I read Puddnhead Wilson in an English Class in college. It was the first book that I had the chance to read by Mark Twain and thought the characters in the story as humorous. I would highly recommend to anyone who hasn't had the chance to read this book to give it a try and enjoy reading about the lives of Twain's characters.

Puddnhead Wilson is a very short book that can bear repeated reading. Not because it is a great literary work (it is) or because it is so important (which it is), but because in it Mark Twain exposes himself -- his nostalgia, his bitterness, his resignation, and his hope for his own life and for post-Civil War America with brutal frankness, and yet humorous approachability.

The novel may be called "Puddnhead Wilson" but the most memorable character is a highly intelligent slave woman named Roxana. Through Roxana and the rest of the townspeople living in a pre-Civil War Missouri, we find some of Mark Twain's most oft-quoted statements among biting characterizations of the American mentality.

I cannot recommend this little book enough. It has its weaknesses (so many critical essays have been written about them that it's unnecessary to discuss them here) but they are really minor and certainly do not detract from the sheer enjoyment and contemplation that it gives the reader. Not to mention that the apologetic forwards to both Puddnhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins are brilliant short letters from Twain on writing.

I cannot speak about Those Extraordinary Twins because I've never been able to get into it, or read past the first chapter. It's extremely odd, being about a circus freak -- siamese twins joined at the hip -- with each side having the complete opposite philosophy and constitution than the other. That is, one side drinks alcohol and doesn't feel affected while the other side gets drunk; each side has different taste in clothing; etc.

It seems like hardly anybody reads Mark Twain anymore, which is a shame, because he has so much to say about American society and human nature. "Pudd'nhead Wilson" is unquestionably one of his greatest books, maybe even his best. It's at least the equal of "Huckleberry Finn," which I had the good fortune to read with a superb high school English teacher in 1975, a year before her department banned it from the school's curriculum because of its supposedly racist portrayal of Jim.

"Pudd'nhead Wilson" manages to be a social satire, a murder mystery, a compelling commentary on race and racism, a brief against slavery, a courtroom drama, and a lifelike portrait of a particular time and place in American history, all packed into a short novel of some 170 pages. The story moves along quickly, hilarious in places and appalling in others. It's hard to understand why this easy-to-follow, entertaining and instructive novel isn't more widely read and appreciated, especially given the importance of race as a topic for thought, discussion and historical inquiry in the United States.

"Pudd'nhead Wilson" is set in a small Mississippi River town in the slave state of Missouri in 1830-1853. The critical event of the story occurs early on, when Roxy, a slave woman caring for two infant boys of exactly the same age, one her son and the other the son of one of the leading citizens of the town, secretly switches their identities. This deception is possible because her son is only 1/32 African-American and appears white (his father is in fact another leading citizen), yet by custom if not by law, the boy is a slave. The deception results in Roxy's son growing up in privileged circumstances, treating blacks with contempt, having the other boy as his personal slave, and attending Yale; yet the son, despite having all the advantages, develops no moral grounding whatsoever, and spends much of his adult life stealing, drinking and gambling. At one point, aware of his true identity but desperately needing money, he sells his own mother "down the river," into a more southerly cotton-growing region where the overseers are said to be especially cruel.

Twain gives us fewer details about the fate of the boy who in reality is all white, but we are made to understand that the boy's upbringing is typical of male slaves: he grows up with violence and degradation, illiterate, and with few skills either for making a living or existing in white society. This proves to be a cruel fate when the deception is exposed. Though he eventually comes into a substantial inheritance, he is never comfortable with or accepted by the town's respectable citizens, yet the prevailing racial code prohibits him from associating too closely with the blacks with whom he grew up.

Pudd'nhead Wilson, a lawyer, exposes the deception during a murder trial. Wilson, the town oddball, is an amateur fingerprinter, and it turns out that he kept the fingerprints he took of the boys before their switch, and is able to prove both their true identities and the identity of the killer. Wilson is the only halfway honorable character in the book; most of the rest, black and white, are exposed as dishonest, selfish and corrupt.

