In spite of what some of the previous negative reviewers have said about the book, the Buteyko Method is neither a "crock" nor is it "pseudoscience". The approach works, but you have to work at it. This book by Teresa Hale is an excellent introduction to the method-only recently brought into the US via Australia and England-that's been practiced over the past 40 years in the former Soviet Union. Some of the negative comments by previous reviewers are accurate. The book is a bit self-promotional and the claim that you can "cure" asthma in only five days is not quite correct. You can learn the method in three to five days, and in some cases even then experience significant relief from your respiratory symptoms. However, to raise your control pause to 50 or 60 as they recommend for optimal health will probably take you anywhere from a couple of months to a year to accomplish. The method can be difficult and uncomfortable to do, and continual practice is necessary. Nonetheless, the method works if you work at it. You may need to take a full Buteyko seminar rather than rely on the book alone. I suspect the negative reviewers either were expecting too much from a book alone, were looking for a quick fix, or had medical complications that would necessitate their taking the full seminar. The book even advises most people to take the seminar and not rely on the book for all of the answers. Some people's conditions require subtle modifications of the Method that only an experienced trainer can coach them in. Maybe they should take the course. In any event, I would most strongly encourage any of you out there who suffers from any kind of respiratory illness, from sinusitus to asthma, to buy this book, as I would recommend any of you who suffer from symptoms of stress or anxiety disorder--including panic attack-- to buy this book. Don't expect the exercises to be too easy, and don't expect a quick cure. Think about taking the Buteyko course if you need to. It'll set you back around $500. But as one who started off with a control pause of less than 10 and who now has an average control pause of 40 - 45, I will say the benefits in my case are obvious and worth it. My chronic sinusitus which I've had from childhood is cleared up entirely, as are my migraine headaches and most of my tendencies to overeat. I've lost weight and am continuing to lose. My ten year old son is even starting to practice the Method a little bit at a time. His sleeping is very much improved, and he no longer wakes up with a dry or a sort throat as he used to before. I cannot recommend this book to you enough. :-)

If you have or ever have had any kind of respiratory problem in your life, or you know of someone who's had any kind of respiratory problem in their lives, BUY THIS BOOK! The Buteyko method of breath retraining promises to be the medical breakthrough of the next century, and this book is as good an introduction to the method as it gets. I began the book with a Control Pause of 8 and finished the book a week later with a CP of 30 and am looking forward to getting to 50 or 60. You'll have to read the book to understand about the Control Pause, but I'm willing to make the prediction that, in the years to come, the CP will be regarded as almost more valuable than the pulse in determining a person's overall state of health. The book's thesis--that carbon dioxide is not the waste gas we've all been taught it is, and that low-grade hyperventilation is at the root of an amazing number of health disorders--is one of those counterintuitive ideas that suddenly makes a lot of sense once its implications are thoroughly spelled out. That the book does. My only constructive criticism of the book is that it tends to be a little wordy in some parts, and occasionally repititious, but not so much that it becomes disagreeable. For us Yanks on the western side of the puddle, a bit more brevity would have been welcome. Nonetheless, this book is too important to let a few literary bumps stand in the way. Buy the book, read it, and begin practicing the exercises. Give yourself a week to try it on for size. You won't be disappointed. I most certainly was not. I'm feeling much better already.

I've written a book about asthma; thought I knew everything. And then I bought this book. Started the five day program with great cynicism. Let me say I've not had a day free from symptoms from a case diagnosed as "moderately severe" asthma for five years. After doing the program, stringently, and following the guidelines (except for the diet -- I only cut out milk products) -- I have no post-nasal drip; don't feel as if I'm drowning; sleep magnificently; have no shortness of breath, or tightness in my chest, and have more energy. I started to experience positive results the first day. Frankly, I don't feel I "have" asthma anymore, though I do take inhaled corticosteroids, at a very reduced rate. If you are disciplined, and if you're willing to invest time, read this book. It's the better of the two books available on this method. I listened to music or read in the intervals between doing the controlled pause -- a technique that's taught. The best investment in a self-help book I've ever made.

Mr. Ford's excellent "Fury" led me to purchase this book, my introduction to Leo Waterman. It was a disappointment. Leo seems like a pale imitation of James Crumley's Milo Milodragovitch with a little of Robert Parker's Spencer thrown in for good measure.

