I was so happy to find that Citizen Dog had finally made it to the status of a cartoon book -- I had missed it terribly after moving from the St. Paul area and have been on a start-and-stop letter-writing campaign to my local paper, repeatedly advising them to add this great little cartoon to their selection. (They never listened, unfortunately).

I had first seen Citizen Dog in The St. Paul Pioneer Press when I lived in nearby Inver Grove Heights, between 1996-1998. It was an hysterical cartoon. In it Fergus (the dog) and Mel (his human), are amazing equals, which I think expressed the closeness one can have with a pet. But I doubt Mr. O'Hare intended that-- it seems more of a natural evolution of the characters.

All I know is that it wasn't that surprising to find Fergus the driver and Mel the passenger in the car. Or, in one memorable instance, Mel chastizing Fergus for setting up Cuddles (the local cat and perennial target of jokes) by loosening the shaker of salt at the diner just prior to his joining them.

The situations they confronted were forever filled with mundane eccentricity -- like Fergus and Cuddles walking up to the Drive-Thru and, when Fergus explains to Cuddles, "you order anything you want here." Cuddles proceeds to ask for, "World Peace."

I was sad to hear that Mark O'Hare no longer draws Citizen Dog. There is only what is contained in this and his other books now. We'll miss you Mark. . . and Mel. . . .and, especially, Fergus.

Mark O'Hare continues his string of hilarious collections of the misadventures of Fergus, Mel, Cuddles, Bruno, and Fluffy. The humor is sly and mischievious. There are plenty of recognizable situations and far out extrapolations. For folks who enjoy a daily giggle via the comics, I highly recommend this collection, as well as the previous two books.

When I studied poetry in school I didn't particularly like most of what we were assigned to read. And then I read Robert Service's poem The Shooting of Dan McGrew and discovered that I liked it. Next I read The Cremation of Sam McGee and decided that poetry could actually be fun. Eventually I read other poems by Robert Service and discovered that, although most were more serious than Dan McGrew and Sam McGee, they still appealed to me. In fact, thanks in large part to Service, I have now developed a taste for other poetry as well. Robert Service was an adventurer as well as a poet and his adventurer's perspective makes his poems particular appealing. If you're a fan of Robert Service this is a good collection of his work. If you haven't read him yet this is a good place to start. And if you think that you don't like poetry, maybe Service will help convert you as he did me.

This is an outstanding collection of great Robert Service Poetry, superbly illustrated.

The story turns upside-down, with a normal boy like yours and mine finding himself befriending oddball characters and fleeing from goblins and ghouls. Our kids found themselves enmeshed in an imaginative plot filled with both dark and funny characters, wondering how Dario would get out of ... or into ... his next escapade. That it keeps a youngster reading avidly while it creatively depicts the battle between evil and good is what a parent likes. That it is an intriguing, engrossing story is what the kids liked! Best for older pre-teens.

This book is cool. I especially like the dog. It also has an annoying sister, so that's realistic. The monsters are cool, too. This is the second book I've read by Mark Harris and I can't wait for the next one. My friends always want to borrow these books when I'm done.

The previous review of THE DARWIN LEGEND written by Brad Krone of Reno praises Mark Noll for doing an excellent job writing this book. The problem is that Noll is not the author. James Moore is the author of this book and deserves the credit.

As a life-long Christian who has heard over and over the famous story of Darwin's deathbed confession of Christianity and denial of evolution, I was overjoyed to find a book on this very topic. Noll is unbelievably objective -- a true reporter doing his job. He never lets his own biases and opinions cloud his presentation of the facts. The insights contained in this book priceless. I have a better understanding of who Darwin was, why so many Christians love to tell the story of his deathbed conversion, and whether or not it is probable that such an event took place. Get this book and read for yourself. The amount of research which Noll has conducted is almost unfathomable. You will not be disappointed!

this book surprisingly combines good introduction to databases in general and to Borland's DBMS. Very good for all experienced programmers who want to use databases in their own programs.

