This book is a piece of history, but that's all it is. This was when Faulkner was hanging out in New Orleans with Sherwood Anderson, and Anderson told Faulkner if he wrote a book, he would get his publisher to print it. This and Mosquitoes are the result. They are both terrible, and it takes longer to read them than it took Faulkner to write them.

The interesting thing here is Faulkner's obsession with the war hero and the tragedy of war cliche's. Remember also, that Faulkner was walking around in a pilot's uniform that he made himself after failing to join the air force. This book is very much the same thing, and for that point, it's interesting. It's amazing that such a dolt became one of the true voices of wisdom for the century. The upside of this book is that it lets you know you have plenty of time to develop. If you love the guy, you'll read this anyway, but you can save your time and skip Soldier's Pay and Mosquitoes. Save them for when you've already developed an obsession.

This early novel by William Faulkner is interesting as an example of where his style and focus were as a very young writer, before both had settled into the predicatable Faulkner voice of his later and better known books. I enjoyed the book more when I first read it, I think, than I do now. But one thing has still not changed. I can remember having to read certain passages over and over and still not being sure what they were about. I still don't know. There are those who think this deliberate ambiguity is a plus but I prefer to be able to follow the plot of a book. I don't even mind working at it, as one must with a number of writers. But it is frustrating to come up against an impenetrable hedge of words that crowds out meaning, and this happens a lot with Faulkner.

I have read almost all of Faulkner's books and enjoyed many, if not most, of them. Frequently moving and always interesting, these books deserve a special place on the bookshelf of American literature. But admit it, often Faulkner - even in his later books - uses words the same way that Jackson Pollock used paint. He sprays, splatters and dribbles them into a squiqqly mess that might, like a good Pollock, be pleasing or meaningful in an 'abstract expressionist' way, but simply doesn't make sense on a purely cognative and narrative level. There is less of that in Soldier's Pay than one gets later, but you can sure see it coming.

Many people who review this book give it a bad rating because they have read Faulkner before and expect his writing to be of a certain style and intellectual caliber. Perhaps this book is not quite up to the level that people are expecting, but when you compare it with much of the other literature available dramatizing this time period (just after World War I) in a fictional manner, this book stands out as being a simply extraordinary peice of literature. While it lacks much of Faulkner's later literary intuitiveness, this book still demonstrates true Faulknerian style with its soap-opera-ish manner of storytelling and robust character development. Even this, one of Faulkner's least talked about and least admired novels, is better than the work of 99.9% of the authors writing today. What people consider "bad" as a Faulkner book is still leaps and bounds ahead of what other writers are able to produce. I found this book to be an excellent stepping-stone into Faulkner's style and literary skill from less "deep" books. I would definitely recommend reading this book first before reading other Faulkner novels. Once you finish this one, THEN try another book directly after this one - his style will be much easier to follow and understand.

Overall, a wonderful book for discussion and reflection!

If I were to pick a more accurate rating I would make it a -2. This is book is very thorough and detailed to the point of boredom. It should have about 160 pages instead of 380.

If you are into this topic then you would love it. But as for me I had to force myself to read 5 pages in a setting. The only reason I read it was because I had to write a paper on it.

This book is incredibly uninteresting and poorly written. The writing style doesn't flow well, and there is no particular plot to speak of. I wouldn't recommend it.

I enjoyed this book so much that I finished it in a couple of days. In my opinion, Don Talayesva is a charming narrator. His sometimes humorous, many times heart-breaking recollections underscores the tremendous cultural, social and religious upheavals the Hopi tribe were going through at the beginning of the 20th century, as no anthropological or historical work could ever do.

I tested in Aug 99 using Petersons, Princeton, and Amazon clep Books to study for the General Natural Sciences Test. None of these books came remotely close to helping me get 1% of the information presented as questions on the real test. Who ever made that test must have taken their information from the smallest corners of the earth they could find to make the questions. I still can't believe the vast difference between what seemed normal study material and what material was tested. Your company should go and take one of those tests and see how far out that test is compared to what you offer and get it in- line or you won't make much money or help people like myself to acheive a passing score using your books. Additionally, the study guide of which the college board offers is very vague. You could help all by re-doing your study material. By the way, I used the same books as mentioned above and tested high on the General Social Sciences Test.

I used the average of the first two reviews so my review will not alter how my predecessors rated the book. I have not seen this particular book, but I have seen (and used) many others and believe there is a complete misunderstanding on the part of the general public as to the benefit of the books.

These books will NOT give you all the information you ever needed to know. It will give you a guide to the type of questions you will encounter, but you must know your subject. I am a librarian and highly recommend my patrons check out a textbook on the subject or buy textbooks that are used in local or national colleges. One on-line source of these titles is from World Lecture Hall at the University of Texas.

Use the textbooks and supplemental information recommended on the individual subject websites in addition to these test books and you'll do well!

This book really made the difference. I am so glad I bought it and used it. Clear information and easy to use. Recommend it to all my classmates.

A comic book of a story. No character development. Unlikey relationships. Stupid villains. Read as fast as you can turn the page. Save your time.

Having read the three books openly written by Clay Harvey, I find this book also by Harvey, under the pseudonym of Leo Atkins, to be one with good character development, plenty of humor and action, but with too much killing. There are too many innocent victims killed, and Harvey (Atkins) comes a little too close to treating these killings with little regret or as a ploy to get the reader to want the bad guys killed with a vengeance, or possibly a little of both. Clay Harvey's strengths for believable characters (including the bad guys), catchy humor, seeing things in an adult world through the eyes of a child, and action scenes in writing you can actually visualize all come in this book. The book has some surprises in events and character interaction within the plot which makes the book interesting. One of the surprises in the plot has the girlfriend getting more attention than and stealing scenes from the hero.