The plot is confusing and depends too much on visuals; nice in a movie but a strain in a book. Leo is hired to protect the good name of the La Cuisine International who are holding their first non-European convention in a five-star Seattle hotel. Employer Sir Geoffrey Miles feels some of the member/participants are in "mortal danger." Two competing magnates of chain steak houses are briskly skirmishing in the courts, a food critic of enormous influence is playing a ruthless game of "who gets the five-stars." Except for the fact that all the characters in "danger" seem uniformly disagreeable, it is difficult to see a compelling reason to kill them. Leo employs his Army of the Homeless for surveillance purposes, much chasing around ensues, great efforts are made to keep one of the steak house owners from having a giant barbeque in downtown Seattle and the food critic is knocked off. The reader solves the mystery about 100 pages ahead of Leo leaving not much but a series of anti-climaxes.

There are some bright spots: Sir Geoffrey Miles is deftly characterized as a Nero Wolfe par excellence and is amusing and entertaining. Mr. Ford does Seattle very well, as I noted in "Fury." He makes it sound so attractive I have to keep repeating to myself "Remember the Rain, remember the rain!" The homeless characters and their lifestyles are interesting and handled with sensitivity.

Perhaps Mr. Ford just had a bad outing. I will try another book, probably without Leo, and hope it rekindles my enthusiasm for Mr. Ford's books. Give "Slow Burn" a pass.

Author Ford had me as a devoted fan and I read all of his other books with admiration and envy. But this book just had a lousey, contrived plot and way too much talk with too little action. The book had its amusing moments to be sure, but those are (or should be) sidelights in this genre. The plot and characters have to have some life and meaning; but not in this novel. No one is perfect every time out, though I was beginning to believe that this author was. He convinced me to the contrary. Read all his other books; skip this one.

Leo Waterman is a P.I. with independent means who employs an odd assortment of associates. He discovered that the best people to use on a stakeout are the street people who are a normal part of the cityscape. He also gets help from his relatives scattered throughout the city's civil service thanks to the nepotism of his late father.

Leo is hired to defuse a situation between two rival steakhouse chains whose actions might disrupt an international convention at one of Seattle's leading hotels. A side issue is saving Bunky (a prize bull) from being turned into pit roasted beef for the opening of a new steakhouse. Events start to explode when a food critic caught between the rivals gets a bullet in the head.

The action is confined to about one week as events rapidly develop. Along the way, you will obtain some sidelights on Seattle and an overview of the homeless who live their own lifestyle. I won't reveal the ending, but it could only happen in Seattle. It would make a wild motion picture.

The author is correct about the afternoon traffic jam developing at 2:30, as this reviewer discovered to his dismay during a recent visit. It extends from around Everett on the northside to Tacoma on the southern edge. Driving was easier before they built the freeways.

Let me caveat this review: I only have read the title story, and my review is based entirely on that.

This story was truly awful. It is an overlong, relentlessly endless, uber-puritanical tirade. Tolstoy was, at least at this point in his life, an unbelievable prude, and this is a master treatise on prudery. If you think that sex is evil, always, every time, even within the bounds of marriage, this story is for you. Otherwise, there's not much here. The 'story' such as it is, is paper thin, despite the awfully large number of words it takes him to tell it.

Finally, if you are a Beethoven fan, and were interested in this story because of the piece in the title (as I was), forget it. The sonata itself gets only scant mention in one place, and was hardly worth titling the story after.

It's unforgiveable that Penguin gives away the climax of "Kreutzer Sonata" on the back cover of the book. Also, who wants to read an inept critique, such as the one on the back cover, in advance of reading the story. The stories themselves are not Tolstoy at his best. Much better spending one's time reading "Anna Karenina" or "War and Peace" in the Maude translations. These late period stories are like bad Dostoyevski, the author well past his prime.

The stories contained in this volume ('The Kreutzer Sonata', 'The Devil', 'The Forged Coupon' and 'After the Ball') are from Tolstoy's late period and are markedly different in tone from the great works of his early period, 'The Cossacks' and 'War and Peace'. Those early works are characterised by Tolstoy's enormous compassion and lust for life, while even the more troubled 'Anna Karenina' is infused with the author's magnanimous wisdom, despite the grave self-doubts that were plaguing him at the time of writing. 'The Kreutzer Sonata' marks a sea-change in mood for this greatest of all novelists. All of the stories here are stained with the cynicism that overtook Tolstoy in his advancing years, and the almost overwhelming sense of guilt at what he saw as the dissolute and wasted life he had led, and the hollowness of relations between men and women. The sheer joie de vivre of Natasha Rostov in 'War and Peace' contrasts severely with the nihilism of Pozdnyshev in 'The Kreutzer Sonata', while the misfortunes of almost every character in 'The Forged Coupon' do not point to a happy or optimistic author. These are interesting stories however, which at times equal Tolstoy at his most illuminating - though even Tolstoy some way off his best is more than a match for most. Highly recommended.