There are few authors write about Database Development. So it's too hard to find the book like this. I needed and bought the book but got a little useful.The reader's feeling, for sure,is not good. So the author must know their feeling. It's you. :)

... from Gotanda's earlier, better known pieces -- forget linear narrative of any kind, this is a halucinatory dream gone trippy. Saw this in NYC years ago at Manhattan Theater Club and was mighty impressed with Gotanda's use of language, the way he plays with phrases, the way he learns to work within and outside of the language box. It's entertaining, it's thought-provoking. By curtain's fall, you have to ask if you yourself are not standing on your head, trying to somehow make sense of an upside world.

DAY STANDING ON ITS HEAD is a wild ride into the psyche of a 40-something professor asking the age-old question, IS THAT ALL THERE IS? The play is highly theatrical, and, as we staged it at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre & Asian American Theatre Company, full of quirks and surprises, including a few wacky song numbers and a whirlwind of activity. The story is both poignant and pertinent, centering on the universal quest for meaning in this transient existence. I recommend it highly to anyone looking for an engaging, truly theatrical work to direct, to perform in, or to peruse with pleasure.

The author tells a great story - more than just his struggles with chronic fatigue sydrome. His 'Kerouacesque', rythmic-tempo writing style mirrors the cyclic ups and downs of his journey towards discovery and self actualization. A story all adults reflecting on their college/post-college years will be able to identify with.

What most impressed me about this book were the incredible insights author, Mark Hall, revealed into his experience of growing up in today's increasingly toxic age, the language he uses to carry the reader through some deeply intimate settings, and the hurdles he overcomes in his miraculous recovery from a very mysterious illness.

His story was so fascinating, I read the book in less than a week. I recommend it to anyone!

This brilliant book was apparently missed by the majority of english speaking readers. It is a masterpiece of the genre and provides many firsts including the concept of "profiling". The quality of the character development and the descriptive prose are amazing and I find it hard to believe that this book did not receive several awards. I read it for the first time 15 years ago and think of passages from it to this day. Few books have had this impact on me. For those who are able to find what is now apparently a rare book, I recommend it highly.

I am simply shocked that this novel, which is perhaps the best piece of American fiction I have ever read, is out of stock. It draws a far more realistic and detailed portrait of the "hard boiled detective" that so many other writers have simply slapped together, then lets us watch, with first fascination, then horror, as he slowly unravels. Even the minor characters are better drawn then they would be in a trilogy all their own, and the entire work shimmers with energy and power. This is a book that demands republishing.

In his second book on slavery in two years, Professor Mark Smith of the Unievrsity of South Carolina has established himself as one of this generation's more astute historians. Eschewing traditional "either-or" schools of historical interpretation, he provides a rational, yet passionate, examination of the institution of slavery. While older historians have gotten themselves all wrapped up in economic theories with all sorts of litmus tests, Smith takes a more reasoned approach. Was the South pre-modern? (In some ways, it was). Was the South modern? (In some ways, it was). This is not acadmeic equivocationg, for Smith makes a strong argument that the South was BOTH. His concluding paragraph says it all: "Instead of arguing for the modernity or premodernity of the Old South, we can begin to see how the region, while it retained slavery as the basis for its political identity and social and economic relations, was none the less modernizing its economic system even as it eschewed the democratic tendencies of nineteenth-century liberalism." Brilliantly argued in highly readable prose, this is a must-read for anyone who truly wants to understand the Old South.

A welcome addition to Cambridge's distinguished series, Dr. Smith provides a superb summation of the often tortured gymnastics that historians perform to fit slavery in America, and the antebellum American South in general, into Marxist theory. The tireless (unquestioning) quest of historians of the US South to squeeze the antebellum period into a "premodern/modern" interpretation has been diffused. An excellent historiographical work and a must read for any student of the period. Highly recommended!