Mikhail Bulgakov, best known for his brilliant novel "The Master and Margarita" was steeped in the theatrical craft. When his books were censored, he wrote a wild, heartfelt letter to authorities in Soviet Russia, asking that, if they were not to be allowed to publish his work, would they then assign him to work in theater, even as a lowly stagehand. In one of Stalin's capricious moves, Bulgakov was, indeed, assigned to work as an assistant director at a Moscow theater.

Meanwhile, Bulgakov continued to amass what must be one of the world's great hordes of literary work unpublished in the lifetime of an author. "Heart of a Dog" is probably his most viciously anti-Soviet, anti-Proletariat work, and it reads like a cross between Orwell's "Animal Farm" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" but with Bulgakov's intense sarcasm and humor thrown in. The book is so dramatic, it's almost impossible to read it without seeing it run like a film or play behind your eyes as you read it.

A professor (whose Russian name is a play on the scientist Pavlov) adopts a mongrel dog. The dog Sharik (Fido, Rover...) is grateful! His life on the street has been hard, he's been kicked, scalded with hot water and he is starving. The professor feeds him well. Ah, he's gaining weight and healing up. What a nice man! A god, even, well, to a dog. But wait a minute! The professor, noted surgeon that he is, is preparing to operate. He seizes the dog....

And then we see the results of the professor's cruel experiment. A dog gets a human brain portion and begins to develop as a human. But he isn't a nice friendly, tail-wagging human. Oh, no. He's low, a cur, yes, a dog of a man who chases cats uncontrollably, pinches women's bottoms and drinks like a fish (oops mixed metaphor there.) He demands to be registered and get papers like a human being in Soviet society. And the authorities are anxious, even rabid to assist him. Sharikov takes a first name and patronymic that is so inappropriate, so hysterically funny that you have to laugh out loud. Then he gets a prominent job as a purge director, eliminating those counter-revolutionary cats from Moscow's pure Communist society. That is, until the professor cooks up a plot.

This is a gem of a book. Bulgakov shares Orwell's deep hatred of totalitarianism, but unlike the delicate satire of Orwell, Bulgakov writes with massive belly laughs of deeply sarcastic humor and over-the-top jokes. He's a dramatist at heart, and this book shows his theatrical thinking, where exaggerated movement and stage props play as much a role in exposition as dialog.

This is a true small masterpiece and should appeal to just about anyone. It would be a very good book for a high school or college literature study. It is really wonderful, and prepares the reader for Bulgakov's wildly out of control masterpiece "Master and Margarita." Don't miss this book for anything!

Bulgakov established himself as one of the most talented comic writers from Russia - if not one of the most talented, period. This, one of his early works, showcases his love of satirical farce, focusing this time on the attempt to reform that which needs no reformation.

The story is simple enough on the outside: A doctor takes in a wounded stray dog, gives it a prissy name, and treats it to a life of luxury. Then, when the dog least expects it, the doctor turns around and implants a human pituitary gland and pair of testicles in him. Gradually, the dog develops into a monstrous... human?! Exactly.

This is not a book to be taken at face value. It's vaguely funny if you know nothing about Russian (esp. Soviet) history, and *hilarious* if you've done your homework. Bulgakov's rousing, snide commentary on the controlling government he despised was extremely controversial when it was first written, but nonetheless an invaluable addition to the world's literature.

As an aside, get the Mirra Ginsburg English translation, which is arguably the best one available--the Michael Glenny translation reads like a translation, and sacrifices some of the comedic affect of the story.

