The book lays out detailed training schedules for each specific time at a certain distance. For example, running a 20:30 5k. The schedules are daunting to say the least. But after whining about it for awhile I finally just did it. I found that I could complete the workouts and my times have improved. I like the way it specifies time per mile, distance, and type of workout for each day. We will see if my legs hold out.

The material has aged as gracefully as a long distance runner! I passed along my copy of the original that is no longer in print and thought I would never see my training schedules again. Good news, they're back with additional insight for the serious training necessary to compete as we mature. It's like bumping into an old running partner.

This book is an excellent book to establish a broad fundamental understanding of surgery, but detailed enough to use as reference. Every medical student who plans to pursue a career in a surgical field should read this book prior to graduation from medical school.

I was slightly disappointed by the fact that this book is considerably thinner than the previous edition -- we're losing something here. I found the Liver chapter a bit vague sometimes (e.g. on the precise indications for resection and/or transplantation for liver cancer). However, the Sabiston Textbook of Surgery, while somewhat less majestic, is still king -- some chapters, like Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Vascular Trauma (written by none less than Murray F. Brennan and Kenneth L. Mattox respectively) are outstanding. The chapters on Management of Acute Trauma, Critical Care, Acute Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage, Surgery of Morbid Obesity, Cerebrovascular Disease and Gynecology, to name just a few, also deserve much praise. This tome is a must for all medical students and surgical interns/residents.

Marty (ohi8u2@aol.com), avid reader., October 30, 2000, Absolutely Stunning! Thought Provacative and Intriguing.g Cloning in of itself is fascinating, but to attempt to clone Jesus Christ is absolutely mind boggling. I could not put the book down the more that I got into it. This book mixes Science, Religion, Politics and man's drive to understanding himself. I'd recommend this book to anyone. The ending was both Shocking and Moving.

A fantastic story of a top secret cloning project that extracts DNA from the Shroud of Turin and clones Jesus Christ. The ending was Shocking. I was sad and happy at the same time. The characters were great.()

I bought this book shortly after it was published on the strength of a Brett Easton Ellis blurb on the back. Remember him? Anyway, I rather enjoyed the gray, narcissistic mood and the protagonist's obsession with murdering himself. Cool song quotes from the Smiths and Replacements place the book between melancholy self-possession and sensitive longing, though I would not be surprised if the feel is at least somewhat dated by now (think of "Less Than Zero"). My copy was absconded by a trailer park wench who later confessed and told me it was the only book she ever read all the way through. She also said one of her kids shredded it and she tossed the carcass. I have searched for it ever since, lamentably to no avail. This last should not so much stand as a tribute to the novel's force, but rather as a nod toward cheap sentamentality. Nevertheless, "Sad Movies" is a fine, relatively light read if you can find it

I bought this because of the "Trailer Park Chicks Dig It" review below. It came out about seven years before Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity" and it's sharper, funnier, cooler, and, of course, American. It's very 1980s, I agree with the other reviewer, but it's also "timeless" I suppose in that it's a guy in his 20s coming of age and all that. The author has a new novel coming out, "Never Mind Nirvana," which people here in Seattle are talking about, but I don't know much about it yet except it's supposed to be great and Peter Buck of R.E.M. wrote a quote for it.

Drags a little compared to "Sword of Samurai Cat", but still one of the funniest books to have come out in a long while. Makes fun of any and every self-important sf movie made in the last 10 years.

