those With Little or No Work Experience
	This book was advertised as though it would be valuable for any professional. This is absolutely not the case. This book covers very, very basic guidelines and does so in an overview type fashion. I would recommend this book for college graduates or those who are employed at entry level jobs and are seeking advancement


Nonsense
	Sheer and utter.  This hardly can be called a work of fiction.  Had this been his first work, I could understand the grammatical mistakes, but this is inexcuseable.  The publisher should be fined for this book and the editor fired


Not Christie's best
	Hmmm. I'm struggling to give Agatha Christie such a low rating. She wrote the kind of mysteries that you could sink your teeth into. Not quick reads, but very methodical with lots of character development. I don't always feel very motivated to get through some of those slow-moving chapters, but I always do it knowing that I will be rewarded with a great ending. Christie was great at spinning scenarios designed to shock the reader when the  quot;who, where and why quot; were finally revealed in the end. I was shocked again at the end of this book - not because I didn't know who the killer was, but actually because I already knew who and how. I tried to convince myself for awhile that it had to be someone else because it was just too obvious. Very disappointing. Christie books I would recommend instead - ABC murders, And Then There Were None and Murder of Roger Ackroyd


Stupid book written by a stupid person
	I read this book because my English Professor spoke highly of it. I would call it a collection of stupid and hypocritical opinions and ideas. So why did your bridge fall down Mr. Engineer? Oh, I dropped my structural steel class so I could do a course in another language. I don't think it's right to criticize something like a college degree if a person doesn't even possess one. Actually I think that something like a college degree would be a great start before writing a book like this. It might decrease the chances of writing a book as stupid as this one. This book insulted my intelligence and I wouldn't even recommend it for a laugh


Manufacturing error
	On the one hand, I loved the book, since I am a big fan of Thomas Paine. However, my particular copy was missing the last 50 pages or so of "The Age of Reason". When they get the printing and/or binding problems straightend out and have purged the inventory of the defective books, they should remove this review. At that point, I will eagerly buy a new copy


Deeply Disappointing Dexter
	I was not a huge fan of the first book, but the concept was interesting and some times a series gets better with each book. This may not be the case here. While it is not as forehead smacking dimwitted as the first, it is has it's moments of unbeleiveablity. How can Dexter be so attractive that women throw themselves at him, and such a good pretender of being human that he can be oblivous when women like him? The only women who was not attracted to him has been his foster sister, and I kind of think it might be only a matter of time. I also dislike how every person who is his foe ends up dead or out of commission. Are they going to introduce a new character to be "on to him" every book? This is not only frustrating but it shows that the author is completely incapable of developing any character or relationship longer than a few pages.


ruined by its ignorance of female sexuality
	I found this book embarrassing to read - not because it's risque, but because it so clearly illustrates how the French   Italians got their reputations as great lovers. Is this the best that English literature can give us? This fellow clearly understands little of female anatomy, let alone female sexuality.

It's also mean-spirited. Lawrence proves his points by setting up his version of idealized man and even more idealized woman, and then spends most of the book trying to knock down every other character and concept. This is his only real method of proving the superiority of his ideal. He drips way too much contempt.

Everything outside of sex is dumb, meaningless, ridiculous. Attempting to derive enjoyment from the "mental life" makes one ridiculous; being paralyzed makes one ridiculous; trying to have sex in any way outside Lawrence's own true and correct way makes one pathetic, or defective, or spiteful; not being able to enjoy the sort of lovemaking Lawrence proposes makes one undeserving of the title of "woman" or "man"; and so on.

Looking at Italian art is stupid. Everything in Paris is stupid. Constance can apparently tell from a glance that nobody in France knows how to have sex properly.

Reading the book without his openly contemptuous commentary on what's "wrong" with everyone except C. and M., one might easily conclude that Constance doesn't really seem happier now that she's sleeping with the gamekeeper, and Hilda does seem happier in Venice - the author counters this by ridiculing "that kind" of happiness as delusional and druglike. He even seems to imply that her being so pleased with her life is yet more proof that there's something wrong with her. Of course Constance is wretched, because she does not have that one thing that, in Lawrence's view, really matters in life - not Mellors, but Mellors' equipment. This book does degenerate into phallus-worship, which makes the author's hostility toward "druglike" pleasures seem sort of ironically comical.

Hilda is pathetic precisely because she can derive enjoyment from sensual pleasures: from Venice, from the feel of the sun, from jazz, from dancing. This seems weird to me - as if Lawrence is punishing the uppity woman. Hilda is also described as worse than pathetic - she is a "user", with strong suggestions that she is cold and immoral - because she enjoys that part of dancing which allows her to press up against a strange man, only to walk away when the dance is over. (This may be why at least one reviewer called the book sexist, since obviously Lawrence doesn't mind if Mellors is callous and behaves as a "user".)

It's actually sort of creepy how an author who seems to be claiming that sensuality is good consistently knocks sensual pleasures like the feel of sunshine on one's body. Everything is stupid except sex - and not just any sex, but his notion of real sex.

This is where astute readers will have the most trouble. Lawrence clearly defines a "real" woman - Constance Chatterly - by contrasting her with bad examples.

A woman who lays there "unfeeling" is clearly an example. Such a woman is described in terms suggesting she lacks warmth/decency/heart/womanhood/etc. Lawrence doesn't even seem to have considered the possibility that maybe what the man is or isn't doing could even be related; it's presented quite clearly as a difference between good/desireable women vs. women who are defective not only physically, but in character.

On the other hand, a woman with an unfeminine urge to be In Control - that is, one who insists on moving herself, rather than sitting passive and letting the man do what he will - is forgivable when Michaelis is the male (because he's premature, and meant to be pathetic), but it turns unforgiveable when it's women in general and especially Mellor's Bertha, who just refused to come when she should out of spite. Bertha just had a sick (!) urge to be In Control, demonstrating her essentially vicious and pathological nature. The only thing Mellors did wrong was to not put her in her place promptly - he "spoilt" her.

As for all those touchy-feely things that women so frequently enjoy? Forget it. Lawrence suggests that Mellors does at least sometimes kiss and touch, but if it happens at all it appears to be mostly incidental, nothing important. A Real Woman doesn't need foreplay. Just hop on and go, and if she's what she ought to be, she'll feel crashing waves and dark tides sooner or later.

These were what I found the most embarrassingly inaccurate - that a woman's duty is to lie there, not too passive, but not too active, and come when she's supposed to (and if she doesn't, it's her own fault); while a man's job is to climb on top and "perform". All of this is based on what ought to be a perfectly logical set of assumptions that are, unfortunately, not true. The truth is that a woman's vagina is not the equal-but-opposite inverse of a male penis; there's a thing that both males and females start out with, which in a man becomes the penis, and in the woman becomes (or remains) a clitoris. Lawrence seems to assume that what a woman feels is similar to what a man feels - but he assigns this feeling to the wrong body part.

Women have always known about their own bodies; surely a man so dedicated to the advancement of sexuality could have and should have taken more time to research how women really feel about things, preferably apart from what women think men "want to hear". This, too, is no doubt why it has been accused of being "sexist". The author (or at least Mellors) openly blames women who cannot or will not "come to the crisis" when she ought, as if it were entirely of the woman's doing and had nothing at all to do with the man.

It's also likely that science will eventually prove (if it hasn't already) that women like Constance Chatterly are not the norm or 'what a woman ought to be' emotionally as well as physically. For all that Lawrence spends an awful lot of energy ripping apart what he sees as silly, even noxious emotions and desires - such as "intimacy" and "connection", both of which he has Constance openly ridicule - biologists are increasingly finding that not only do men and women tend to have different feelings and expectations when it comes to the sex act, but that there is believed to be an evolutionary advantage in these differences, based on the notion that a man's biological job is to get his DNA out there, while reproduction for a woman involves a heavy emotional and physical commitment. If this is true, it would be the woman who takes such a cavalier and reckless attitude toward sex who is the deviant, not the one who wants to connect emotionally with the future sire of her child.

So - while there may or may not be women who feel as Constance does, at the same time it's not so clearly obvious that a woman "should" feel that way, as to justify Lawrence's open belittling of women whose emotional states don't match masculine emotional detachment and distance.

