Naturally, my favorite Richard Adams' novel is Watership Down, but the next favorite has got to be this book, Traveller. It is the simple of a horse who lived through horrible times. But this horse does not know why - because for the simple reason - he is just a horse.

He tells (as only a horse can) of the Civil War (or is it the War of Aggression?). He does not know. He is a horse. He does not understand why men are doing these horrible things to each other. Why they are killing each other. Why there is so pain and blood. Why there is no food. No water.
His only concern is his owner, the tall man in grey. It is his duty to carry him safely everywhere and without fear. Traveller does enjoy despite the hardship when he is allowed to parade with his rider in front of the many men who cheer - are they cheering him or his rider. He wants to do a grand job whatever.

It also tells of the horse and his owner - the bond they had for each other. Traveller's wanting to do as good a job as he can for his owner because of this bond.

I really enjoyed this book as it tells of the war without taking sides. Of course, Traveller cannot take sides. He is just a horse, therefore, he can tell of the war without being prejudice to either side. Just the facts - all the blood, the gore and the questioning of why.

If you can get a copy of this book, read it. It is a great novel.

General Lee was a great man so he should have a great horse to go along with him. We always read how bad war is on human's well after reading this book I learned that war was just as bad for the horse. My heart went out to Traveller when General Lee died he just could not understand what happened. I know that you will come to read it time and time again, just like I have.

Traveller is in plain-speaking a magnificent masterpiece that is copacetic in bringing forth a new hero to the American Southern states. Traveller's views of war and its after effects are some of the best I have incurred. There is no one that can tell a story like Richard Adams. I wish he could write a new one each year. Why Traveller is out of print and all that trash still sits on the bookshelves in stores is beyond me. It is worth the read just to see how a horse views the white surrender flag!

I read Linzey's book, "Animal Gospel," in which he laid a good theological basis for humane care of animals and the practice of vegetarianism. However, he did not adequately address certain issues which were pressing to me. These included God giving Noah permission to eat meat, God providing a garment of skin for Adam and Eve, the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, Jesus eating meat and Paul's arguments against vegetarianism. Richard Young does and excellent job addressing all of these and other issues. He approaches each issue and question with straight forward honesty. Frequently, I felt as if he brought up an issue with which there was not good vegetarian response. However, he would address how it is normally read, frequently in complete agreement with the traditional reading of the passage, but then very gently present a fresh perspective.

Some Christian vegetarian groups use dubious historical documents to "prove" that Jesus and/or his disciples were vegetarian. Young does nothing of the kind, in fact, he debunks those attempts. He is very honest and straightforward in presenting his case.

I would strongly recommend this book for the Christian who is struggling with animal rights and vegetarianism from a Biblical perspective. If a Christian is not struggling with these issues, perhaps they should and this book would be a good place to start.

Dr. Young is much more than a relevant contemporary Christian, he is also an exceptional theologian, scholar/teacher of the Greek New Testament, and lives very much what he teaches. He was my Greek professor nearly 20 years ago and I must say his literary work has taken on a distilled wisdom. Best wishes to all who read his work.

M. Williams

One of the most important things about this book is that it does NOT, I repeat NOT, try to reinvent Jesus as a vegetarian. There have been some attempts to try to "prove" Jesus was vegetarian, but the author finds the evidence for such reinventions to not be compelling. The author basically concludes that some consumption of meat is biblically acceptable, so long as the animal has been treated with care and compassion during its life. On the other hand, the author also concludes that vegetarian is preferred, and factory farming would have to be contemptable in God's eyes. By the way, I'm personally an agnostic, and one of the reasons why I have turned away from Christianity is that the Christian church, in general, does not see the obvious truth to the immorality of factory farming. This book is must reading.

I read this book and every fishing trip I have ever been on came rushing back. As I read I could feel the weight of the fly vest on my shoulders and smell the campfire. No one other than a down home salmon fisherman could have written this book. While he fished the Mirimichi I fished the Restigouche and once had the privilidge of meeting his Uncle, Richard Adams, on the Matepedia.
I know the beauty of the land and the feeling of a line tighten under a heavy fish, Everything is so real, from the sound of the water and the singing of a reel being stripped of its line down to the irritating buzzing of the bugs. He speaks of the friendships on the river so accurately one knows it is not fiction.
A wonderful read that I tore through and will sit down again to read it again to savour anything I may have missed.
My only regret is there were only 5 stars to give it.

My neighbor lent this book to me when I was having trouble getting my 2 year old to go to bed and go to sleep with it being light out at bedtime during the summer. She loved the book and would ask for me to read it again every night. It is one of her favorite books. The action words really invite her to get involved in the story. Words like "vrrruuum-chugga-chug", roaring tigers, parading soldiers,resting not racing trains, musicians playing a lullaby, a sighing drowsy moon, and a yawning baby who doesn't want to stay up all night after his adventures. This could be a classic book.