Memoirs of a Detroit born, Jewish 18 year old who enters the army for three years and sees action in Europe, Belgium, France and Germany in the last months of WWII as a medic. After finishing a year at University of Michigan, Leo is sent to South Carolina where, like most every other Jewish draftee and recruit, he is called a College Boy, Kike, and An Inside-Out Nigger by his welcoming bunkmates in basic training. Throughout his 13 chapters of memoirs, he shows that war is awful and evil on both sides. Horniness on both sides leads to stupid choices during leaves and the occupation of German towns. Litwak bonds with many in his platoon and puts up with the others who in a different world should be jailed. Like any WWII Hollywood film, his platoon consists of many diverse post adolescent men who must band together to stay alive. There are the southerners who are segregationists, there is the New Yorker Commie Red who served in The Lincoln Brigade against Spanish Fascists; there is the soldier who loots civilians and corpses, the extremely pragmatic teenage Dutch survivor who deals in the black market, and the farm boy who executes and butchers captured or surrendered German SS and Wehrmacht soldiers. One second, Leo is speaking with two friends, the next second screaming meemee's have ripped off their leg or intestines in his trench. They both die en route to a division hospital. When they liberate some Jewish women who served as comfort women to German soldiers, they hold a seder, and Litwak, who never attended a seder as a youth in Detroit is enlisted to help in the ceremony. I was a little irritated when I learned that some incidences were dramatized, since it detracts from knowing the truth, but on the whole, this is a great read and honest portrait of wartime.

"'Aid Man!' ... He ran up to me. He shouted in my face. 'Aid Man!' He grabbed my shoulders, his mouth agape, heaving air. 'A man got his leg blowed off. Let's go!'" This was Leo Litwak's first shot of many to come at saving a life. Leo was a young Jewish boy being trained as a medic in South Carolina. It was February of 1943, and, sooner than he would have preferred, Leo would be immersed in World War II. This is a true story and an excellent one as well. Leo Litwak does a wonderful job telling the truth in this book leaving no goury details out. His book shows all aspects of the war. He shows the soft side, dark side, romantic side, and even the surprising side. Gloria Emerson from the Los Angeles Times states, "[This is a] book that should be given to every schoolboy in the country at the age of thirteen." I must agree with this statement because all the reality and accuracy in this book will inform them that there's not always a happy ending and that war is nothing like Hollywood.

The Medic is a GI's story of war and a first rate book. For those seeking a how to book on how to turn a tourniquet, this is not the book. Mr. Litwak describes human frailties and moral dilemma. His experiences are not pretty; there is no glory to war or nobility to warfare. The Medic is a tale of young American guys growing up as soldiers in a foreign land at war. They were certainly on the right side of history but not always on the right side in their decision making. Having led young men in situations of stress and survival myself, I found Mr. Litwak's portrayals clear and poignant. They rang true. For the soldier the noble path was often unclear. Young men, far from home and in the midst of a battle had little guidance. Choosing right from wrong was a struggle for all and Mr. Litwak forcefully describes this with great courage and insight, as the medic is certainly not a romanticized hero. The book is well structured and paced beautifully, climaxing in what I found to be an emotionally powerful and gripping chapter. I commend Mr. Litwak for his honesty and courage; it is hard to find a hero among these soldiers, even the medic. All are corrupted by war, albeit a war against the evil Nazis.

I grew up as a Cub fan. I've changed loyalties since the late 70's, but the Cubs of Claerbaut are still my heroes. This book, however, is the WORST I've ever read on any topic. As a history teacher of 31 years I've read somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 books. Never have I seen a tome that has had as many incorrect spellings, botched facts, inane analyses, and poor writing style. I now regret having had my wife lovingly dish out my hard-earned money for this literary trainwreck. She could have gotten me a highlight tape of the '69 Mets and it would not aggravate me as much.