There's a lot of talk of "tenderness" - in fact, Constance keeps mentally accusing everyone in Venice of somehow "lacking tenderness" - but quite frankly I am unclear on what exactly is supposed to be so tender. The only thing he values about her is that he quite clearly likes having sex with her, but even there she only stands out particularly because a good sex partner is so difficult to find.

I can imagine a woman putting up with - but I cannot imagine a woman particularly treasuring - a man who rebuffs her when she wishes to talk, who is rude to her instead of treating her as equal (remembering she's a Lady) when she asks him questions, who calls her c--t as if that were her name, and generally treats her as if she were a whore. I could imagine a woman finding this fun if it were a game they jumped into and out of, but this is how their relationship really is; she spends far too much time begging or wanting to beg him for reassurance - for the things he won't say and the questions he won't answer - for me to find her undiluted enjoyment in their relationship particularly credible.

For what it's worth, I think life will be better when this book has become obsolete. It is exactly this sort of schlock that had women feeling pressured to fake their sexual responses - at great cost to their marriages, if not their selves. Those who agree that heppiness is linked to sexual satisfaction should be in favor of replacing this book with something that deals with sex in a way that reflects female sexuality in an honest and realistic fashion. As for those who just want a good read - I'd call it a matter of personal taste. Obviously some people enjoy this book. (Equally obviously, I did not.


Don't Buy this Rotten Book!
	This book deserves no stars.

PLEASE stop buying and promoting this rotten book! This is a book about a rotten, selfish self-centered male who takes everything including the life of the female tree. Even at the end when he chops her down to sit on her as an old man, he's still unsatisifed and has a big scowl on his face!

The female tree gives and gives and gives, and the male (from boy to old man) just takes and takes and takes and is never satisified, happy or thankful.

What kind of story is that?

This is truly a rotten story. Don't buy it! Don't give this to your children!


Predictable
	I read the back cover of this book and immediately knew most of what would happen.  As soon as I met the character who would turn out to be the driver, I knew the rest of the story.  It was extremely easy to figure out and quite disappointing.  The story's decent.  The text flows nicely, and the suspension of disbelief is strong, but where did Nick's originality go?  Where's the sweet and innocent charm of The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Nights in Rodanthe?  It seems like he's run out of steam, or didn't care too much about this one.

A decent book to read, but don't expect anything spectacular as you would with his earlier work


Civilized Discourse Leaves Discontented Reader
	There isn't much I can add to previous reviews of Civilziation and Its Discontents. My own reaction (after 2 cracks at it, one in college, and one post-) is one of bafflement and boredom. With academic, convoluted language, Freud discusses the role of the individual with his neuroses and his conflicts with socialization and civilization. Many of his jumbled sociological observations are better recorded by previous thinkers--Rousseau, for example. His psychological conclusions have more or less been explored at length in his previous works. Therefore, the redeeming value is found, perhaps, in Freud's closing passages, eery portends of Europe's ugly years


A Sad SF Renaissance
	Throughout my read, my head kept shaking with disappointment.  If the  quot;renaissance quot; of hard SF relies on stories a full decade, even two decades, old, then the genre's future is feebly fixated on its past.  Not to say that some of the stories here aren't wonderful ... emphasis on  quot;some. quot;  But dredging dead decades to claim a rebirth of hard SF fails to deliver on the title's promise.  This is more nostalgia than renewal, and you should read a library-borrowed copy if you want to reminisce about great writers past/passing.  But don't drop any real money expecting a glimpse into Sci-Fi's future


Action photos please!!
	While this book put together by the Detroit Free Press has action photos, they are some of the most disappointing pictures i've ever seen in a book about a team's season. Where are the photos of Tiger players actually hitting a baseball? If you want to see photos of players celebrating and covered in champagne, talking to fans and media and blowing bubbles, then this is the book for you but if you want to see some actual fine baseball action shots from the diamond itself, be prepared to be frustrated. I much preferred the photograhy in the George Cantor paperback "Out of Nowhere" The Detroit Tigers' Magical 2006 Season. I know that this volume covers the Play-offs and World Series whereas the Cantor book doesn't, but it's photo collection is poor, the photos in the Cantor book are superb. If you are a Tiger fan you may enjoy this book very much, (the writing and articles are quite good at least)but my enjoyment was spoilt somewhat by hardly any pictures of Tiger players hitting baseballs or fielding grounders etc. Very disappointing, worth only 2 stars


How a book can create a conflict, Said and his gross mistrepretations
	Edward Said, created a proble and made a career of the Israel Palestine Conflict, and conviently died before he could also resolve the death and destruction he brought to the Arab Palestinians. He was a one man destruction derby under the guise of poetry, linguistics and hate and he helped stir up anti Israel and anti Jewish hatred on every University he spoke at. Hopefully, this "vintage" book will become no longer relevant, ans disappear


Great Read!
	Bill O'Reilly has a good reason for his massive paranoia:  Somewhere, deep in the recesses of his brain, he knows something's wrong.  Only he's got it backwards:  The "secular progressives" are doing just fine, but he's the one with the serious problem.  Here's a guy who had to pay millions of bucks to settle a sexual harassment suit; yet, he's proclaiming himself the arbiter of the correct, "traditional" point of view.  Only in an era of the stupid, undereducated and witless would Bill O'Reilly have a modest role to play.  Save your money


Forsythe Drops the ball
	"Col Mike Martin" raised in Iraq, speaks fluent arabic.........

The Taliban are Pashtoon, they are not arabs, they don't speak arabic, they don't even like arabs very much. They are a totaly closed tribal society. I spent a year living and working with the Pashtoon in 2005 in Helmand Province. There are no members of the Taliban who are not Pashtoon. The other ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the Tajik and the Hazara, are opposed to the Taliban.

Mike Martin would not have the correct family, clan and tribal ties and background to carry this off.

Sorry, but Forsythe has dropped the ball on this one.


yep its ok
	Coming from a 16 year old girl that has to read this book for a school project...I would have to say that this book is kind of boring. If your into physics and science and all that jazz then you will most likely enjoy this book. But if you're going to read it just to read it, then I would suggest you not. I have to admit, that some of the stuff Richard Feynman says is funny but I found my self skipping pages at a time because of its boringness.  Don't get me wrong, I really do admire Mr. Feynman as a man and he was a great physicist but this book was just ok. Sometimes he got into a lot of in-depth physics stuff that I just didn't care for. But sometimes i was interested in what he was saying.

Have a nice da


Big Book of Grilling, BBQ and Rotisserie Cookbook
	Just bought a rotisserie and was hoping to find how to use it and good recipes. Only found about 4 or 5. I would've liken to know different types of meat you could cook in it and for how long you cook it for


overrated
	This is by far one of the least helpful parenting books I have read.  I used numerous suggestions in this book and NONE of them proved to be effective.  Using my own judgment and keeping calm with a positive attitude toward my toddler proved to be more effective then anything mentioned here.  His suggestions for head banging are completely stupid and made my toddler bang her head harder during a tantrum.  Not recommended


abstractionist in disguise
	The book starts out captivating then it suddenly shifts to Elkinks views of painting, that are strongly bent to the favor of abstractionist.  Elkinks thoughts on Jackson Pollocks creative energy is more than I wanted to know.  He devots almost an entire chapter to this already to small book, to his idol.  How Pollock flicks his wrist to get the effect of splated paint just right and Pollocks tourched stance over his works as the canvis is lying on the floor.To much!  I Do not recommend this little book


I thought I'd come away with useful information...
	I bought this book thinking that I would learn something new about the cosmetic industry. Not only did I not learn anything, I came away from the book wondering just how someone could've accumulated all of that information without being able to present it in a better way.

This book is packed with non-scientific fluff (using ill-defined terms such as "toxin" and making blanket statements with no evidence such as "Scientists involved [sic] mechanical science--as I like to call it--do not understand plant science, but scientists, who know plant science, understand both [grammar and punctuation left exactly as in the book].") About 60% of the book is packed with charts and glossaries. And I have to say that this is the worst-edited book I have ever read, with constant typographical errors, misspellings, and apostrophe problems. There just doesn't seem to have been a lot of thought put into the actual execution of this book.