This is a beautifully illustrated book about a baby who does want to go to bed and so with a "vrruum-chugga-chug" zooms off in his little car awy from "the Mother" - he meets a sleepy tiger, dreaming soldiers, a resting train, and drowsy musicians until his little car itself falls asleep, not even the Moon will play - then he's rescued by the Mother and goes to bed - my little ones love it (and are usually asleep before the end!!)

I received this book over 25 years ago from my uncle/godfather before I could even read. I remember being so mesmerized by the beautiful illustrations, I would make someone read it to me every night just so I could look at the pictures! It's definitely worth an out-of-print search! I got hold of another copy a few years ago which I intend to pass on to my recently-born niece!

I have a copy of this book from years ago when I was a child. I was sad to see that it is out of print, and feel sorry for the children who won't have the opportunity to experience it. I remember many a day of reading and rereading this wonderful book.

Adventure, Poetry, Fantastically Colorful and Detailed Artwork combine in this short classic of children's literature.

It's worth an out of print search.

Alec

I found this in the Rizzoli bookstore and had to slit the shrinkwrap to see what the book was like. Then sat down in a soft chair to browse through it but after a half hour decided it made more sense to just buy it and read it at home. Not disappointed. The book covers everything in great detail - lots of text - with pictures of hotels from the Chilean Andes to London and Paris and New York. A "must have" for people interested in travel and hotels and architecture.

WOW! I have a copy of the 1980s version of Rutes and Penner--this is a totally new edition, all new photography, etc.--and consider it the 'Bible' for hotel design. But the new edition is twice as big and full of current examples and information. It has 32 pages of gorgeous color photos of great hotels and resorts from around the world. The text is in three main sections: Hotel Types (downtown, resorts, conference centers, luxury hotels, casino hotels, etc.); Design Guide (planning and design information for all areas of the hotel); and Development Guide (feasibility, programming, future trends). In addition, there are lots of appendices and sidebars from such people as Ian Schrager, I.M. Pei, Robert Stern, and John Portman. I've looked at other hotel design books in the stores and there isn't anything that is so complete or current. There are other books on boutique hotels, with lots of pictures, but nothing with this global coverage of all types of lodging properties. With well over 400 pages, this book will be the new Bible for hotel design. I can't imagine a better choice for anyone involved with the hotel development, architecture, or interior design.

Richard Adams unique collection of fables is intriguing and thought-provoking...to see ourselves and others in each is a rewarding challenge -- well worth the effort! Also, I must mention that the illustrations in this book are absolutely exquisite -- something the previous reviewer made no mention -- a rarity in this day and age of simple graphics and line drawings.

This Book is not a story, but a collection of some interesting and little-known fairy tales. Some of them are good, some of them not so, but in general, this is a very good book and worth reading. As you can see, it is out of print in English, but it is still available in German (Der Eiserne Wolf: phantastische Märchen).

This book is like all the other Wodehouse books, Galahad trying to bring a couple together. It is a wonderful satire on all the earls, lords, dukes etc. etc. This one is about a lover who is posing as a person who is going to paint a pig, the Empress. Wodehouse never finished the book (because he died while writing it), but that makes it even more interesting. But be careful, once you start reading his books, most likely you will not stop. Everybody will be able to enjoy it a little bit, for his books make you laugh until tears come rolling down your cheeks. Cheers! :)

It was a bitter-sweet experience to read this book years ago, knowing it was P.G.'s last, and unfinished to boot. However, the editor (a Wodehouse biographer) included manuscripts and early drafts, showing marginal notes and erasures, Wodehouse's outline of his plot, and false starts of plot lines, and the editor's own analysis. A fascinating look into the process of writing.

Book was more than I expected. A lot of detailed information. I was able to contact several marinas and get inquires answered. The CD was also excellent, a cruise could be planned with ease, for stop off points using dockage rates. Highly recommended for planning first time cruises.

Adams's Maia rivals the "greats" in its ability to create an entire world of believable characters, religions, and politics. The complex world in which the novel's action takes place is breath-taking. The novel actually serves as a prequel to Adams' previous endeavor, Shardik (itself an underrated and beautiful work), but Adams takes his Beklan Empire to new levels of epic sophistication with the introduction of the naive and good-hearted Maia; the grotesque and unforgettable Sencho; the wise and gutsy Occula; and the erotic, ambitious, and evil Fornis. Perhaps the only works of fiction more encompassing and completely original in their creation of an entirely new reality are Frank Herbert's Dune novels; however, Adams work maintains a beauty and sensitivity that is lacking in those science fiction giants. Overall I have to rank Maia as one of my all-time favorite works of fiction. I have read it three times and have to stop myself from picking it up again too soon in order to preserve the rewarding pleasure I receive from reentering Adams amazing world.

