Mark Safranko's novel THE FAVOR is (to quote a cliche) a real page turner. In essence, The Favor's main character has it all. A wife, a baby on the way and a career. Yet the novel chronicals Biddle (the main character of the novel) as he descends further into an abyss of self-destruction. Best of all YOU WILL NEVER GUESS HOW IT ENDS. Mark Safranko's writing is stylishly clever, harking back to a good old psychological black and white thriller. The insight he gives his readers about the characters in THE FAVOR make them more than words on a page -- but real people -- with one bordering on madness. Hitchcock would be proud.

From the back of the book:

"I have read and studies many books on the Gospel of Mark (and written some, too), but I have never come across anything that illuminated Mark in the way that Dr. Geyer's study has done. His approach is to ask the question, 'What would a first- or second-century person in the Hellenistic world make of the incidents that Mark has strung together in his book?' ... I am confident that Dr. Geyer's research will have a permanent effect on the study of Mark, and that this will be wholly beneficial."

John C. Fenton, former principal of Lichfield Theological College and Saint Chad's College, Durham, and retired canon of Christ Church, Oxford.

"For Geyer, the lack of an ending for the Gospel of Mark is not a literary mistake, but the story of a crucifixion, a horrible, frightening death, that leaves the reader with no solution ... Citing an incredible mass of parallels in Greco-Roman literature, Geyer clarifies the literary function of the Anomalous Frightful in the ancient world. He then shows how it serves as the basis for those stories found in Mark 4:35-6:53 ... For the most part Jesus encounters these conflicts, the Anomalous Frightful, with a contextual, not a permanent, solution ... Geyer's research has serious theological importance."

Graydon F. Snyder, dean and professor emeritus, Bethany Theological Seminary, and professor emeritus, Chicago Theological Seminary

An excellent read - I've used this book again and again, along with its companion piece, "More Best, Worst, and Most Unusual". (If you buy the more recently published "Best, Worst and Most Unusual," you'll find that it contains both volumes in one book.) You can read about Florence Foster Jenkins, the worst soprano in the world; see pictures of the world's worst monuments; or find out what item of Napoleon's which was put up for auction and deemed MOST Unusual. At times unbelievable and hysterical (according to the authors, their own book is the worst book ever written!) this book is a must have. I would recommend buying both this volume and its companion work - you'll use it again and again.

This book is a companion volume to "Felton and Fowler's Best, Worst, and Most Unusual" and can be obtained by buying the combined volume simply titled "The Best, Worst, and Most Unusual". This volume, however, gives more of the unusual than of the best and worst - it's probably a more entertaining work than the first volume. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The Field Beyond The Outfield is very good reading. It uses a lot of imagination and is a great book for all children to read. It takes things that some kids may be afraid of and makes them seem very fun and playful. In this story Ludlow Grebe is afraid of all kinds of monsters, so his parents sign him up to play baseball so he can think about something else. But when Ludlow goes out to play he is sent way deep out to the outfield almost where his game ends, and another begins. He discovers a stadium full of monsters and gets to play with a team of giant insects. After that his fears are put to rest and Ludlow can enjoy life much better. Everyone should be able to read this book soometime as a child because it is so much fun. This book uses a lot of imagination and should be enjoyed by children of many ages.

In order to enjoy this book, you must understand the story behind it. This exhitbit recently came to the campus I attend. Walking through the gallery the first time, I didn't understand the meaning of it until it was explained to me by the art Curator. It's basically a documentary of an art show that lasted a year. 50 different artists displayed a sample of their work (or works in progress) in this tiny 20*24' studio apt. for a week apiece. This work documents all of those works. It is a very interesting book.

This book is fabulous. The humor section is so funny I had tobuy a case of side glue. (The fact that I wrote the humor sectiondidn't cloud my judgement at all. What really affected my judgement was my hitting my head with a sledge hammer after USC beat ND in 1996!) Please don't judge the rest of the book by this chapter. The rest of the book is great! The author of the humor chapter is deeply disturbed.

I found this book more than a guide to resolving conflicts, but a practical insight into how we can bring Gandhi's philosophy into everyday life. Gandhi is a hard act to follow, but this book makes that dream possible for anyone, today! You can be a fighter without being violent, for example. Also, by briefly exploring the thinking of other greats, such as Freud and Marx, Fighting with Gandhi allows one to enter into a personal journey with the greatest thinking of our time. You'll learn about yourself reading this book.

Mark J. Conversino, Fighting with the Soviets: The Failure of Operation Frantic, 1944-1945 (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1997). xi + 284 pp.