Look, I am certainly this book's target audience--I shop at Whole Foods, use organic skin-care products and potions, and work out six times a week. I care about my body and what I put into it. But this book is not a good use of anyone's time or money, as all of its information can be found quite easily (and in most cases with better grammar) on the internet. You're better off buying _Fast Food Nation_ if you'd like clear, concise information about what you're putting into your body


Could have Been Better
	The Nautical Chart could have been a better book if, its author had eliminated about 50 to 100 pages. The story dragged. I read it at night in bed and I kept falling asleep.  The book does have its merits.  The information regarding navigational instruments and  history was interesting and was exciting at times. The ending was good (the best part of the book). The relationship between the Coy and Tanger had shades of James Caine and Jim Thompson. Even so, I would hestitate about recommending this novel.


Certainly expected more
	I really expected more from Coetzee, whom I had never read before picking up this book.  I saw after finishing the book that it was originally published as separate stories or vignettes, and I'm not surprised.  The title character spends all of her time giving speeches, which is strange for a novel--you think you will get a plot, but you just get lectured to.  The writing is good, spare and cogent, but the book does not hang together well enough to be a novel, in my opinion.  The best chapter, which is the last, has little or nothing to do with the prior chapters


Half of story is missing
	I am a long-time admirer of Claire McNab's writing -- despite the fact I have been disappointed in the direction (or lack of it) in which she has taken the Carol Ashton mystery series. Although she is more known in the U.S. for her mystery and espionage books, her novel "Under the Southern Cross" is a bang-up, great romance delivered in her typically spare (or is it stingy?) style. I was excited to see she had written another romance and not a mystery with a 10-second sex scene thrown in. But, when I got to the last line of this book I found myself closing it and thinking that I had once again been suckered by past memories of Claire McNab.
This book has a lot of promise to it -- therefore the two stars I gave it -- but it's promise unfulfilled. There is a long setup of the writer Vonny Smith pining for the personal attention of her editor, Diana. But, why exactly is she in love with Diana? Darn if I know. The writing has great humor and spoofs the whole genre of romance novels. But the entire novel is a setup and, in the end, there is no delivery. It's annoying, frustrating, and feels like a cheat. Wasn't there an editor to say: "Claire, this story needs more!" Or was Bella Books just intent on cashing in on Ms. McNab's name? Who knows. But, this is one book I won't be rereading. I wish I hadn't paid full-price


Poorly Organized
	I own perhaps 20 books on the Bird's and this is one of the worse. Mostly because the material is so poorly organized; no real attempt is made to sort through the (admittedly tangled) move orders/motifs/variations in this opening. Also, the author seems to have a 'bad attitude' even though he plays the opening and has several examples in the book. The section on the Leningrad Dutch-Reversed is better than the others but still lifeless.

The entire Everyman opening series has deteriorated a great deal the past two years and I'm about done buying any new ones, especially if they are as bad as Bird's Opening.


Over Rated!
	This is book was on the New York Best Seller's list because it's about New York, not because it's well written or even interesting.  You run across a few gems throughout the book, but you have to be patient to get to them.  I hate to buy, start and not finish a book... it seems like such as waste. I'd gladly skip the book if I had to do it over again.


Look at it from the child's point of view...
	First off, I have not read this book myself, so disreguard this review if you want. I'm reviewing it because based on the reviews and what I can tell here, and from descriptions from my own mother, I believe this is the book she used in a failed attempt to potty-train me. I am 99% sure, but she does not remember the title so I can't be 100% sure.
My mother described a system where she devoted one day to nothing but potty-training. She got everyone else out of the house, and removed all my toys from eyesight. Then she went through a detailed explanation using a potty doll and had me try to explain it back, using the doll. She then showed me what looked like a whole kitchen full of little toys and candy, and told me I would get rewarded for using the potty that day. I remember all that part. After that she said that we went through a process where she had to scold me for accidents and we did nothing but try to go potty all day. I was definately old enough to be doing this, because I actually remember it. (I am 25 now, so if this book was published in the late 70s or early 80s, I'm being accurate.)
Now, let me tell you the results. I don't remember how I felt that day, but I do know that it started something that became a huge emotional battle for me. I was a very sensitive child, and I am a very sensitive adult. What mom and I remember was that potty-training became a war in our home- and it took YEARS. Because of my sensitivities and my mother's poor choice in training methods, I began holding my bowel movements. (I was able urinate in the potty at a normal age, not sure when.) I would hold bowel movements whenever I had the urge to go, even if she put me back in a diaper. I held for weeks at times, and sometimes this required a lot of pain for me (obviously). When it finally got to the point that I couldn't hold it anymore, the BM was so big that I needed physical help to go. Sometimes it would get so bad that the opposite result would happen- I'd have a sudden diarheaa because the muscles were fatigued. This went on for years, and the doctors kept telling mom that I'd eventually outgrow it. She tried suppositories, oil, fiber, and even started giving me adult doses of laxatives. Finally, when I was 5 (two years into this), Mom made a tape recording of me SCREAMING while trying to go to the bathroom. A doctor took pity on us and prescribed enemas. I used them on and off for two more years. I was finally fully potty trained- AT SEVEN. I am now 25, and occasionally I still notice some health problems that may be attributable to this.

Now, obviously there is no way I can fully explain why all that happened, and I certainly can not blame all of that on the book. I was a very sensitive kid, and my mom picked a bad time to do it too (I had just had a baby brother). But I just want to describe the danger of using a insensitive method. And I'm not just talking about the pain I went through there- if we're to believe Freudian theories about the anal stage of childhood- well, let's just say I could be his poster child.
I am now potty-teaching my own highly sensitive daughter, who will be 3 in a week. We have been working on this (no specific methods, just lots of sitting on the potty) for over a year now, and with NO results. But I'm not in a hurry, and thats because she's not ready, and we need to do this on her timetable, not mine


A poor effort....
	I read this as a thirteen year old boy and enjoyed it.  A re-read twenty years later gave me a different perspective.  MacLeans dialogue between his characters is comic book variety at best. There are also a few glaring errors that I am surprised that his editor did not pick up on, two of note: Shaffer (supposedly from Montana) is credited with a Mid-West accent?? Montana is far west not 'mid' west.  Secondly, Nazi helicopters?  This is just plain sloppy.  MacLean should have known much better.

This one belongs on the bookshelf of a teenage boy.  For a better read of MacLeans better works I reccomend; HMS Ulysess and Bear Island.  The characters are far more credible and provide a better story by far.  A poor effort by Mr MacLean


There's really no age group for this book
	I hold Martin's Song of Ice and Frie series in high regard; the man is a talented writer.  For adults.

    The problem with this book is that it reads exactly like whay you'd expect a chlidren's book written by George R.R.Martin to read like.  By this I mean violent imagery and the occasional immolation of soon-to-be-dearly-departed-uncles.  (And as an uncle I object to this wanton anti-uncle setiment running rampant in children's literature!!!)

   There seems to be no age group for this book.  The story isn't that engrossing, and a kid I'd feel comfortable buying a book for containing this level of violence would most likely want something more substanial.  Though for adults I strongly recommend Martin's other books over Mr. Pratchett, when it comes to books for kids about this age level I've gotta go with Pratchett's Wee Freemen over this.

Or, for slightly younger kids, The Persistent Gappers of Firth.  Hell, eveybody loves the Gappers of Firth.