Here and now I'm warning any Bruin-backer (as Claerbaut would label him) to save his cash, keep an eye on ESPN CLassic, and have the patience to wait until Leo's era in Chicago is profiled.
After all, if a Cub fan has been waiting 57 years for another pennant, he can bide his time a little longer for a better book.

This book is great if you are a fanatic for statistics that go above and beyond what you usually get...seasonal batting and pitching statistics. But, I do not go much past those statistics and the author uses them far more often than I as a reader wanted to see, mainly because it fragmented much of the narrative. The author does well in explaining their purpose, I just didn't care for them. Now, as far as baseball history goes, if you have read or know little about the Cubs seasons during the tenure of Leo Durocher, this book will be very insightful in many respects. Otherwise, it's just another baseball book with too many statistics added. I would have preferred something with interviews from more of the players that made up the Cubs teams as they recounted what happened that kept them from winning the division. The one thing the author really did a great job of pointing out was the ineffectiveness of Kessinger and Beckert at the top of the order. Although they were all-stars, they weren't the tablesetters that Williams, Santo, and Banks really needed in front of them. All in all, I did get enjoyment from this book, but I can't see myself reading it over again as I have with many others in my library.

Excellent, I enjoyed it every much. If you lived through Durocher's Cubs you'll love it. Brought back a lot of memories. It tells the complete story of the team, not just 69. It also contains the best analysis yet of why they didn't win a title and why we loved those players so much. The 67 run to first place, Adolpho Phillips, Willie Smith's home run, Holtzman's no hitter, Pepitone, Pappas, the clubhouse explosion, it's all here.

Leo Frankowski just doesn't know when to quit, and that's too bad. I read Frankowski's _Crosstime Engineer_ series and thought that it was a fun and charming updating of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court, with a lot of interesting facts about medieval European history thrown in besides. But this latest book of his stinks on ice. The idea behind the Fata Morgana is that two engineers on an extended yacht trip have an accident in the Atlanic Ocean and run aground on the fabled Western Isles. What Western Isles you ask? Well these are the Western Isles of yore, that apparently were really a massive chunk of tenuously anchored lava off of the coast of France until the year 1099 when it broke loose and floated free in the world's oceans. Since then the isles have been floating free, isolated from contact with the world's civilizations and a thriving civilization has developed there, in isolation, until our protagonists come along. Now, the first question you might ask is how a chunk of rock large enough to support a civilization of 12,000 people could have floated free for the last 900 years without ever being discovered. Frankowski "explains" this by saying that it had been discovered, but no one believed any of the discoverers because the island kept moving. But wait, it gets lamer. You, the discerning reader, might ask how this island remained undiscovered in our modern era of high altitude reconnaissance and satellites. Well Frankowski "explains" this by saying that no spy satellite had ever looked down at this island and that it was too small to show up on the images from weather satellites. Now, if you can swallow this then you can swallow the rest of the novel, which, quite frankly, isn't that interesting. Our two protagonists, both engineers, are noble and hard working souls who land on this island, show the natives how it's done, foil the evil archbishop, get some hot native tail and in general save the day, all the while bloviating on various topics such as political correctness, women's lib, religion, etc. Now, Bob Heinlein, may he rest in peace, could get away with this, even when it got thick in novels such as _I Will Fear no Evil_ and _Number of the Beast_ because he kept the story moving and because his characters were interesting people who found themselves in interesting predicaments. Not so Frankowski. There are a few interesting ideas in the book, the most being a form of Christianity based upon the teachings of the Apostle Thomas (doubting Thomas), but these are basically throw aways and not enough to redeem this book. Summary: AVOID

I enjoyed this book. It was another fun read from Leo Frankowski, but different from his other books I have read. I was expecting that he had gotten tired of his Conrad books, as authors do, or felt that he had brought that story line to a natural conclusion, but was looking to do the same thing all over again with new characters in a new universe. It turns out I was wrong.

He spends a few chapters in the beginning introducing and developing his characters to a much greater extent than he has before. I really feel like I know the two engineers. Then he puts them in an unusual situation by shipwrecking them on the floating island. So far all in line with what the jacket cover and reviews lead me to expect. His greater depth of character development, I chalk up to a more mature author. He did a similar job in the opening chapters of "a Boy and His Tank".