Conversino's book examines a little-known Soviet-American cooperative effort known as "Operation FRANTIC," which amounted to "the longest sustained contact between members of the United States and Soviet military establishments during World War II." (p. 210). A professor of airpower history at the Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and a major in the U.S. Air Force, Mark Conversino is well-qualified to write this monograph. His overall conclusion is that Operation FRANTIC failed in its mission, but he provides a sophisticated account of its positive contributions as well. The objective of the operation was to set up bases in the Soviet Union from which U.S. bomber fleets could open a new front in the air against Germany, thereby dispersing and weakening the German Luftwaffe. The U.S. pilots had found that daylight bombing over Hitler's Germany was too dangerous; the attrition rate was too high. They reasoned that, if they could stage bombing raids from the USSR, they could cut their casualty rate and air travel time in half. They also hoped to lay the foundation for greater joint endeavors in the Far East. It was not a new idea to collaborate with the Soviets vis-a-vis the use of air forces, and experience in China showed the Army Air Force (AAF) that it was possible to mount and support aerial operations from even the most remote and undeveloped areas. For Averell Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, a second purpose of the mission was to demonstrate solidarity between the two countries. A number of problems arose that caused tension among the American GIs and Soviet military officials. The process of establishing bases at Poltava, Mirgorod, and Piryatin were delayed because Stalin and other Soviet leaders were most concerned about relieving German pressure against the USSR's eastern front. Thus, they preferred an Allied second land front in Western Europe to an "air front" from their own territory. Moreover, Stalin apparently did not believe strategic bombing was very important, believing airplanes should be used primarily for tactical support to ground forces. He was also loath to allow such a large foreign military presence within his own country. Once the bases were established, the lack of accurate, timely information irritated American personnel. Soviet officials informed them that they needed at least twenty-four hours' notice for authorities in Moscow to clear flight plans and notify the front line troops and air defense units. Naturally this worried the Americans, who feared their operations would be hampered by such lengthy notification times. (p. 41) Also, since the vast majority of Soviet sorties were flown at or close behind the front itself, Soviet authorities tended to present information relative only to a particular mission and not to the entire theater. These procedures created problems for Eastern Command's intelligence officers during the FRANTIC missions as the aircrews would complain bitterly about the lack of accurate data concerning German fighter and flak defenses (p. 49). Although Soviet officials gave Americans total freedom to communicate with U.S. aircraft over Soviet soil, the Americans had to rely on a rudimentary Soviet teletype service among the three bases. Telephone lines among the three bases simply did not exist. By June 1944, Eastern Command had resorted to courier aircraft for interbase messages because of the technical unreliability of the teletype network (p. 50). Since the bases were extremely bare and isolated (especially Piryatin), maintaining the morale of the American troops became a challenge. U.S. soldiers began to "fraternize" with local Ukrainian women. Angry Soviet officials then forbade such fraternization, and the atmosphere between Soviet and American troops on the bases cooled. On the other hand, the Americans did recognize Soviet efforts to make the bases inhabitable for the Americans. While the U.S. Army Air Force brought most of the equipment it needed (including steel matting for runways, high octane gasoline, special purpose vehicles, most rations, and all housekeeping supplies), the Soviets agreed to provide some vehicles, fresh meat, fruits and vegetables, bedding, and of course, housing. They also provided 250-kilogram bombs and machine gun ammunition, and agreed to unload all shipments at the point of entry and move them by rail or truck convoy to Eastern Command bases. (p. 47). The Americans were impressed by the fact that the Soviets transported the equipment all the way from Murmansk in a relatively short period of time, and that much of the work in laying the steel matting was done by female Red Army soldiers. They also admired the Soviet commander, Major General Perminov, who was "a keen, straightforward flyer and routinely used his authority to cut through the red tape to settle on the spot the myriad problems that arose each day" (p. 41). Two possible weaknesses of the book are the lack of primary Russian-language sources and the excessive detail. On the other hand, Conversino makes excellent use of primary U.S. Army sources, such as unpublished manuscript and oral history collections and interviews with actual participants. World War Two and airpower historians will find this book a useful contribution to the extant literature, and selected portions of the book could also be assigned in undergraduate courses.

This book contains great information on the history of Kali (arnis, escrima, etc) as well as the basic concepts and drills that are taught by Dan Inosanto. None would argue that Danny Inosanto is one of the leading authorities on Filipino martial arts and his book demonstrates his depth of knowledge. It is complete with pictures and diagrams, making a lot of the information relatively easy to learn. Learning any type of movement from a book is difficult, but this book does a pretty good job of making the information clear. If you can find a pretty inexpensive copy (under $30.00) grab it! It's a collectors item as well as a great martial arts reference.