Repackaged prepared foods
	I was INCREDIBLY disappointed with this book purchase - especially because I paid FULL PRICE for it. I have absolutely NO USE for it. Why?
     Why pay money for a book that simply takes prepackaged cookie and cake mixes, and adds a handful of nuts or dried fruit, (thus, making it "homemade") to give away? Anyone with the smallest amount of natural creativity could do this on their own, without the instruction of a cookbook. Let me give you an example: One of the "recipes" in this book is for lollipops.
You melt down other lollipops or pieces of hard candy and drop a stick in the puddle. WOW. That is CRAFTY. How ridiculous. Even worse, - as you will see by the illustration, - the "homemade" 'lollipop' looks disgusting. The stick is about four times as thick as the paper-thin puddle of liquified old hard candy. I wouldn't DARE give such a thing away as a GIFT.
     Only a handful of recipes in this book are actually scratch-made from ingredients. The premise of this book is dressing up premade prepackaged foods from your local grocery store, and slapping some notions from the craft store on a glass jar or paper box. While some of the presentation ideas are original and attractive, in general it will prove a grave disappointment to an experienced cook.
     I have given this book two stars because it does present lovely photo illustrations of every "recipe", and may give you inspiration for packaging and presenting your best recipes as gifts...... but if you have any creative talent and cooking skill whatsoever, - I advise you to seek out another book on this subject. It is not worth the cost of the book.
     Should you be interested in the simplicity and economical value (the craft notions to dress the package will cost more than the food you are preparing)found in this book, - PLEASE- buy a USED copy, - it isn't worth more than $3 bucks. This is definitely a publication for a very inexperienced cook - and it is only for such a one I would recommend this book


I make movies and travel extensively. My life is great.
	This is not very good. That is to say, the writing and the fluidity of Gazzara's life become bland and uninteresting quite fast.
I initially picked it up because as an actor I find biographies or autobio's about somewhat lesser known people more curious than approaching someone like Paul Newman or Brando, who each have several books...And Gazzara's career has been an intruiging one. As a member of the Actors Studio, which produced the aforementioned actors along with countless others, his rise to Broadway and Hollywood was quick. He originated Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and played his first film for Otto Preminger-opposite James Stewart and George C. Scott, among others-in Anatomy of a Murder.
But his approach to acting, which is of primary importance to me, was not chronicled. Instead he regales with stories of what and who the people he worked with were like. What the particular country he was shooting in was like, etc., etc.
One of his primary sources of regard is his work with John Cassavetes, and it is clear Cassavetes was a major influence and close friend, someone Gazzara owes much, and the process by which they created Husbands and other films is investigated more than any other. Cassavetes too comes out as a more interesting, Larger Than Life guy, while Gazzara's tales of living in Italy, or being in Spain, New York, Hollywood, the Philippines, etc., etc. just made me jealous...
I guess I wanted to know more about the life of an Actor who has worked as long as Gazzara has, is still relatively known-but never became a "star," and continues to work, without feeling he is a hack who doesn't take his work seriously..


One of the best Crichton novels
	Sphere by Michael Crichton is an excellant novel. This was certainly the hardest to put down of all of the Crichton novels that I have read.

The story revolves around a man named Norman Johnson. Johnson is a phycologist. He travels with 4 other civilans to a remote location in the Pacific Ocean to help the Navy in a top secret misssion. They quickly learn that under the ocean is a half mile long spaceship. The civilans travel to a center 1000 feet under the ocean to live while researching the spacecraft. They are joined by 5 Navy personel to help them run operations. However on the surface a typhoon comes and the support ships on the surface must leave. The team of ten is stuck 1000 feet under the surface of the ocean. After a day under the sea they find out that the spacecraft is actually an American ship that has explored black holes and has brought back some strange things back to earth.

This novel does not have the research that some of the other Crichton novels have, but it still has a lot of information on random things from the lawes of partial pressure to behavior analysis.

I would strongly recommend this book


Excellent Short Fiction from one of our best stylists
	John Crowley's well-deserved recognition as one of the best literary stylists writing in the English language is readily apparent in these four fantasy novellas that date from the late 1980's. His  quot;Great Work of Time quot; is an intriguing Rashomon-esque time travel fantasy about Cecil Rhodes and British economic imperialism in East Africa at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. It was almost as compelling a read as the  quot;The Nightingale Sings At Night quot;, which offers a fantastical twist on the Adam and Eve creation myth saga. The other two tales,  quot;In Blue quot; and  quot;Novelty quot;, I found much less compelling, but they are redeemed by the same lyrical prose Crowley uses in other tales. It was a wonderful surprise to find this book at a library; a surprise which I think many readers will also discover


An excellent cookbook full of delicious recipes
	I checked out this cookbook from the library and as soon as I cracked it open I knew I needed a copy of my own.  It is full of simple, tasty, and easy to prepare recipes.  I really like how most of the recipes don't require many special ingredients and how simple the directions are.  I was a little apprehensive having made the decision to become a vegetarian but this cookbook gave me confidence I'd still be able to enjoy a flavorful variety of cuisine


A gem...
	I saw the 1963 classic first, which happens to be one of my most favourite ghost movies of all time! (what a major disappointment the remake was). So as soon as I could a got a copy of this. It was an awesome novellete. I read it in one sitting, couldn't put it down! I do have to say I enjoyed the movie better...but this is a great journey as well.


Funny, sexy, sweet, poignant
	This book does something I've never seen before. It shows a cool young homo boy who's punk rock and a skater, not some wishwashy queen-boy. Sam, the lead character, is really cool. I'd like to be his friend, and his boyfriend, but that's another matter. Also, the dude he likes, Clay, is really hot. He's a surfer, but he's not a stereotypical surfer, he's much cooler, and also a little punk rock. I love this novel. The ending is really sad, but I loved it


A dream, a vision, the West incarnate
	Reading this book is like having a holy vision: I feel as if I should tell the world about it, but at the same time it seems so sacred and personal that maybe I should just keep it to myself and try to figure out why it came to me, into my life, into my head.
The book is the story of Billy Parham, a son in a late-1930s New Mexican ranching family.  Billy traps a wolf that has been killing his father's cattle but realizes he can't kill it and has to return it to its home in the mountains of old Mexico.  Billy crosses the border into Mexico, and as he does he crosses from real life into a world of dreams, where everyone moves as if the air was liquid, where every ruin has an irretrievable story, where soot and heat and danger hang in the air, and where nothing ever goes as planned.
The story is not as streamlined or as focused as its thematic predecessor, "All the Pretty Horses," but that's not necessarily a shortcoming.   The book sprawls out like a wide hot desert--curling north and south, east and west, across the present and into the past.  The writing is as good as any writing I've ever read ever, and certain metaphors and feelings will stay with you for years.  For example: the coals of a campfire seeming like an exposed piece of the core of the earth.
This is a book that needs to be read.  Pick it up, and let it seep into your skin, let it open you to other worlds and peoples and ideas, and let it change you.  Let it open your eyes to the world, and to the West, and the goodness and the hope and the sadness that haunts the lives of all of us.
This is a book made of all those ineffable things that most of us just can't put into words.  But here, somehow, Cormac McCarthy has managed to do just that.  Here is the intangible, but tangible.  Here is the unnameable, but named.  Here are the thoughts you could never express, expressed.


Loved it
	Beautiful vineyards, fueding families, mystery, and an unlikely love story with a twist. Great read. Prepare to read this one through because it was hard to put down!!!


A good writer suffers!
	Paul Sheldon,a very good writer famous for his books in the "Misery" series.A popular character in his book is someone named Misery.In his final book he kills the character off,therby ending the series.Paul's number one fan is Annie Wilkes,a retired nurse.(I would like to say,retarded).

 One day Paul gets into an accident and gets both of his legs severely damaged.Coincidently,Guess who finds him?
 Annie.Yes,she finds him and starts to nurse him back to good health.But when she soon finds out that Paul has killed the character "Misery",Annie is pissed...She makes it her business to get Paul to write another novel in which "Misery" is not killed.It sounds simple,I know.But when Paul refuses to write the novel,Annie uses force,and she tortures him so much that he just gives in and begins to write a new novel.
  Meanwhile thinking of a way to escape,Paul writes the novel and suffers at the same time.He lost one of his foot,because she burnt it off!Yes,this Annie Wilkes is a lunatic.While Paul is under Annie's capture,he learns alot about things he took for granted.The ending of this book is a happy one,you won't be disappointed.I recommend this book as any other SK novel.It is a great Suspense,drama novel...enjoy...Nigel

Here is another version of the plot.(taken from wikipedia)...