Then he spends the whole middle of the book describing the Island, both the physical and social history. This is where I was surprised. Conrad, in the series which will always define Leo Frankowski for me, spent his time building things, and fighting. The new characters start off very action oriented, then turn into vehicles who ask questions so that the author can describe the Island. Then they talk to themselves about society in the real world and how it compares to the Island (the only part I didn't care for). They set out to build things, but don't have Conrad's luck, at least not at first. They try to avoid conflict, and in this they have more luck than Conrad, although they aren't completely successful of course. The Island is the main character in the middle of the book, not the people. But the Island is fascinating, and this is not a bad thing.

Then the end, just kind of ends. The author did a good job of keeping me guessing. Right up until the last few pages, I wasn't sure which way he was going to go with it. But when he finished, it was a bit abrupt, and I said "oh" instead of "Ah!". I really got the feeling that the author reached the length the Publisher required, so he stopped writing.

This book is a "what if" book not an action adventure book. What if this Island existed? Wouldn't that be cool. What if you were the ones who found it? Wouldn't THAT be cool! Guess what, it would be cool. Now that I'm done reading, I still think about it, the true measure of a good book. But I'm thinking about the Island, not the people.

It alarms me to see all of the people that write comparing Frankowski to Heinlein, or who try to over-analise (yes I meant that) his work.

I find this book, like most of Frankowski's books, to be a pleasent diversion from being forced to think in ruts. It takes the kind of tounge in cheek humor that appears in spurts in the Conrad Stargard series and focuses more on it, as did A Boy and His Tank.

It alarms me to see people reviewing it as if it were the Bible, when really it is a scapegoat, a diversion from having to think. Read a few chapters, then close your eyes and imagine "what if"...thats the key to Frankowski's books. I would have given it 4 and a half stars if I could have, just because the ending is somewhat dissastisfying (allthough nothing like A Boy and His Tank, I wanted to kick something when I finished that).

In a way he is like a somewhat more technologically savy Douglas Adams. The explination of why the isles had never been discovered reminded me of Adams explanation of the race of beings that had never developed space travel, simply because it had never occured to them to look up. The unfounded accusations of bias and stereotype are pretty much nullified when you consider that Frankowski usually justifies almost everything his characters believe, at times to a fault. In my opinion this is probably due to his "method writing" style, and it helps to develop characters.

All in all I would say that this book is an interesting diversion that allows you to ask "what if" without forcing you to think, if you don't want to. Don't try to make it something its not; Its not Heinlein, its not Tolkin, its not Verne (allthough I think Verne and Frankowski would feel a kinship), no matter how much you want to compare it to them, realise that its probably closer to "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" than it is to anything else.

I zipped through this yarn and enjoyed it, somewhat. It was better than its predecessor, Conrad's Lady. And she only had a brief walk-on cameo in this book. I have followed Conrad since the first printing of CTE ('80s). If one looks at the back cover of that one gets the impression that there were to only be the four. Yes the first 50 pages are rehash; however, in Leo's defense, by providing a new perspective of familiar events you don't have to re-read the prior novels (its both old and new). Writing from a 1st person perspective ain't an easy task either. That is all part of the formula. (As is the wonton and often pedophile sex, which I could do without.) One thing that I have felt is that Leo watched James Burke's Connection series and modified it to push his hero's engineering wonders. Please don't take that as a criticism. Incorporating an idea into good story is still a difficult feat. Still he did rush the end. I hope the next book will feature more engineering and more Conrad. Also, the next text will either explore the sea or aim for space before Conrad passes on. Father Iggy will be pope and Conrad may get canonized before he dies. I do hope there is a new book, I am still a fan-just looking for a stronger story than the past two.

I don't know where I was when this book came out but I jus found it and bought it immediately.

I read the other reviews out of curiousity. Most of them point out several severe flaws that I acknowledge. In spite of this, I rate the book fairly highly for the simple reason that it was very enjoyable. It's stimulated my imagination almost as much as the first four. I could read flawed books like this one all the time!

Book 6 marks a change in story presentation. The main story is told through the diaries of Josep, the son of a baker who lives and works at Okoitz.

This book gives us the perspective of the next generation. A story from a young peasant child growing into manhood during the arrival of our primary hero, Conrad Stargard. Here we see the divergence from 13th century life in medieval Poland through Conrad's sweeping "modernizations".

The "exploration" of the rest of the world is a logical "next-step" for the Christian Army.

