It is difficult to appreciate a short story that is filled with sentences of one long word after another. However, Becker's reading of Twain makes it flow together so well that you just have to laugh out loud. Jounalism in Tennesse and Political Economy come to mind as I imagine that Lightning Rod Salesman just carrying on and the young editor trying to be impressive with his suave article which is later ripped to shreds by the author. How I Edited the Agricultural Paper was grand and I listened to it several times finding it funnier each time.

I purchased the story of Mark Kellogg, the newspaper reporter who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, because I always wanted to know about him. Who was he? What was he doing there? Did he leave a safe desk job for adventure? Or was he terrified of going? Unfortunately, I did not learn much about Mr. Kellogg. No fault of the author's, who did a fantastic job researching this man with a rather obscure background. There just isn't much information about him as a person to be found. Yet Mr. Barnard pieced together the best story he possibly could thru newspaper accounts, many sources he found and contact with the Kellogg descendants (who did not know they were related to him until the author told them!). The book is not terribly entertaining, but it was not written for that purpose. All four of Kellogg's columns he wrote on the Last Stand march are reprinted, along with what was left of his diary. We get a personal look at General Custer - the last written look at him in life. And we learn some new things about that expedition, as we feel as if we are riding right along with them. Well worth the money for this important addition to a Custer library.

Written in an interesting format. Tells the story of a office worker interested in learning to snowboard. The book follows him on his "quest for knowledge" as he enters the world of snowboarders. As the title implies, the book explains everything you need to know about clothing, equipment, riding etiquette and safety. The book does not cover the actual skills needed in learning to snowboard. Very informative book.

The idea of idolatry needs to be revived in modern culture. In Biblical times, it was golden calves and great phaoroahs. Today it is money, power, technology. His quotation from the Psalms that we become like the idols we worship is so applicable and so true.

Bob Goudzwaard is an excellent, lucid and erudite author who speaks to the heart of this matter. His captivating manner makes this book an easy, though disturbing read. It made me realize how easy it is to be co-opted by our culture that makes power and money the absolute. What is more frighteneing is that it is the subtlety by which this is done.

I found this book in a used book store on a trip West. As someone interested in Sherlock Holmes, I picked it up since the price was right. I almost didn't. I once received as a gift a book edited by two of the three editors of this volume, the second two listed here. It was almost unreadable. The subjects of its essays were rehashes of topics done better by other (real) writers or had little connection to Sherlock Holmes, except in name, like one about Sherlock Holmes and God. The writing was questionable at best. And the two editors just can't edit. It looked like another of those vanity press efforts by some local Sherlock Holmes club with more moxy and money than talent. I gave it away as soon as I found someone willing to accept it.

I started leafing through this book before recognizing it was by the same group and the same editors plus one. But I found listed in the contents several names I recognized from my reading about Sherlock Holmes in other books even if along with some of the pseudowriters from the other book. Many of these essays were of far more interest than the earlier volume. It even had some fiction and some humor. And a third editor was listed, the first one listed here, though he came last on this book's title page. But his name should come first alphabetically as here. Curious. On the strength of the other editor and the listed topics and because it was priced cheap, I bought it. I still didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprised.

Besides a pompous, overwritten, self-glorifying introduction by a man listed as president of the group publishing it, who probably broke his arm patting himself on the back, and a woefully inadequate and trite rehash of Sherlock Holmes's film career, a lot of the stuff in this book is good and some really good. I really like a story explaining what happened to Dr. Watson's wife, written from Watson's perspective like the original Holmes stories. It was well-written and heartfelt. Probably one of the best I've read, and worth the cost of the book alone. In fact everything in this book was better than the other, which I think was published later than this one. Why the difference? Besides many different writers than the other book, I deduced like Holmes that it was the third editor, the one who had no involvement in the other book, that made the difference. Like the dog in the nightime, he did nothing in the other book. So logic dictates he must have done much for this one. Further investigation uncovered that this editor is a professional writer. His name turns up many times if you search for it here. The others don't, not even for the other book they edited. Case solved. The third editor must have done a lot of writing behind the scenes on this book. He also wrote one of the stories. So maybe he did just too good and that's why the other two no longer work with him, or he with them. His being listed last in the book while his name comes first alphabetically suggests some ulterior motive for the listing and later disassociation. Jealousy maybe on the parts of the less talented editors. If they had any sense they'd have hired him to help with the other book and would get him back if they plan to publish further anthologies, especially if they only use the same people from their own club again. They need real writers and real editors if they want to sell much outside their own circle of friends. Fortunately this book has some real writers and one real editor and is mostly very readable and enjoyable.