Mark Twain published "Pudd'nhead Wilson" in 1894, but its meaning still resonates today. A book that says so much about the ironies of appearance vs. reality, about the injustices of a rigid racial classification system, about the importance of values and upbringing rather than skin color in the formation of character, and about the realities of American slavery, deserves a more important place in our national literature.

No longer a dusty realm occupied solely by the Southern male, NASCAR has exploded over the last decade into a full-throttle national obsession. That said, it's only fitting that Mark McCarter, a homegrown Tennessee boy who's become a nationally recognized sportswriter, should be at the wheel of this tribute to America's newest past time. McCarter's evocative prose flawlessly blends a professional's dizzying knowledge of the sport with a race fan's tender passion. The heart-pounding, full-color photographs of Talladega, Daytona, and other racetracks around the U.S. are so vivid you'll swear you can smell the motor oil rising off the page! The Racetracks Book is a must-have for any red-blooded American who calls himself-or herself-a NASCAR fan.

This book is a gem. Mark McCarter, a gifted and nationally recognized newspaper sports columnist, has done for stock car racing what Jack London did for dogs and James Joyce once did for drunk Irishmen. This book is the ultimate compliment to a fan's love of NASCAR. Grown fans will love this book for the access it gives them to some of America's premier tracks. But children will also love the pictures and stories. So parents, listen up: put down those boring Fairy Tales and pick up "The Racetracks Book" when your kids demand a bedtime story.

Mark McCarter is simply one of the most prolific sportswriters of our time. His poignant and powerful memoirs of life around the culturally diverse venues of NASCAR is spellbinding and makes any fan heady with excitement for his or her next visit to the track.

I started reading Rainmaking Made Simple as just a book and couldn't help jumping around to different topics. It is really more like a desktop reference guide. I bet I've read different sections of it 3 or 4 times. I've found this to be a handbook that you can go back to time and again. I know that's what I've been doing.

Also, I noted right away Maraia has done lots of work with professional service firms that bill themselves or their organization hourly. It took me about one minute to start translating some of his examples into what I do with my company.

Did I like it? Yes! It's a great, down-to-earth reference guide that makes sense to own.

Maraia is a recognized expert in the field of rainmaking for professionals, and this book is a compilation of tips and advice from his years of consulting with hundreds and hundreds of attorneys and other professionals who hate the thought of asking for business. Maraia disarms the reader's objections and recharacterizes the task of rainmaking in a manner that is both fresh and appealing to professionals. Why ask for business directly when you can simply reconnect with a dormant client or an old college friend? Maraia teaches that rainmaking is all about making relationships, about connecting and reconnecting in ways that demonstrate that you truly care about and want to help others. As Zig Ziglar has said, "You can get anything you want if you just help enough other people get what they want".

There are no platitudes here - only practical and immediately useable advice, organized for easy reference. I'm recommending this book to every professional that I know. Who knows? Maybe I'll get a referral.

This book contanins a practical detailed approcah to building relationships with all customer regardless of your business. The author offers easy steps to make rainmaking simple yet practical.

This is my third year to read "Reliving the Passion". It is pure poetry at its finest and Walter Wangerin Jr. transports you back to the days leading up to and through the Passion. Add this book to you library and make it a tradition each year at Lent. Also check out his book for Advent!

Dying to live. Won't you join the journey? Wangerin puts us into the journey to Golgotha and beyond.

Kurt Pearson

Wangerin's writing style is so refreshing - it brings the story of Christ to life in a new and exciting way. The emotive writing style draws you in as the reader and you cannot put the book away - I read and re-read the crucifixion chapters and came away almost breathless with a renewed sense of what Christ went through for me! The cast of characters that were involved also come to life with all the passion and "realness" of that day.

Anyone interested in politics or American history should love this book. The writing style is crisp and entertaining and the author strikes the right balance between explaining long ago and long forgotten events without drowning the reader in unnecesary details. The 1884 election itself was one of the most interesting of our history with sex scandals, charges of political corruption, party splits, and campaign blunders. The author brings the excitement to life and lets the reader understand not only what happened but why it occured and, even more interesting, what the participants had hoped to accomplish with their political strategies. The book succeeds in describing how late 19th century elections looked and felt to the participants. The human dynamic skillfully set out in this book (the cynical maneuverings, the overheated rhetoric, and the intense partisanship)are very familiar with what we experience in campaigns today-this very familiarity helps make Blaine and Cleveland seem real and not just sterile historical figures. Read this book!