I found Conrad's naming of various "newly discovered" land-masses and territories to be entertaining, and somehow right. Leo shows us a wonderful era in a time that wasn't but should have been!

And if this story isn't enough for all of Leo's fans...

Wait til you see what book 7 is like...

BTW: If enough people were to contact the publisher, it's possible that Leo might finish Book zero, the prequel to the Adventure's of Conrad Stargard...

And if enough people clamored at the publisher, perhaps Leo might be persuaded to take this story beyond book 7...

There's a LOT of potential story material waiting!

When her meat cleaver of a 'biography', "His Way," was first published in 1986, Kitty Kelley appeared on the Larry King show and claimed it was a "balanced" book.

Had King read the book and if he had some guts as an interviewer,
he would have laughed her off the show.

Claiming "His Way" is "balanced" is like the Grand Dragon of the KKK stating his group is racially mixed.

With a certain amount of glee, Kelley recounts every seamy story of Sinatra's personal life...the women, the brawls, the fits of temper, the mistreatment of employees (Frank allegedly dumped a plate of spaghetti over his valet's head, because the man didn't cook it 'al dente').

Nowhere, however, in this litany of horrors, real or rumored, does Sinatra, the musician,emerge.

"His Way" paints the man who many regard as the finest pop singer of our time,as a psychotic egomaniac, who sang a song from time to time.

Kelley completely misses the point of what made Sinatra so alluring to the public...the dichotomy of the public man and the private artist...that a man so capable of violence and ugliness could also produce such continually beautiful music through the years (Example: Kelley recounts the year 1965 without once mentioning Sinatra's record breaking tour with the Basie band).

By almost ignoring the music, Kelley has produced a book with the mentality of the worst of the supermarket tabloids...no Sinatra epitaph would ever use the phrase "Frank was a nice guy," but'His Way' portrays a man who was Adolph Hitler with a tuxedo and hand mike.

It's like writing a biogprahy of Picasso and adding as a footnote at the end.."oh, by the way, he could ALSO paint!"

One would not expect a Kitty Kelley book about Frank Sinatra to have any great profundity, but *His Way* stands as a major cultural and social document of our times. Sinatra is one of the most-worshipped gods of our age. His life story shows all over again how much misery goes into "lifestyles of the rich and famous," and how much corruption comes out. Sinatra's origins were unromantic. His mother was a neighborhood abortionist. This was an albatross around young Frank's neck. Symbolic of our age, he grew up to personify the "good life" -- the suave, wealthy, hyper-romantic, carefree, yet blues-ridden one -- in his art, while his life embodied many kinds of evil. His mafia connections are well known and, like other unpleasant details of his legend, the book removes all doubt as to their authenticity. The most remarkable thing about *His Way* is in fact the superb job Kelley does of writing and documenting it. She researches and writes like a seasoned college professor. Like most muckrakers Kelley's truthfulness has been called into question, but the book seems entirely trustworthy, especially at a time so many entertainment deities are revealing themselves as tragically flawed or worse. Sinatra, the king of musical romance, bullied, used, and abused women, including his gentle wife Mia Farrow. The worlds of entertainment, crime and politics came together when Frank and company helped get JFK elected President. Frank was supposedly king of the heap himself, but displayed a pitifully boyish awe toward his fellow rake Kennedy, even after he himself helped to "create" Kennedy as president. *His Way* is a chronicle of an egomaniac who knew no restraints. He cause endless harm to others, then wrote them a check to cover their suffering. The moral of the story (every good book still has one) is that we ought to be more careful in whom we elevate as our heroes and "role models." Even those not fond of Sinatra or his swank big-band genre of music will find the book hard to put down. People of discernment will learn much from it as to why life is the way it is in 1999.

This book is very readable. Pick it up at any page and go. A lot of Sinatras wild exploits are written about. Many are of a negative nature (as many interesting wild exploits are), but there are many references supporting them.

The long length of this book, combined with its interesting items, and its ease of reading, make this book great.

Truth or not? Who knows to what degree. Certainly there have been enough well documented incidents with Sinatra that the content of this book is not unreasonable to believe.

It does focus on his behavior, and life, more than his actual music activities. If that makes this book "tabloid" then fine, it also makes it interesting and readable.

For in depth Sinatra music related biographical information, there must be a better book than this.

This book is great if you are intersted in the wild exploits of his life. And oh they were wild.