Bulgakov was a true Russian genius, but one who lacked the "politically correct" postures of other less talented soviet hacks. As a result, his works were nearly unknown in his lifetime. But gradually, his books have been published and translated and with each book his stature grows. Bulgakov may stand with Myakovsky, Mandelstam, Akmatova, Shostakovitch and Malevich as the greatest artistic minds to come from the Soviet Union.
The Heart of a Dog is a great book, perhaps not as multifaceted as Bulgakov's masterpiece, Master and Margarita, but brilliant nonetheless. The book seems perhaps a combination of Gogol's The Nose, and Kafka's Metamorphosis. Sharik - a perfectly normal stray dog is adopted by a famous scientist who transplants the testes and pituitary gland of criminal. Sharik gradually develops into a lewd, drunken cur of a man who is fabulously successful in the new Soviet society.
As Joanna Daneman says in a previous review, Bulgakov's theatrical background is highly visible in this work. Each chapter is crafted like a distinct scene...the comedy is often extremely broad. Sharik is as pointed and broad a caricature of The New Soviet Man...as seen from it's dark underbelly. Many of the scenes are almost broad slapstick. And yet, the humor, while broad, is also quite bitter. It is obvious that Bulgakov saw the deterioration of his society and was deeply disturbed by it.
Bulgakov's disdain of the Proletariat is a bit disturbing to an American. After all, we are the country of the common man. And there is a hidden "snobbery" in the work, which can be a bit hard to take. But so much of the book is dead on...and it is extremely funny. Heart of a Dog is an enjoyable and important addition to the growing Bulgakov oeuvre.

If you're looking to learn the basics of exquisite, yet simple Italian cooking, this is a great cookbook. The recipes are fantastic, and are very easy to prepare. Although I found the "celebrity" comments about Rao's quite annoying, you'll memorize most of the recipes fairly quickly and won't have to keep seeing ridiculously trite comments from wannabe socialites and celebrity remora. I realize the book is also a commemoration of the magic of Rao's, but you'll find Rao's is much more magical in your own dining room.

The first time I opened the book, my eyes were filled with tears. Recipes, photographs, vignettes, even poems...the whole magic of the book overwhelmed me with nostalgic memories of my New York Italian grandparents and relatives. The recipes are pure Italian soul food ... simple and satisfying. I have made several dishes - manicotti, lemon chicken, marinara sauce, to name a few. They all came out wonderful. Of course, like every Italian cook, I adjusted most of the recipes to my liking.. my own personal touches and that's what makes Rao's recipes so wonderful - so easy and roomy enough for you to make your own classics. I would like to add a comment about the other reviewer's (below) statement on Ralphie's in South Philly. It's a fine restaurant and I have their cookbook however I find the cookbook to be poorly written. For the Cream Cake recipe, it fails to give the size for the cake pan. Rao's Cookbook is very reliable...and it's a work of passion and magic.

What a wonderful cookbook! The recipes are easy to follow and don't require exoctic ingredients you'll never use again. My Italian grandmother and mother cooked in this same manner since I was a small child. If I didn't know better I would think it was their receipes in someone else's cookbook! Buy this book, you will not be disappointed.

This book is a must read for all the true Tupac fans out there because who better to tell his story than his bodygaurd. This book deals with his life and his death and pretty much puts to rest the non sense of the alive theory. But to the true fans - don't shed a tear because you know he wasn't happy here. Like he says his biggest fear is coming back to this world reincarnated. All true fans must check this book.

wow! pac !

In retrospect, I think what stands out most about the book is the fact that it's told by someone who understood tupac, unlike all the writers currently looking to score off his name. He instead offers a blow-by-blow (literally) account of tupac's last few months on earth . If you think you would like to know the real Tupac Shakur, read this. It presents you with the real Tupac and you'll be glad you bought it.

As a sidenote, read around page 83 first. Rest assured there's one part of tupac that the media never got to show ;) Rest In Peace ,pac.

I've always enjoyed Tupac the rapper. The Thug Life, all that. I knew everything about his life. I related to all his lyrics, coming from the projects of NYC. But after reading this book i not only understood Tupac better, but i got to know the real Tupac, the person. The Tupac who showed love to all his fans, and just a plain down to earth dude that had a loving heart. And i think if your a huge Tupac fan, this book is for you. And to Frank Alexander where ever you are I understand, it wasn't your fault. In Memory of Tupac, Only God Can Judge You, Revelation 20:12.

It says a lot that of all the books we read during the year in a rigorous English curriculum, many of my best readers picked the Pinksy Inferno as their favorite book of the year. I'm a Mandelbaum fan too (I still like his Aeneid since it's by far the closest to Virgil's Latin and was even helpful when I worked on translating books 4 and 6), but I prefer Pinsky's rendition of Dante's poem. It makes the text alive for generations of new readers. My class appreciated Nicole Pinsky's notes at the end of the book which add greatly to students' comprehension of historical background and context. Hats off to Pinsky for a great work of art that has made Dante more accessible to a new generation of potential fans.