The last half of the 19th century is a period that the historians generally give short shrift to. They dutifully plow through it in the obligatory chapter in their rush to get from the Civil War to Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, and the Progressive Era. The campaign of Grover Cleveland against James Blaine for the presidency in 1884 is just about forgotten. This is too bad because what with the emphasis on character and values (accompanied by some really gross mudslinging), the extensive changes in technology and business, the factionalism and divided government, it was a period much like ours. Summers does an excellent job of dispelling the prevailing view of this period as a doldrum bookended by Lincoln and TR. In a comprehensive yet not overly long book, he shows that substantive issues like the tariff, the relationship of the national government to the states, morality in politics, substance abuse (ie prohibition), and other pressing matters really were at stake, he explores those issues and the men and women who had to face them. This book is one of the best treatments of the 1884 presidential campaign (or any other campaign for that matter) out there. Find a copy of this book and read about a time that is so much like ours.

As an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky some years ago, Professor Mark Summers changed my life and I eventually devoted my life to the study of history. His lectures made the past come alive and seem so fresh and real and vital. Anyone who has read any of his books can relate to the sense of excitement that I am describing, and his latest book is no exception. In fact, it is perhaps his best book yet. Lively, fast-paced, yet scholarly and thought-provoking, Summers' book is everything that his readers have come to expect. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in nineteenth-century politics or U.S. history in general, or for those who consider history dry and boring and would like read a book where the past truly does come to life.

Over the past few years, re-engineering has gotten a bum rap. At best, it's been trivialized as a Dilbert-ism; at worst, it's a code word for layoffs. But as "The Re-engineering Handbook" shows, re-engineering is a very real -- and very sensible -- tool for evaluating and enhancing workplace productivity and competitiveness.

The book provides a concise overview of business process re-engineering. The exact process that the book uses (Rapid Re) is straightforward and manageable, especially when compared with other approaches such as Six Sigma. And no, the book doesn't simply recommend layoffs (in fact, it emphasizes job reassignment and re-training over wholesale terminations). The book is informative enough so that a workgroup with minimal re-engineering experience could at least get a healthy start into the process without first turning to a pricey consultant, though more background into specific techniques such as project management and process mapping are needed.

Written in the pre-Internet era, parts of the book seem dated. But the core techniques remain sound. "The Re-engineering Handbook" should be at the top of the reading list of anyone who expects to get involved with a re-engineering effort.

This book is essential for anyone need to involve with BPR.

Manganelli and Klein posit a process reengineering methodology that they call 'Rapid Re(TM)'. It consists of five phases: Preparation, Identification, Vision, Solution, and Transformation. The book explains each of the five phases and breaks them down into a 54 step action plan. Successfully communicates how their strategy should work and provides a number of concrete tools and examples for implementing this kind of project.

"Rene's Flesh," the novel by 20th century Cuban author Virgilio Pinera, is a disturbing, yet delicious, postmodern novel. The book has been translated into a highly readable English by Mark Schafer. In "Rene's Flesh," Pinera tells the story of Rene, a beautiful youth who is heir to his family's messianic political obsessions. The story is full of homoerotic and sadomasochistic images.

A good portion of "Rene's Flesh" deals with the main character's experiences at a nightmarish boarding school. The novel includes weird parodies of both Christian iconography and political movements. Grotesque characters have such names as "Ball of Flesh" and "The Skeleton." An unsettling air of paranoia pervades the book.

Although Pinera is a truly original talent, "Rene's Flesh" is reminiscent of the work of some other significant writers. Pinera's portayal of horrific cultic rites is comparable to the work of both J.K. Huysmans and H.P. Lovecraft. His cutting satiric skill calls to mind Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man."

Those who are fascinated by Pinera's brilliant fiction should check out "Before Night Falls," the moving memoir by exiled Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. In that book, Arenas recalls his own relationship with Pinera. Together, Arenas and Pinera represent two of the giants of 20th century Cuban literature, and "Rene's Flesh" is a dark masterpiece.