"The story begins with Paul Sheldon slowly waking out of a coma. Gradually, his memory returns to him: he is a wildly popular romance novelist of the Misery series of novels (the main character of which is named Misery Chastain) who has crashed his car in a winter storm outside of Silver Creek in Grand County, Colorado, and has been badly injured. His rescuer, Annie Wilkes, is a former registered nurse and has taken him to her secluded country home to personally care for him.

As luck would have it, Annie is Paul's "number one fan" and eagerly awaited all his publications. Almost immediately however, Paul realizes that there is a flip side to this coin: Annie is mentally ill, she has not told anyone where he is, and she has a violent past that includes a successful career as a serial killer.

Annie begins to physically and psychologically abuse Paul when she finishes reading his latest published work, in which the heroine Misery dies. Annie later forces him to burn an unpublished manuscript of his new novel, "Fast Cars" he was carrying at the time of his accident, disgusted at its radical departure from the Misery series. Eventually, Annie forces Paul to write a new Misery novel "just for her" and bring the character back from the dead. Paul works on the book as Annie's violent mood swings and her psychosis deepens. Her insanity escalates as Paul tries to escape; she eventually chops off one of Paul's feet, one of his thumbs, and murders a police officer investigating his disappearance. As the authorities begin to close in on Annie, Paul's plight--both in his writing and his attempt to save his life--becomes more desperate.

Paul eventually defeats Annie by smashing her over the head with the second hand typewriter she had given him to write "her" novel. After he escapes, he publishes the new Misery novel to great critical acclaim."...enjoy...Nigel


Made my ordinary day much better
	I was given this book by a friend as a going away gift.  The day I decided to read it, I was ill and lay on the couch reading it in one sitting.  I was a bit drowsy, but I could not but it down...It made me nervous, excited, sad, and happy...all the emotions that a good book or movie can offer.  Get this if you are a serious reader looking for a fictional escape


Lud-in-the-Mist eugenic?
	This book was extremely well written. It's a gorgeous story and not cliched at all. What totally gets me is that after searching the web for a time, I have not been able to find anyone that has written on the connection between her book and the eugenics movement taking place in the 20's. She most bluntly did not agree with eugenics at the end. For example, on page 233, "And if all the gifts of Life are good, perhaps, too, are all the shapes she chooses to take, and which we cannot alter." The book is filled with hints at the time period even though, after looking at countless reviews, the reviewers keep commenting on how her other books took from the time period and historical events and that Lud-in-the-Mist did not and it was a "fantastical" piece of literature. In my opinion, this book was TOTALLY based on the time period. There's even a line by the blacksmith about how since he's not "white" anymore he has come down in the world. If you're looking for a cultural artifact of the 20's, this is an astounding piece


Warm and wonderful
	This book brought tears to my eyes the first time I read it.  It is warm and comforting.  A wonderful message for children that their mama will always be there no matter what..


Hugh Hewitt Needs to Spend More Time Rebuking Crybaby Republicans
	Hugh Hewitt is right on target encouraging Republicans to remain loyal to President George W. Bush.  We are confronted with a long term fight against Islamic nihilists.  The Democrats who dominate that party nationally are essentially pacifists trapped in the mindset of the countercultural excesses of the 1960s.  Indeed, if the Democratic Party returns to power, the war on terror will be severely compromised---if not lost.  Even theological modernists like myself recognize that the Republican Party also best represents the values required to underpin a viable social order.  And yes, we need to purify our ranks and rid ourselves of back stabbers like Senator Lincoln Chafee.  But what about the Republican crybabies who threaten to severely damage the party if it fails to cater to their excessive demands?  These folks may be our greatest threat in the elections of 2006.  Many of them possess a suicidal Nietzschean streak.  In their heart of hearts, they idiotically believe we should let the Democrats win so that the Republican Party can be "purified."  The author has yet to sufficiently deal with this crisis.  Hopefully, he starts to do so real soon before it's too late.

The crybaby Republicans are particularly dangerous concerning the explosive illegal immigration issue.  A number of them come across as nativists who despise Hispanics.  We cannot, however, forget that the children of numerous illegal aliens are often American Citizens.  They get to vote at the age of 18---and will most certainly seek revenge on the GOP for harassing their parents.  Let's get something straight: we are also not going to send an estimated 10-12 million people back to their original homeland.  But aren't these individuals breaking the law?  Human law is not about the striving for utopian perfection.  Yucky sausage making compromises are occasionally required.  I may have a few complaints about Hugh Hewitt's newest book.  Still, you need to purchase a copy.  His overall advice is indispensable if you truly love your family and wish to protect the United States from ruin.

David Thomson
Flares into Darkness


A great piece!
	I'd definitely recommend it not only to the Knowledge Management professionals, but to the general public. It's a fun and easy read.


Johnson's Classic Novel of "Passing"
	Many novels of the African-American experience in the United States use the theme of "passing". These novels generally involve a light-complexioned African-American who can "pass" for white.  Among other things, novels based on a theme of "passing" allow the character and the author to comment upon black-white relationships in the United States from both sides -- from the black experience and from the white experience.

Both white and black authors have made extensive use of the theme of "passing".  The earliest novel involving "passing" of which I am aware is by William Dean Howells in his short 1891 book, "An Imperative Duty" which dealt with an inter-racial marriage.  The African-American novelist Nella Larsen wrote a novel titled "Passing" set in the Harlem Renaissance.  More recently, Philip Roth's novel "The Human Stain" involves the story of Professor Coleman Silk, a distinguished academic and student of the classics who passes for many years as white.

Coleman Silk is the successor to the protagonist of James Weldon Johnson's only novel, "The Autobiography of an ex-colored Man" written in 1912.  The unnamed protagonist of the book is an individual, like Roth's character Coleman Silk, with great intellectual and artistic gifts who is torn between the opportunities open to him as an, apparently, white person and his strong sense of black identity.  Like Coleman Silk and the characters in most novels involving the theme of "passing", Johnson's protagonist marries a white woman and lives a life plagued with guilt regarding his abandonment of his heritage as an African-American. Johnson's short novel is, to my mind, the best written on the theme of "passing", and it is a fine novel indeed. The book initially was published anonymously.  The writing is so powerful and believable that many readers took the book for a true autobiography until Johnson acknowledged his authorship in 1914.  Many years later, Johnson wrote his own autobiography, titled "Along This Way" in part to show that the story of his own life was not the story of the protagonist in the "Autobiography".

Johnson's story shows how his protagonist goes back and forth, both internally and in the outward events of life, about whether to make his way in the white or in the black world.  He ultimately finds himself successful but unhappy. In addition to the story line of the book, Johnson uses the "passing" theme to allow many reflective passages by characters in the book on racial relationships in the United States early in the 20th Century.  The most famous such scene occurs as the protagonist travels in a "smoking car" for whites on a train in the segregated South.  He participates in a discussion among several white men of varied backgrounds on the "race question" as it was viewed at the time.  There is also a chilling scene in the book involving a lynching, the burning alive of a black person.  Johnson worked fervently in the latter years of his life to secure the passage of anti-lynching legislation in Congress.

But Johnson's novel includes a great deal more than a consideration of race issues.  The book offers an outstanding picture of life in early twentieth Century America -- in the South and in Johnson's beloved New York City.  The book is filled with pictures of dives and gambling dens and of the trade of cigar making in both South and North.  It is filled with the love of the piano and of classical music.  Most strikingly, the book has the spirit and feel of ragtime, which reached the height of its popularity during the years in which the book appeared.  Johnson shows great appreciation for this product of American culture.

The book also illustrates some universal themes.  The protagonist is troubled, specifically, by the conflict between his identity as an African-American and his wish to succeed as a white person.  But the broader themes of the book are the consequences of lack of self-knowledge, the role of chance in human life, and the consequences of a certain sense of purposelessness and frustration, which plague many individuals separately from any consideration of race.  Johnson develops these themes eloquently and ties them in well with his theme of "passing".

Johnson's novel is an important work of American fiction which deserves to be read.


Are "you" in this book?
	You, the reader, are the subject and the hero of Calvino's novel, an exercise in reader-response theory gone mad. Calvino's lively experiment begins by describing a reader (that is, "you") reading Calvino's novel and, after this opening, "you" settle in to read the novel that you were "meant" to be reading--a noir mystery with a cliffhanger at the end of the first chapter.