Even though the book is short, the reader is drawn into it because of the sometimes unusual and very human interaction between characters - sometimes between the good guys and the bad guys, and there are even some not so good guys. This is both refreshing and interesting. I have added this to my collection of Clay Harvey books, and am glad he is still writing. I enjoyed this book, and plan to also purchase "Play Dead" and "Dead Beat" by Leo Atkins.

At the same time in Richmond, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Knoxville, and Tennessee, three pairs of similarly dressed and armed criminals using the identical MOs rob banks. Not long afterward in a family restaurant, two gunmen seemingly set on a heist open fire killing several people. A diner, Benella Mae Sweet manages to kill one of the thugs.

However, the dead felon has close friends who vow vengeance on the avenging amazon who killed one of their own. Meanwhile Benella cares for her young niece Mary Leigh since her brother-in- law Damien died in the fracas and her sister has collapsed in shock. When the thugs abduct Mary Leigh, Benella turns to her lover private investigator Connor Gibbs for help. With the Feds involved and the criminals wanting revenge, anything can still happen and does to Connor and Benella as they attempt to rescue Mary Leigh.

DEAD RUN is and exciting thriller that never lets up until the final page. The story line works because the action seems genuine and the characters real, especially Benella and Connor. The third Connor Gibbs mystery (see DEADBEAT and PLAY DEAD) proves that Leo Atkins is a talent that those fans who enjoy an exciting private investigator yarn will relish this.

Harriet Klausner

Evey page had something which set me laughing out loud. Leo Gold is a terrific character and his antics are truly amazing. I particularly enjoyed the sex scene with the harem goddess, Azizah.

It held my attention to the end, with lots of surprises and plot twists. A more meaningful, interesting title could have been chosen

Leo, Lizzie, and a wonderful cast of strange and exotic characters led you through a great story. There is murder, mystery, mayhem and even some sex. All this and the pyramids too! This book was interesting and amusing.

This book is serious, it contains tons of charts which I believe to be ephemeris, but I'm no expert. Not for the faint of heart, this book had me feeling more muddle-headed then when I picked it up! Also lots of formulas including, one for converting longitude into right ascension with latitude? Whatever that means. Confusing for the layman.

This book is very complex, will give even the most experienced astrologer some insight! Not necesarily for beginners though, but all of Leo's books are worth having in your personal library!

I read approximately 2/3 of the way through this book. While it's amazingly well-substatiated, Mr. Pfeffer has used numerous resources to state his case.

Unfortunately, the position he takes is about 180 degrees out of whack with the position taken by those who founded our nation!

Nothing like rewriting history...

Scholarly and insightful, Pfeffer's volume is the gold standard for those wishing to understand the tangled issues surrounding the separation of Church and State.

I purchased this book as a recomendation of my teacher in Hort Science, at The Ohio State University. When i recieved it, their was only 1 of 2 copies, which was outrageous for the price. The pictures were of poor quality, the information was in small amounts, and there was no detail. I showed this book to my teacher since he had never see it himself, and he laughed. He showed me a book he and I thought was going to be, infact The American Horticultural Society A To Z Encyclopedia Of Garden Plants is one of the best in his collection of over 2000 books on Horticulture. This book shows 6000 color photos, full descriptions on each plant, trees, details, and everything else I thought the Hardy perennial book was going to be. If you want to know the truth, their are many other books out there better than this one. For instance check out TimberPress.com, the maker of this book. It shows many other titles related to this title.

I have a modest horticultural library, including the AHS A-Z mentioned in another review, and I was thrilled to be able to add "Hardy Herbaceous Perennials" to my bookshelf. The authors are well known experts in the field of herbaceous perennials and they've compiled a truly remarkable book on the subject.

Whereas "A-Z" has as many pages as this work, it includes every type of plant - woodies, vines, conifers, annuals, perennials, water plants - you name it. Obviously you're getting a lot more entries on the narrowed down topic of herbaceous perennials in Jelitto & Schachts' book. You'll find more obscure perennials included in this work than in A-Z.

The entries are also more interesting than A-Z's. Each entry is from the author's first hand knowledge of the plant, more along the line of what you might find in Dirr's and Armitage's writings. However, they do also stick to the facts as in A-Z, so you do get the information you need, as in in origin, zone, plant requirements. A-Z is more clinical.

Since the book was written many years ago (this edition was updated in 1990 when it was translated from the German), some of the photos are black and white, though many are color. And, since the translation was done in 1990, taxonomic changes that occurred after that date are missing. Neither of these points is a drawback to buying this book. All the photography is excellent and, well, names change all the time, so even A-Z needs updating.

One last point to be made is that we in the United States tend to feel perhaps a little too self important. This is why A-Z is considered the 'best' by many US readers. While I wouldn't give up my copy of A-Z, I don't restrict my library to US publications. There is a huge amount of information originating in Europe and on other continents that never makes its way here. This does not reduce its value, just makes it less available unless we reach beyond the US. I have a friend who bought a shrub here in a US nursery and could find no info on it. It wasn't in A-Z or Dirr. The first 3 books I pulled off my shelf had it; two from the UK and one from Australia.

In conclusion, "Hardy Herbaceous Perennials" is one of the best additions I've made to my library in a long time. The price is a bit steep, but worth it.

I must admit it was a boring book. But I liked the aspect that it was written in!

this book is so knowledgeable. and enjoyable. alan leo
is the best. also ptolmeys tetrabiblios, mars the war
lord by alan leo, and saturn the reaper by alan leo.
don't pass this up its a must