As a sophomore in high school, I was a bit doubtful when my father recommended this book to me. But because I was out of other things to read, i decided to give this bible-length book a shot. Within the first few chapters I was completely lost in the world that Richard Adams created, and was following Maia's every step closely as she meets the other characters. For those who love fantasy, this book is everything you could wish for--it has mystery, suspense, imagination, creativity, love, friendship, and much more. For those who in the past haven't tried reading fantasy, this book will get you hooked. It is a wonderful story of growing up, falling in love, and heroic deeds centered around a very real main character, Maia.

Adams takes the talent for building exceptional and realistic characters that he showcased in Watership Down and the Plague Dogs to unbelievable new levels in this gem. One of the greatest books I have ever read. Absolutely inspiring for anybody who writes fiction and easily as engrossing as Eddings and Tolkien. This is simply a magnificent novel: adventuresome, erotic, well thought out, and addicting! Reader beware...you will not be able to put this book down! Adams takes his characters beyond what most usually think of as fantasy and turns them into real people. His beautiful and familiar writing voice fills the pages with subtle poetry which makes it difficult to put down and more difficult to resist re-reading immediately! Recommended for anybody who enjoys reading any genre from fantasy to romance to mystery to just plain fiction. This book has it all! ...And who doesn't love Occula?

This is one of the most mind-wrenching books of the 20th century, and if you read it, you will understand this is not hyperbole. Just like a Jack London book, this is the deeply emotional and beautiful story of a man and his dog, and the vast love and respect they share through their many adventures. Like chasing down concentration-camp escapees. Like tracking the innocent poor as they flee their persecutors.

How can you not love a dog?

Beware-- this book may haunt you. A simple dog story it is not.

On the surface, this is an accessible easy read; we're in the point of view of Ruslan, formerly a guard dog in a labor camp. When the camp bewilderingly closes, Ruslan is left to his own devices-- trying to find his commander, trying to get food. One terrible scene I have never been able to get out of my mind is when a peasant cruelly offers him a piece of bread-- covered with hot mustard, knowing it will cause the dog pain. No animal lover can read this scene without compassion or tears.

And yet.

Ruslan is faithful, but the reader knows the system he served was an evil one. Like the best allegories, this book works fully on all its levels-- as a sheer survival story from a decent, though misguided, dog's point of view the book is sad. But with the knowledge that certainly any Russian reader would have (and that any reader should have, really) about the changes in Russian society-- this book comes out of the Thaw period, when artists began to be able to critique more openly the repressive Stalinist regime-- the book's real tragedy is almost too much to take.

For Ruslan, you see, like so many Russians, had been deceived in his attempt to be a Good Dog. What Ruslan remembers fondly, the reader with horror can understand as atrocity (attacking prisoners, for example). (Another book which does this is Martin Amis' brilliant TIME'S ARROW, in which the Holocaust is remembered backwards, so that the narrator recalls resurrecting millions out of ashes).

Ruslan comes to a terrible, inevitable end-- the details of which are left to the reader's shivering imagination. Ruslan sees some people he once knew-- and goes to do his job. But the world had mysteriously and completely changed.

Poor Ruslan, he was only doing his job-- truly. The real criminals are the ones who corrupted and perverted his loyalty and decency into serving their evil ends.

An unforgettable book. I wept at its end, and emailed my Russian teacher to complain! (I got no sympathy; tragedy and sorrow are so Russian, she said).

The end of Stalin's system of forced labor labor camp is seen through the eyes of forced labor guard dog. This powerful premise provides a unique perspective on the lasting impact of the Stalinist nightmare on the survivors, and shows the reader that the destruction of one system of evil does not inevitably mean the end of all misery.
The survivors, whether they worked for the system -- as in the case of a guard dog, or those who who were crushed by the system, as in the case of millions of former prisoners, were all forced to continue to endure in Soviet Russia, without any real justice for the victims.
The confusion that resulted, with former victims being "rehabilitated" and yet never enjoying any real restitution, and the former tormentors never being required to face the enormity of their deeds is palpably felt.
In addition, by using a morally neutral character, a dog, the author shows that in the case of many who supported the system, it is impossible to definitively assign to them guilt for the system which they supported. The book shows that while totalitarianism has a few monsters, it has many more people who accede unquestioningly to the environment with which they are surrounded. And it does all of this quietly, without melodrama or histrionics.
This powerful book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the human condition. Let us hope that more such books are written in Russia, and that this book is reprinted.
Michael Glenny provides a well-crafted translation of this important book.