But all is not fair in the Land of Fiction; the copy of the book has been misbound by the printer, so you have to rush to the store to get a properly printed book--only to find that the replacement is a different book entirely. After several tricks and machinations, you end up reading the beginnings of ten different books, written in ten different styles, yet all sharing place and character names and even themes. (Part of the fun is identifying the author being imitated: the most obvious segments mock Borges, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov.)  While initially it seems that Calvino assumes you are male, soon you are introduced to the Other Reader and "you" see the story through her eyes. Both of you work to solve the mystery of the erratic book passages, and the pleasure of reading is heightened by romantic tensions between the two of you.

The book alternates between the story fragments and the story of "you." The repeated changes and interruptions in style and story can be baffling: "You can't get your bearings: the characters have changed, the settings, you don't understand what it's about, you find names of people and don't know who they are." It's a bit like "Groundhog Day," except that instead of being stuck inside the same day, you're doomed to repeat ten different but terrifyingly similar acts of literature interruptus.

Well before the end of the novel, you realize that the real story is not to be found in any of the parodies (mysteries, fantasies, and romances) that you desperately try (and fail) to finish, but in the story of your reading experience itself--an experience made all the more complicated by the web of conspiracies engendered by the Other Reader, a reclusive popular writer, a charlatan churning out counterfeit books under the writer's name, a sloppy and conniving translator, and various officials of repressive dictatorships.

For the reader who doesn't mind when an author attempts to describe your state of mind, Calvino's novel can be pure fun. The success of Calvino's task depends in no small part on whether the reading experience he describes recalls how you read a book; I know that some readers find some of these passages alien ("That's not how I read books"), but for me the various descriptions of the reading experience were both perceptive and eerily familiar. This reader, too, found the first half of the book far more engaging than the second half; later in the book, the gimmick inevitably wears a little thin and the detours that spoof publishing conglomerates, repressive governments, and state censorship were a bit more than this short novel could handle. And the "solution" to the puzzle, although fitting, has the oomph of the finale to a shaggy-dog story. No matter--if you enjoy metafiction, you might just recognize yourself in this clever book


Pictures Are Worth A 1000 Words
	Charlie Bone isn't your typical nine-year-old boy.  Although he didn't know that himself.  But when photographs get mixed up and he ends up with a picture of a man and a little girl that talks to him, he knows everything that was normal about his life is gone forever.  Tracking down the picture, Charlie finds out it belongs to Miss Ingledew, a woman who owns a bookshop and has been looking for her missing niece for years.  She gives Charlie a mysterious package (that he can't open) and sets him on his journey that will change everything in his world.  As it turns out, Charlie is one of the descendants of the Red King, a mysterious person who had wondrous magical powers who went into hiding.  The Red King's children have been equally divided between good and evil ever since.  At Bloor's Academy, Charlie finds friends and enemies, and the challenge of his lifetime as he tracks down secrets others don't want revealed.

Jenny Nimmo is the author of five books in the Charlie Bone series and has written several other children's books and fantasies.

Many people compare Charlie Bone to Harry Potter, and that's a good comparison.  But the two series are different.  Harry's family is really non-supportive, but Charlie has a loving mother, a doting grandmother, and Uncle Paton, who turns out to be something of a hero.  The book is a fun, fast-paced whirlwind of mysteries, magic, and friendship.  Even at 400 pages, it feels like it's over much too soon.

There are a few jarring instances where the point-of-view was disconnected, moving from one character and one scene into another without warning.  They were easily overlooked due to the pacing of the story, but noticeable all the same.

Fans who are waiting for the next Harry Potter book who haven't tried the Charlie Bone series are encouraged to do so.  Charlie's story, although similar, has much to offer in reading excitement


Mind Of A Dog
	Mr. Bones is a very special dog, a dog who understands Ingloosh and almost speaks it. A dog who is happy roaming about the country with his master, Willie G. Christmas. If Willie is homeless, probably schizophrenic, certainly eccentric; if they rarely have enough to eat; if he doesn't always understand Willie's metaphysical ramblings--what does that matter between a dog and his best friend? Alas, in the first chapter, Willie is coughing up blood, and Mr. Bones knows that Willie is going to die.

The entire story is told through the point of view of this remarkable dog. Is it the story of a dog? Or the story of Willie? Or the story of life in America? Or a story about love, alienation, betrayal and loss? Well, it's all of these. And what is Timbuktu? For that, you will have to read the book. I'm not going to tell you.

Author Paul Auster is a genius with language. Somehow he draws you into this improbable story and makes it believable. More than believable. Compelling. Does he really get inside the mind of a dog? Who am I to say? I can only say that for me he makes the mind of a dog as believable and understandable as any other mind.

Some reviewers expressed disappointment with this book, but I thought it was wonderful. Just let it speak in its own voice and take it for what it is and you will love it. I recommend Timbuktu highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber


Excellent Study Guide
	I bought this book for my son as a study guide, he is almost finished reading it for the first time, now he says he is going to go back and highlight key information that he will need on his exam.  He is raving about this book, worth the money spent and a very good price


Moving.  Educational.
	Never before have I been moved so completely by a simple reference book. The author skillfully weaves his understanding of our democratic system with a profound love for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics -- not an easy task. I bought this for my grandmother... and she hates books. That's how good this is.  quot;Better than Cats, quot; she says. I can't say I necessarily agree with her -- for starters, the private sector's influence on public policy and decision-making is nowhere near as entertaining as Mister Mistofellees' song and dance -- but who am I to argue with an old woman? Nobody, that's who


These things are true...
	Amy Tan writes about wonderful people.

Amy Tan creates exceptional characters.

Amy Tan will write you a story that is so rich and clear you can almost touch it.

That is what I love in reading Amy Tan. As your average southern white female, I'm not exactly versed in the world of Amy Tan's characters. But she takes me there. I find myself so completely involved in the world she writes about that I forget where I am. Isn't that why you pedalled your bicycle to the library in the summer when you were a kid? Amy Tan will remind you of that sense of discovery you had back then, when you were reading all the great classics for the first time and the discovery of it all was an addictive thrill that kept your library card smoking and well worn with use.

She has a gift in her storytelling for expanding the universe. Read this book.


one of the best books I have ever read
	I highly recommend this book.  It has changed the way I look at life and spirituality.  Nearly every line in the book is filled with profound meaning.  Additonally, the style is clear and the ideas accessible for anyone who is truly interested in spiritual fulfillment.  I am at greater peace with the world since having read this book.


Teenage Opinon
	Stephen King has made another novel full of horror and suspense.  The biggest storm ever is about to hit a town called Little Tall Island in Maine. While this storm is occuring a strange gentleman named Andre Linoge stops to visit.  He walks up to a home owned by an old woman Martha Clarendon. Linoge charges in the old womans home and brutily murders her.  Later, he purposly lets the police department arrest him


The solution to all educational problems
	Currently, educational studies are being revealed, which are showing that students of minority heritage (particularly Black and Latino) have an affinity towards InterPersonal learning and Tactile learning

Interpersonal = learning through being social and group work

Tactile = learning by building or constructing things

Our current educational institutions, especially high school and below, cater to Auditory (hearing) and Intrapersonal (introverted, little group work) learners

So in total, poverty and language barriers are likely not the biggest culprit towards our low school scores, in areas of economic problems ----- rather, it is the fact that teachers are not teaching to the strengths of our children - as a matter of fact, most children are being taught within the areas of their learning weaknesses

With that in mind, FRAMES OF MIND is one of the first books to distiguish the way we learn and how to cater to it

Within this book lies the best solutions to our educational system, and its only a matter of getting the teachers to facilitate their lesson plans differently

I highly recommend this book - especially to those who are interested in seeing what the future of America is all abou


Great book to listen to while you work out.
	I love this book.  I listened to it on tape.  The storey started out a tiny bit slow but oh is the story good!  I recommend this book to anyone who likes romance, not real graphic but very sweet, and suspense.  Oh this book is so good.  Hammond Cross is the ideal man and Dr. Lad is just as sweet and classy as can be.  The end is the best.  Hammond struggles with doing what is right and what is ethical.  Very good book!  Two thumbs up to Ms. Brown!