Rene's Flesh attacks the mind-body issue in a solid yet surreal way. Rene tries to escape the fact that he has a corporeal side and is made of meat/flesh (the double-play of the Spanish word 'carne' is lost in the English translation). His parents, neighbors, teachers, and friends try to indoctrinate Rene into the cult of flesh in order to save him or ground him to this world. The end product is a twistedly erotic tale that shares a lot of imagery with one of Piñera's idol's works - Yukio Mishima's semi-autobiographical Confessions of a Mask. Both authors use the imagery of Saint Sebastion whose bound body is pierced by arrows (as a humorous side note, he is also considered the patron saint of archers). Both authors do a superb job of both fetishizing Sebastian and retaining the purity and his spiritual side. Definitely a book I'd recommend especially for someone in search of a more perverse and youthful essence of Hesse's Steppenwolf.

One of the 100 Best Gay & Lesbian Novels, "Rene's Flesh" is a fascinating and horrific tale of a man coming into himself and accepting his destiny. The book's dark sense of the bizarre is reflective of Clive Barker, Poppy Brite, and Stephen King. If you've ever seen the German movie "Delicatessen", you have a clue what the book is like. I highly recommend it to all fans of classic horror fiction, and to all fans of excellent literature.

I have read most of Mark berent's books and they are without a doubt the very best. I know that thye are based in part for sure of real events that took place. Rolling Thunder makes reference to several people and events that I know for a fact did occur, such as the person from the 354'th who shot back at a ship , the Turkestan in Cam Pha and got hauled into a court martial trial along wioht the C.O. The names and some of the story regarding that were changed. Berent makes you feel like you are there along with those guys that busted their butts to fight a war that they were not allowed to win. He has a way of creating characters and other things that are truly realistic, flight line up cards, Frag order etc. IT is very hard to start one of his novels and put it down. THe only bad thing is that you realize tha tyou are almost done reading before long. His knowledge of airplanes and creating a scen for the reader is unmatched by any writer that I know of. I've read all of the books I own several times.

A great read for air combat fans.... Berent knows his stuff and more importantly knows how to weave a plethora of technical info into a gripping storyline. Higly recommended.

So true, you just know that the author lived the setting and life. The story is dramatic without being smarmy, or ridiculous. A great read -

This book covers all the features of EXCEL 97 very clearly with good examples.

Unfortunately the support page for the WEB material has gone ...END

Sometimes the Microsoft book is good and sometimes it isn't- this time it's the best. The book is a catalog of everything, with clear instructions. There's no need to read it cover to cover, though that will give you lots of ideas for what can be done. Just look in the index when you need something and flip back to the clear instructions and helpful illustrations. The book's pretty hefty, so the included book-on-CD is the best way to tote it around as a reference. Keep the CD at work for surreptitious reference and be the office Excel expert!

In my work as a technical editor, I've had reason to review many of the other 800+-page books available on Excel 97. This one stands out, far and away, as the top reference available. It covers more than any of the other titles, and does so more thoroughly. For example, this is the only book I've found that covers creating custom numeric formats.

Since we are new to San Francisco, I find that this is a very good reference for me to pick a good public school in my neighborhood. This provide you with a summary of public school in your county and the rankings of each individual school by their test scores, school award winners.
I find it very useful in helping me to locate a good public school for my son but I hope it can also provide information of private school so as to make to list complete.

Uprooting a young family is a traumatic experience no matter how many times one has done it before. We are relocating to the West coast from Maryland. Locating the right house in the right neighborhood translates to finding the "right" schools for your children. It is difficult to find comprehensive information about schools when you live far away. I daresay it is difficult for local residents as well. This is a personal decision that one doesn't always want to share with outsiders, even co-workers. Advice from real estate people or school administrators is not always objective. It is difficult to know what questions to ask and what facts to compare. The book gave me an effective roadmap for this important decision. It helped me overcome one difficult hurdle.

This book gives you a tremendous amount of valuable information about Bay Area schools. Anyone looking for a home in the San Francisco area should definitely buy it!