The book keeps moving. Its fast (though long). Nothing in the book is uninteresting.

This is a 4-star rating for books in this genre, not 4 stars against my other rated books. That said, this is really good pulp sci-fi. It's a fast read (2 hours or less), with a moving story, interesting premise, and good characters. I thought the ending was a bit bizarre, (and I'm DYING to read the hardcover ending that everyone has so-far panned) and could well be the weakest part of the book, but I didn't mind. It was a nice mental diversion, and probably something I'll re-read on some other summer afternood with nothing to do.

If you enjoyed Alan Cole and Chris Bunch's STEN series, you'll probably like this. It's basically military sci-fi, with plenty of sexual imagery thrown in for good measure. High-tech tanks and other weaponry are well described for the enthusiast, and the action is pretty quick in coming (most of it actually occurs in a virtual environment called the Dream World). The protagonist is a wry, worldly fellow with more-than-average mental skills (a common formula for this genre), and is easy to like. The book lulls a bit toward the end, with a short pick-up and a final let-down. You won't care. Read it; it's not supposed to be high art.

This book is fun to read just like all of the other Leo Frankowski books! it is especially intersting to read it now with the whole bombing going on in the Yugoslavian region! Also the idea of dream world is similar to some of the new hit movies, The Matrix? I love this book! Please let there be a sequael!

William Huang

The planet of New Kashubia is a ball of heavy metals in orbit about a pulsar that bakes the planet's surface with deadly radiation. The people are the poorest in the universe, having to import carbon, oxygen and even dirt. They live in tunnels drilled into the layer of gold because it is the LEAST dangerous metal to their health, giving birth is a crime and they go around naked because they can't afford clothes. You would think being inserted into a smart tank that will feed you, take care of you and allow you to do almost anything you want in virtual reality would be a good thing when compared to being sent to the hydroponic vats.
And it was a good thing...till you and your tank had to face REAL combat.

The opening pages which take the reader through the centuries of the ice age were indicative of what was to follow. The prose was compelling but very descriptive and I felt this was at the expense of narrative drive. I did not emerge from the book with a much clearer idea about what drove Niklot/Salvestro, or indeed many of the other characters in the book. While true life is often confusing, I would have welcomed a bit more "glue" holding the many different episodes together. Full marks to an earlier reviewer's dissection of the plot, much of which I missed---I don't think I'm particularly slow, and I like to be kept guessing, but not to the point where I forget which country I'm in. I skimmed the last hundred or so pages, feeling that I'd not taken adequate notes as I read it. I began to flounder in a welter of details quite early on in the process, so I'm not the best qualified judge, but the ending seemed anticlimactic. Plenty of brilliant scenes throughout the book, which was populated with a gallery of fantastic grotesques and others, and many of the scenes would have made great short stories. But ultimately the lack of narrative and construction made the book unwieldy. A pity, since the characters and their time were anyway so fascinating, and not covered so frequently these days.

Lawrence Norfolk is one of the only modern masters of language and storytelling we have, and I believe that we should not only appreciate it but praise it as well. As with his first novel "Lepmpriere's Dictionary", which was a story of strange twisting plots and a great reservoir for historical mystery, "The Pope's Rhinoceros" is only the best book to follow. It of course has its strange tangents that we, as an audience, are learning to be the style of the great author, and minor plots that boggle the mind even after the last page has been read. There are things too reminiscent of Lempriere's such as the character of Septimus whom we are so intrigued by but so uninformed about, we get a new view on this angelic character and only find that we are closer to understanding without even a new hint as to what it means. His, Norfolk's, ability to write so detailed on certain things as the way of life of a fish in the sea, a colony of rats, or the history of a river or strange occurrences on remote islands, is impeccable. To achieve through writing alone, an enchantment that will devour your reader, without even the elements of a story is not an easy task and yet Norfolk produces it in the blink of an eye, and makes it appear all too natural. I think anyone would terribly enjoy this book, and those who would not are just those who become aggrivated when a piece of work forces them to think a little. The only negative of the book that I can even fathom is that he has so few books under his belt that when you finish Lempriere's and the Pope's who will be left waiting impatienly, clawing at and climbing the walls, for his next work to be published.

Lawrence Norfolk's vivid imagination goes amok in this, his second novel. The characters are fantastic and utterly believable. His knowledge of early 16th century Europe and the religious and political strife therein make for a lovely canvas upon which this hefty tome is created.