GREAT COFFEE TABLE BOOK
	I found this book in a little store in a vacation spot.  I thought is was the cutest, most unusal selection of dogs and sayings I've ever seen.  It's the kind of book that just lifts your spirits and makes you feel good all over.  A wonderful gift for any dog lover in your life.  Wonderful photos and inspirational dialogue. You just want to keep picking it up and perusing the contents. Fun book


Possibly the Best of the Rich Dad books
	This is the best Rich Dad book to date.  The book is filled with priceless information that 90% of people in the U.S.(particularly baby-boomers) are clueless about today.

Most Rich Dad fans will know that Kiyosaki's books tend to talk about the same general principles and don't touch on many new and groundbreaking concepts.  This book, however, is the exception.  I learned so many eye-opening things from this masterpiece.  It has truly changed my life and the way I look at money.  Do yourself a favor and BUY THIS BOOK.


A fantastic book!
	I found this book on my own before going to get my MBA and was always a bit embarrased to admit that I had learned more from this book than any other (it's design makes it look a bit elementary).  I was pleasantly surprised to see that my Finance professor at the MBA program (Babson - the #1 entrepreneurship program 11 years running) brought it out on the first day and said it was a "must" for any businessperson's library!

It is a fantastic resource - don't let the look fool you


Kudos to Ruth
	I just read this book cover to cover on a flight back to NYC from Barcelona.  My mouth watered as I read the included reprints of her past reviews of NYC restaurants - even after my five days of fantastic Spanish cuisine!  But more surprisingly, I was drawn in by what seems to be quite an honest glimpse of the NYC restaurant experience seen through the eyes of many "characters".  The book left me such respect for the depths that Ruth Reichl went through in order to dine as the everyday person would experience, especially in NYC's "best" restaurants.  Her recounts made me actually appreciate the research and dedication required to write a truly objective (as objective as food tastes get, I suppose) review.  A very easy and enjoyable read.


A Memoir of Two Wars
	John Falk takes the reader on the journey of his escape from depression.  And while medicine plays a key part in his freedom, we also see how a brutal and bloody war also plays a role.

His description of his illness is juxtaposed nicely against teh atrocities of war and his insights into himself and the war are poingant.

A good read


A Terrific Little Termite!
	From the beginning, Roberto was different.  He loved his wood, but he'd always rather play with his food than eat it.  More than anything he wanted to become a famous architect like his heroes, Hank Floyd Mite and Fleas Van Der Rohe.  Belittled at home by the other termites and never taken seriously, Roberto sets off for the big city to  quot;build his dreams. quot;  Life in the city is hard, and not just for Roberto.  He meets all kinds of bugs with housing problems, including roaches chased from a diner, a housefly with no place to go and a poor ladybug whose house is on fire and children are gone.  Marshalling all his determination, Roberto decides to build a new community, that will meet the needs of these out-of-luck bugs and maybe make his architect dreams come true at the same time..... Nina Laden has written and illustrated a delightful and amusing story with a most improbable hero and youngsters will be rooting for Roberto as he chases and finally realizes his heart's desire, in his bug eat bug world.  Ms Laden's witty text, full of creative wordplay, will charm adults as well as children and her outstanding collage artwork, so full of wonderful detail, really brings this story to life.  A terrific picture book for youngsters 4-8, Roberto the Insect Architect lets everyone know that with hard work, your dreams can come true


A woman built the Brooklyn Bridge
	While the Brooklyn Bridge is the oldest of the bridges crossing the East River, it's one of the strongest, sturdiest and will most likely outlast the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges. John Roebling and his son, Washington, did not know how the forces of nature and bridge loads would affect their bridge. Given this gap in their knowledge they overcompensated by building a bridge capable of withstanding forces many times greater than would ever be applied to their structure.

But the Roeblings' gaps in knowledge also worked against them. One of the most interesting portions of the book is where McCullough discusses the pressurized caissons beneath the East River where Washington Roebling and many his workers spent their time. Few doctors or engineers at the time knew how high pressure environments would affect the human body. The quick changes in pressure killed workers and left many, including Washington, with a condition known as the bends. Washington's wife, Emily, was forced to transform herself into chief engineer while Washington struggled with the bends.

There are lots of fascinating facts and tidbits throughout this book on the bridge and the people involved with its construction.   McCullough's book is much more about the politics and people behind Brooklyn Bridge rather than the engineering. I would have preferred to read more about the engineering techniques, but I  still found this book reasonably engaging.


A Helpful Memoir for Women
	Liz Perle does a really nice job in "Money, A Memoir" of weaving statistics, professional studies, and other people's experiences with her own personal experience and insight.  While many parts of her book sound familiar (e.g., women shopping when they're in a slump) it does look below the surface at some of the root causes of our unhealthy relationship with money and why we differ vastly from men in that regard.  The other thing I appreciated about the book was that Perle doesn't claim to have all the answers, and explains how she was able to find a happy medium in her relationship with money, which to me sounded like something I could attempt and achieve.  Thanks, Liz for a very important memoir that women of all ages should read


A timely analysis
	On Nation, Underprivileged is a timely discussion of an issue that impacts us all.  In his book, Professor Rank carefully crafts a compassionate, analytical and innovative approach for addressing poverty in our country. This is a must read for all (especially policy makers).


The Law was not about truth. It was about negotiation, amelioration and manipulation.
	Michael Haller's life revolves around criminal defense, his an attorney operating out the back of his Lincoln town car. His appearance sharply dressed and charmed mannerism makes him a very approachable guy, people either called him Mick or Mickey. Tall, dark and Intelligent with his good looks and Irish blood lines made him a catch. In the court room he was very together with great timing, in his personal life it was a mess, at last count he had two ex wives and one daughter. His father long deceased was also a famous defense attorney; another pressure of expectation in life he felt he had to live up to, his father wrote books and practised law that didn't have room for innocent clients, so far Mickey had spent most of his life worrying that he just wouldn't recognize innocence if it came along. Being an Independent operator he ran his business with his own private detective on his bankroll, he was also chauffeured around by an ex client who couldn't afford to pay his fees. In total he kept four Lincolns for another enterprise on the horizon encase things turned sour, what he was really looking for was a franchise player, a case to keep the cash rolling, point blank a meal ticket.

Louis Ross Roulet dealt in LA property he was a rich playboy, currently booked on charges of ag-assault, GBI, and attempted rape, and although his arrest charges looked bad these could always be dropped to something less by the time he made court. Mickey couldn't believe his luck not only a rich client but looking at the evidence it was stacked in favour to get him off the hook. This was all too easy, in fact with sharp tactics of negotiation and manipulation it was an open and shut case. Just as he was on a roll Mickey's close friend is murdered he begins to have second thoughts about his case something just didn't sit right, in his search for innocence had he instead stumbled upon something more sinister or maybe something just plain evil.

This is the first time in a long time that I have picked up a book based on a court room drama; but this book is much more than just that. Michael Connelly has done a wonderful job; his close collaboration with real life defense attorneys has paid off with their knowledge shining through; well written and easy to follow so you don't get lost in the jargon of law, especially for someone like me who is not familiar with the US law system. I'm hoping very much that Mr. Connelly will be able to entwine the exciting lawyer Mickey Haller in other books going forward, Congratulations to Michael Connelly for a rollercoaster read.