My advice. If you find this book in a used book store with a price in the low teens or less like I did, buy it. Look too for anything else by the first editor listed alphabetically here. Same for anything by the author of the Watson story, John Burrows(?) I think. Avoid like bubonic plague anything by either or both the second two editors especially if published under their club name "the Illustrious Client's". There's too much over priced poorly written and edited books in the Sherlock Holmes small press world. Thankfully except in part this is not one of them.

This is a fascinating collection of articles on the vital question - should Britain enter the euro? Nine economists evaluate the economic and policy implications of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Three somewhat atypical representatives of business - Stephen Davies of the Institute of Directors, and the Lords Haskins and Simon - discuss its likely effect on British firms. Couldn't they find anybody from manufacturing industry?

Unfortunately, the editors include only two trade unionists, both of whom support EMU. Why didn't they find someone to speak for the majority of trade union members who oppose it? Finally, four MPs discuss its effect upon national sovereignty.

The contribution by John Edmonds, the GMB's General Secretary, is most revealing. He argues for conditionally supporting EMU. Yet he admits, "The tendency in any negotiations is for conditions to be successively stripped away until all that remains is a stark position of support covered by a few words of threadbare rhetoric." Quite!

The editors write that entering EMU "is intended to be a one-way shift towards future economic integration." But that is not all that EMU means: Edmonds openly says that he wants to 'achieve extensive political union'. That is why he supports our entry into the euro: the euro was, until recently, the key motor for driving us all into the single European state that the EU's leaders all want.

Blair has now had to accept that he cannot presently win a referendum on the euro. However, this does not mean that he will respect our wishes in future. The EU's leaders can advance on many different fronts and employ many different devices to form a single European state: the Euro-army, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Corpus Juris, a single taxation policy, etc.

The majority of the British people do not want to enter the euro. Doesn't democracy have something to do with what people want?

The photographs are really captivating! They are all from Brit pop magazines like The Face and BIG... It's really worth to get this book and make it part of your artistic senses collection. Some of the photographs aren't really special and are TOO obviously alterted by computer (which even I can do it) but a lot of them are fresh ideas. The 6 ladies including the one on the cover are already stunning for a start so, well!

"In the Garden" by Mark Haddon is a charming introduction to "first words" for toddlers. Each page contains a colorful smiling baby dinosaur participating in an activity with a one-word subtitle of the action. (For example, a bright blue triceratops clutching a bunch of carrots while happily munching on one of them, highlights the word, "carrots.") The sturdy cardboard stock construction makes the book easy for little hands to grasp and turn the pages. This book is by far my 2 1/2-year-old daughter's favorite bedtime story, as she eagerly helps her daddy identify exactly what those baby dinosaurs are doing .

Inca Town is a beautifully illustrated book - and not just for kids either, although it is a great teaching tool for children. Although all of the drawings are wonderful, the most impressive are the cutaways of Inca homes and temples depicting what probably went on inside these buildings. I'm less impressed with some of the "history" but, hey, you can't always have everything. The book is worth the price for sure! - Tiki

This book is a great resource for anyone in the field of early childhood. Mark Wolery and Jan Wilbers provide the reader with a great overview of inclusion techniques as well as effective instructional methods for children with disabilities.