Samurai Cat books are not for those who desire seriousness, dignity, or good taste. But if you enjoy bizzare humor, gore & self-parody to the max, and absolutely shameless & ruthless parody of everyone else (and some darned good illustrations - the author is a painter and does his own), this book is for you. The items Mr.Rogers chooses to victimize in this installment are: The Terminator & Silence of the Lambs (The Terminationer), The Wizard of Oz (The Yellow Brick Road Warrior), The Magnificent Seven (The Magnificent Seven Samurai Cats), Alien, Star Trek, and the Predator all at once (Alienated), and a last chapter after Terminator II (Its a Terminated Life). A sample of the dialogue might suggest the general style of this book - """ "He doesn't know we can see him, Uncle-san," Shiro whispered. Tomokato nodded. He could think of no other explaination for the alien hunter's behavior. Tippytoeing in plain sight, face concealed behind a white metal mask, the creature was sneaking toward them through the jungle clearing, clawed hands clutching a huge spear. Between his swinging dreadlocks and downright comic movements, he looked rather like a Rastafarian ballet dancer from Hell. "My sword must've shorted his invisibility device," Tomokato said. "Don't let him know we can see him." "Okay," Shiro said, then added, "Should I whistle nonchalantly?" "That would be good," Tomokato said. Taking out an emery board, he commenced filing his nails, every few seconds fetching a sidelong glance at the alien. Shiro was whistling "Shiny Happy People," a tune that Tomokato knew he detested; from somewhere the kitten had produced an Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Model kit, and was painting some finishing touches on Mr.Gasser. The alien drew quite close. Pausing, he drew himself up to his full height, staring at the felines. The metallice mask bobbed as if he were laughing silently to himself. Slowly he crouched, then tweaked Tomokato's nose. Tomokato did not react. The alien scratched the side of his head, obviously puzzled by his lack of response. He pinched the cat's nose again. Tomokato continued filing his nails. "I wonder where that alien is?" he asked Shiro. "So do I, Unc," Shiro replied. The alien picked up a bit of twig, and bounced it off Shiro's head. Shiro didn't blink an eye. The alien stood, staring down at them. Leaning his spear against his chest, he clapped loudly. The felines paid no attention. "WooWooWoo!" the alien shouted. Tomokato and Shiro yawned. The alien lit a cherry bomb and tossed it behind them. When the explosion failed to produce the slightest twitch, the alien took out a large bass drum, attached cymbals to his legs, and began marching up and back, blowing on a bugle, thumping the drum, and banging the cymbals, doing the damnedest imitation of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Shiro looked at Tomokato, asking "Silly, isn't he?" The alien halted, knees knocking together with a clang. "Duh....SAY!" he cried oafishly, voice muted by the metal mask. Then, cymbals banging, he turned and raced back across the clearing, still beating the drum for reasons that remain murky, even for me.""" If you like this kind of humor, you will love the rest of his books.

Having read books 1-5 in the SEALS:The Warrior Breed series, I couldn't wait to get my hands on book 6, Marks of Valor. The book is an excellent continuance in the series of characters which I have grown attached to. In the book, there could have been a little more action. The book spent more time on getting to know the SEALs and how it was like back in America during the Vietnam War. (I'm one of those who like to read about the guerrilla fighting) I think H. Jay Riker is writing an excellent series and this book continues to pull me deeper into it. Excellent work, Mister Riker. I can't wait to read "In Harm's Way" and other books following it in this excellent and ongoing series.

One of the greatest books I have ever read. Riker did a great job on this one. It had a little something for everyone. Good action, a little love, and some real life type situations from the homefront made this one a must read.

"Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America" tells the story of the burgeoning nineteenth-century growth of "secret societies." These were clubs, the existence of which was far from secret, but which involved their members, mainly middle-class men, in secret ritualistic activities. By the end of the century, according to one source cited by Carnes, as many as 40% of American males belonged to one or another such society. What accounted for this popularity?

From the "sodalities in taverns" they were the eighteenth century, as the nineteenth century progressed, Freemasonry and Oddfellowship became more and more formal and ritualistic, the emphasis changing from the festive board to somber, quasi-religious ceremony. Entirely new orders were created, imitating the older ones. Many adopted a policy of teetotalism. Some of this was in reaction to the Anti-masonic movement that arose in the 1820s after the disappearance and alleged murder of "Captain" William Morgan by Freemasons.

Carnes correctly ties the Anti-masonic movement to the influence of women. The connection between teetotalism and early feminism is well-documented. Maurice Healey quite perceptively suggests that prohibitionism was a popular feminine cause because women believed it would force their husbands to spend their time at home attending to domestic duties, rather than at taverns, and their money on fineries for their wives, rather than on strong drink. Yet while making the connection between Anti-masonry and female influence, and pointing out that lodge affiliation amongst males was in many ways both cause and consequence of the feminization of religion, Carnes attributes teetotalism in the lodges to rising "middle-class values." He neglects the obvious connection between female influence and low Protestantism's elevation of teetotal abstinence to a Christian virtue - though completely foreign to Him who made water into wine at Cana. Finally, how much religious antipathy to the orders was simply a consequence of their successful charitable fundraising, which some critics may have felt diverted money from its appropriate channel through the churches?