A.Bowhil


Encyclopedia Prehistorica
	Sabuda is my all-time favorite pop-up maker! His stuff is so fabulous and intricate, it'll just blow you away


Far Journeys Review
	I am so passionate about this book.  It has answered all the life questions I have ever held.  Although many people I have recommended it to have reported that they have not been able to "get into it" - for me, I would say it is the best book I have ever read.
This is about the 5th copy I have purchased because when I lend it out, somehow it is not returned and I want to have a copy to re-read every now and then.  (I will not be lending this one again


Secret Pleasure
	Another beautiful contribution by this author. Love letters to make you weep, smile, laugh and imagine . . . or remember . . .  how it feels to love and be loved


The Usbourne Book of Art Skills
	An excellent, well explained art book, with beautiful and easy to follow illustrations. The book is a treasure chest of ideas suitable for the primary classroom. This book provides plenty of opportunities to explore the various strands of the visual arts field. A great resource for any teacher, parent or doting aunt


good as always
	My only caveat about this otherwise enjoyable installment in the Eve Dallas series is that the web site did not prominently state (i.e., I missed it!) that this had previously been published as part of an anthology. I made the mistake of only checking the publishing date, decided it was a new novella published independently (as would be deserved, given the track record of the series), and ordered it without checking further. My bad. But a reminder to readers who want to buy everything from the series -- be sure to read the description carefully enough to determine whether it is a previously-published-in-a-book-you-already-own item!


One of the best book of the ordinary language philosophy
	Gilbert Ryle shows a great skill in condensing his whole argument in a succinct metaphor. On page 16, he writes: "A foreign stranger visiting the Oxford campus is shown libraries, department buildings, and museums. Then he asks "But where is the University?". This is the "category mistake". Cartesian question "Where is the mind?" has a same confusion, he asserts.

A famous epigram "Ghost in the Machine" is sometimes misinterpreted. His point is that there is NO "ghost". What we think ghost (spirit) does not exist (therefore ghost!).

Although the philosophy of ordinary language and the logical behaviorism, the British school represented by Wittgenstein and Ryle, had an its apogee in 50's, its crux of reasoning still has an important element. I still feel the current dominant school in cognitive science such as functionalism has a long way to go, before it can make it acceptable for broader spectrum of scientists whose prime mode of thinking is purely materialistic or physicalistic.


A must read!
	Different, refreshing, entertaining, funny, eye opening....even better than reading the book is to listen to it (buy the Audio CD!) on a loooooong drive..


dog lover
	Loved this book.  I think that this is a must-read for anybody working in a shelter or rescue situation.  The only negative comment is that the people who really need to read the book are not going to read it.  Working in the field, we see first-hand the changes that need to be made in our thoughts on animals. I wish that reading this book could be required before obtaining any animal. I will say that I cried during parts of the book


Beautiful
	This book was stunning - I was enraptured with the writing and loved the story. So many emotions in one book. Looking forward to reading more from this author


Should Be Mandatory Reading for New Employees
	Over the years I managed a staff, I grew concerned about the ignorance of basic business behavior among employees.  Asking a new staff member to read a book like this might head off some future conflicts.  Worth a try... maybe even highlight some sections that you feel are most important


Top notch SF
	I was surprised at some of the poor reviews given this book and have an idea that these stem from those picking up books from a list of Nebula Award winners. This book is not at all your typical SF story, indeed it feels much more like a mainstream story with some SF aspects than it does an SF story. I'm an avid reader of both science fiction as well as mainstream fiction, so this holds a good deal of appeal for me.

Griffith's prose is wonderful and showcases a beauty of language seldom seen in science fiction. Her characterization is also near perfect. I won't spend time discussing the plot as that's been handled amply by the other reviewers, but I will echo one other person's thoughts: The storyline that has Lore working at a sewage plant is, surprisingly, every bit as engrossing as the ones that deal with her kidnapping and her high society upbringing. To me, that says a good deal about Griffith's talent as a writer.

As for the sex scenes, which some people describe as being nearly constant in the book, there are actually about four or five scenes taking up somewhere around ten pages of the book (not each, but in total). Additionally, they're not placed in the story without purpose.

Overall, an excellent book. Personally, I'm quite glad that it won a Nebula. It's certainly desereving


Gets right to the point
	Like so many of the books in the for dummies series it is well written and just gets down to business. The approach taken with this book is a nonviolent approach to training with training being enjoyed by both man (or woman) and beast. I have been training my Shiba Inu puppy based on this book for the last two months now and have had good results.


Looking Through a Glass Darkly?
	The mysterious oriental mirror is ugly, and it has powers that wield themselves on the unexpected.  It wreaks havoc and sometimes kills, as is the case with several people in this book.  The rest are either thought mad or driven mad.  Question:  If you could, would you switch places with somebody else in a different time?  I think I might, but I would like to be given a choice.  Brandy McCabe and her granddaughter Shay Garrett aren't given that choice.  Both are 20 years old and about to marry men neither love when the mirror transports them into each other's bodies.

Marlys Millhiser has woven a complex and fascinating story of culture shock in which Brandy becomes her granddaughter and Shay becomes her grandmother.  Shay is thought crazy in the early 1900s because she can tell the future, and she keeps a diary to tell her grandmother how she has lived out her life should she return to her own body one day.  Her story and how she deals with a pre-citified Boulder, Colorado is the most interesting segment of the book, but I didn't feel sorry for Shay as much as I admired her strength of character.  She also had her mother's stories of her ancestors to go on, but this was not the case for poor Brandy.  The Garrett's and Shay's fiancee' don't know what to do with a pregnant Shay who is terrified and clueless about the year 1978, but they know after discovering the diary that she really is Brandy.

The story is often heartbreaking, often times quite funny, and there are so many supporting and unforgettable characters--like the lovable Thora K., Brandy's first mother-in-law and the old man who takes care of Shay when she runs away from her family--that this book is not only compelling, but also makes you think about your own place in this world.  What Shay and Brandy do have in common is Rachel, Brandy's daughter and Shay's mother.  Now picture those two being in each other's place when you think of that!

Somebody here called the book a literary classic; I wouldn't go that far, but it is excellent, regardless.  The Mirror is magical storytelling any way you look at it, so let it weave it's spell on you.


Great for self groomers
	This book will be invaluable now as I am going to groom my dog myself. The instructions are easily understood


Great First Mystery in the Joanna Brady Series
	I LOVE Joanna Brady!  However, this introduction to her and her life in Bisbee is NOT the best book Jance has ever written.  One thing that is terrific about Jance, though, is that she is from Bisbee and describes the town in exact detail.  Bisbee is a quaint crazy town and Jance grabs all of the details of that small town oasis in the desert.  Joanna Brady is a likeable character and the series gets beter and better as time goes by. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!


Excellent mystery...
	I thought that the two books previous to this in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series were slight disappointments.  Kincaid seemed relegated to a side character with Gemma taking the lead.  IN A DARK HOUSE is an excellent mystery that brings the two back to equal ground and re-establishes them as one of the best partnerships in mystery fiction


Please translate more of Kirino's work into English!
	On the surface, Natsuo Kirino gives us a book loaded with nail-biting, page turning suspense.  What lies beneath is a scathing commentary on the social climate for women in Japan.  Women are seen as beautiful young pets, or useless old bags.  Kirino shows a side of Japan that I didn't know existed.

Kirino's brilliant characterization makes this book work.  Every person is fleshed out within the context of the story, and flashbacks are only used when absolutely necessary.  I never felt like the story was on hold while I learned about someone's childhood.  I can't stand it when writers stop a story cold just to fill in holes that they have created.  Kirino doesn't have that problem.

The book has a bit of a slow start, but it is necessary for the author to paint a picure of the mundane world the characters live in before things start to heat up.  The story picks up momentum and charges through to a brilliant ending (I have to disagree with other reviewers who disliked the ending. If you don't like the ending, you may be missing the point of the whole book). The plot twists manage to surprise the reader without feeling forced. Kirino's style is concise and well-paced.

My one complaint is that it is difficult to keep the characters straight because of their similar names.  With names like Yayoi, Yoshie, and Yoko it's hard to know who's who at times.  This may show my American ignorance, but I have to admit that this was a problem for me.

This minor complaint aside, I loved this book and I highly recommend it to all fans of crime fiction


Essential Reading for Therapists Treating Depression
	As a therapist (16 yrs), I have been using the material in this book for reframing the experience of depression for my clients.  The clients I have introduced this book to are now reframing their illness as an intiation  into a greater understanding of their relation to self/soul.  While at  times dry for most laypeople, It has become a reference book for my  practice


The best compliment I can think of.
	I really enjoyed this book. It was a few good laughs over a few good dumps. What else can a Goomba ask from a book sittin' on the back of the cammode