Carnes relies heavily on nineteenth century ritual exposés of the various fraternities, while neglecting, or perhaps avoiding, much excellent historical work that has been done by such bodies as Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, E.C., the American Lodge of Research, and the Scottish Rite Research Society. He falls into errors that someone familiar with fraternal orders from personal experience would not have done. For example, he states (p. 178) that "...the crucial story concerning Hiram Abiff in the Master Mason degree was introduced into Masonic ritual in 1825." The Hiramic legend in Masonry is at least a century older than this, being found in such early exposés as Pritchard's "Masonry Dissected" (1730). Carnes's explanation of the Ancient/Modern division in Freemasonry is equally ill-informed.

Another area in which Carnes's coverage is faulty concerns supposed drastic revisions in ritual during the mid-nineteenth century. It is true that American masonic ritual differs substantially from that in use in England. American ritual is derived from William Preston, whose late eighteenth-century recensions were used only by his splinter Grand Lodge in the north of England. They little resembled the work of London lodges except in the essential obligations, words, and grips. Preston's work was adapted by the American Thomas Smith Webb in the early nineteenth century, widely spread by the masonic lecturer Jeremy Cross, and has remained essentially unchanged since then. English ritual changed dramatically with the union of the Ancients and Moderns under the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Sussex in 1814. The one major American masonic ritual change of the nineteenth century was that of conducting lodge business on the Third rather than the First Degree. Otherwise, American ritual more resembles Scottish than English practice. Far from having been radically revised, it represents the survival of archaic usage amongst an immigrant population - a phenomenon well-known to linguists and anthropologists.

Albert Pike's career is discussed more factually in Carnes's book than in most sources. However, the claim that Pike completely re-wrote the degrees of the Scottish rite is repeated here uncritically. The Francken manuscript, one of the eighteenth-century source documents for Scottish rite ritual, shows that in most cases Pike elaborated on established themes. He seldom created anything completely original. Carnes, despite his emphasis on fraternalism as a northern, urban phenomenon, sets little importance on the distinction between the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of the Scottish Rite (Pike's authority was over the Southern Jurisdiction). He pays no attention to the intense jurisdictional conflicts, including that over Cerneauism, which raged in the northeast during the middle nineteenth century.

Carnes is confused about York rite ritual. For example, the the Past Master degree as a prerequisite for the Royal Arch was not an American innovation, but a survival of the requirement that the candidate have "passed the chair." In England, this archaism was completely abolished. In American Royal Arch work the High Priest is not a chaplain, but the presiding officer. This is a real departure from English work, where the First Principal represents the King. Carnes often conflates and confuses Freemasonry with Oddfellowship, Pythianism, and other orders. At the same time he misses some obvious points, such as that Oliver Kelley, founder of the Grange, was the first man made a mason in the first masonic lodge in Minnesota (today's Saint Paul Lodge No. 3). Oddfellowship's First Degree borrows from the masonic Order of the Secret Monitor, and the Knights of Pythias borrow a part of their Third Degree from another masonic side-degree.

Freemasonry never involved an insurance scheme, whereas most of the other fraternal orders did. The Woodmen, for example, even now have a sizable insurance operation headquartered in Omaha. This difference was reflected in the different class of people from which Freemasonry derived its membership as compared to the insurance-based orders. Carnes does not emphasize this contrast, yet it seems more significant than his treatment implies. The decline of many orders may be traced to the Great Depression, which led to the introduction of unemployment compensation, Social Security, pension plans and employer-funded benefits. These rendered fraternal insurance much less important. The foregoing may seem a litany of fault-finding. Still, Carnes's book is worthwhile, and blazes a trail for further investigation.

There is a lot of garbage out there on the topic of Secret Societies. This book is a refreshing change from all that, and a delight for the serious student of fraternal orders.

The author is an academic, and the book is exhaustively researched. This is no mean feat given the lack of public information on fraternal rituals. However, through what was undoubtedly a painstaking data-triangularization process and a good modicum of common sense, he seem to have cut through a lot of the hype.

The book focuses on what drove the huge growth in the membership of fraternal orders in the US in the latter half of the 19th Century. Particularly, it takes a look at how mid-century revisions in the rituals of the American Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Order of the Red Men fulfilled a need among young men for clear symbols of manhood in a society that eschewed such symbols.

In examining the rituals, he culls from the work of historians, cultural anthropologists and psychologists in order to view them in societal context. The veracity of the claims made by the orders is not the issue, although one gets the sense that he does, in fact, reject them.

It's not hard to see why he might do so, when you look at the astounding changes the rituals underwent in the 1840s-60s. It becomes rapidly apparent that the ritualists were more focused on providing compelling experiences for their members than on passing on ancient secrets about the bloodline of Christ or the fate of the Druids or whatever the newest ridiculous theory is.

Add to that the fact that the book is extremely readable, and you have a work that should be the starting point for anyone studying the rise of fraternal orders in America.

DuCharme's book offers everything you need to do SGML authoring (which includes XML and HTML). He provides literally all of the world's best software for writing, validating, and publishing documents with SGML, under both Windows and UNIX.

He explains everything clearly and simply, but most of all practically! After reading this book you won't need to look anywhere else to figure out how to apply his ideas and get started. You'll be up and running.

The resources herein are top-notch. I have an international collaboration ongoing with Harvard and Kyoto with XML in which the Kyoto group is all working with Emacs. The chapter (2) on Emacs and PSGML is crisp, clear, and "standalone" in its clarity. This is the place to START with the big and little details of mark-up technology.

-J.R. Gardner, Ph.D.

This book is not one that I would recommend to the beginner. I have been machine quilting for only about a month and this book is the fourth that I have come across. Quite frankly, if it had been the first I would never had started machine quilting in the first place. The quilts that are included are very well done and probrably good projects for a slightly seasoned quilter. Not me. I would recommend "Easy Machine Quilting" by Jane Townswick or "Machine Quilting Made Easy" by Maurine Noble. Both of these books offer a series of baby steps(projects). After completing these I am sure that I will be ready for Show me how...

Myth breaker #1
I've been quilting for 26+ years since I was a kid. Back in the 1970's the Quilt SNOBS filled the world with the ridiculous idea that ONLY hand quilting made an authentic quilt. Thanks to the Gene Autry Museum who put on a WONDERFUL show in the mid 90's dedicated to the years of machine quilting ever since the original HAND CRANK machines. American women aren't dumb, they wanted to finish as many quilts as possible with their precious time so they of course chose to USE machines.

Myth breaker #2.. So you spend $45 for a 6 hour class to learn how to machine quilt only to find that the crux is put a brick on the peddle and just keep moving. Yes it is THAT easy.

This book takes you FINALLY past all the myths and has you looking at the patterns and FREE MOTION drawing using the needle. I NEVER stipple my quilts any longer to fill in areas, I picked up a willow leaf pattern from this book that alone was worth the purchase of this book.

The hardest thing about machine quilting is remembering to RELAX, this is a hobby you love so REMEMBER to enjoy yourself with this step of quilting as well!!!!

The charts and pages on every aspect of making your own flute
are all here, with explanations of WHY, and several options
for finishes, materials, keys, etc.

If you're going to make anything OTHER than a transverse flute,
such as a Shakuhachi or recorder, look on the Web for supplemental material,
but still I'm still glad I got this as a reference. (He also has a bibliography in the back.)

For instance, even the length/bore ratio changes for some
other woodwinds. But the basic info is very handy to keep around.

Simple Flutes by Mark Shepard, a slim (44 pages), elegantly presented, and highly practical guide to crafting simple flutes and making music with them. Flutes of bamboo, wood, claw, metal, and plastic are authoritatively discussed. Simple line drawings and easy-to-understand instructions enhanced and round out this first-rate, "user friendly" guide for anyone with a fondness toward simplicity in their own personal music. Also highly recommended is Mark Shepard's How To Love Your Flute: A Guide To Flues And Flute Playing (0938497103,...).