The Inferno is by far the most interesting of the three books which make up Dante's Divine Comedy, and Robert Pinsky's translation is by far the best I've ever read.

The Inferno is the story of Dante's journey through hell on the night before Good Friday in 1300. He moves through the nine circles, until he meets Satan in the middle. Each circle holds souls who committed various sins, each catagorised by their sins and punishments. All of Dante's sinners receive retribution, ironically based on their respective sins. He also fills hell with famous sinners, making it easier to determine what sins belong to which circle of hell. The nine circles are also catagorised by regions: the first five are the sins of incontinence, the next three are the sins of violence, the next is the sins of fraud, and the last and most terrible circle is the sins of betrayal.

One of the most notable things about The Inferno is that Dante's theme is not that of Christian forgiveness, but instead it is justice. All sinners in hell deserve their punishments, and they will suffer them forever. This is illustrated by the case of the sinful love of Francesca da Rimini.

Pinsky's gift to the readers of this version of The Inferno is twofold: the first is his ability to write so well in English, and the second is the way he chose to present the English with regard to the Italian. The Inferno is written in terza rima, which Dante invented for the Divine Comedy. This involves a rhyming scheme, and many translators restrict themselves to it when publishing The Inferno. However, Pinsky keeps the three line stanzas of terza rima while writing in plain verse instead of rhymed, letting him mirror Dante's phrasing and flow without restriction.

Pinsky's version of The Inferno is also bilingual - Italian on the left page and English on the right. This allows even the most casual Italian scholar to follow the translation, and see the logic of it, which is a thoughtful and useful bonus. The notes on each canto are superb, and necessary to catch all of Dante's in-jokes.

This version of The Inferno is perfect for anybody who really wants to read and understand Dante's classic. I recommend it as a gift, to others and to yourself.

It goes without saying that The Inferno is one of the great masterpieces of Western culture. That being the case, Pinksy, not Dante, is the focus of my review. This was the third translation of The Inferno that I have read (Mandelbaum and Ciardi being the others), and it is by far the most graceful of the group. I was particularly impressed with his handling of that ever present problem: the rhyme scheme. His solution to the problem is fluid and faithful to the original text (something Mandelbaum's rhyme-free translation lacks), without being distracting (as I found Ciardi's to be). But, what is truly amazing is that he is able to maintain this scheme without ever sounding forced or contrived. This allows Pinsky's tranlsation to remain first and foremost, a poem, which is so crucial in realizing the true genious of Dante's work. I was also pleased with Pinsky's decision to put a line of white space between each triplet. This really helped to accentuate the pacing and structure that make terza rima so important. The inclusion of the Italian text is also a nice touch. Finally, the notes are concise and informative. While Mandelbaum's notes seemed to me a little too thorough, often glossing the obvious, these give pertinent information without ever condescending to the reader. My only complaint would be that Pinksy stopped at the Inferno. I firmly believe that one must experience a work of art in its entirety in order to fully experience its brilliance. This is very true of the Divine Comedy. While there are certainly plenty of Purgatorios and Paradisos out there, I would very much have liked to have been able to maintain the continuity of a single translator. While there is a long list of translators who provide this option, I regret that Pinksy is not among them.

I pretty much agree with most of the comments below. This book is straightforward, and a good introduction to MFC. It's not a Prosise book, but it does cover the fundamentals, which are all a beginner needs anyway. The book does contain numerous errata, however. (For example, the word "hierarchy" is misspelled in the captions on both pages 18 and 19. And that's just the beginning.) Overall, however, these don't detract significantly from the book's content.

I would recommend this book to anybody who doesn't know a thing about MFC and would like to learn the basics. Just don't try to contact the author, though, who seems like a real jerk. I e-mailed him twice asking him if he would like a list of errata--even through an e-mail address that I got from the publisher--and he flat out never responded. Other authors seem grateful for such feedback, but not this guy. Anyway, even though the author seems to be someone you would never want to meet, this book is still a pretty good buy.

It's pretty hard to learn MFC, especially people that know only C/C++. I had some experience with Windows Programming, such as console application, Borland Delphi, but still I had a difficulty understanding the MFC. I tried to read some MFC books such as Visual C++ unleashed, and MCSE, but they don't help me much.
This book will not tell HOW TO USE THE WIZARD. But instead, it tells you what all those "hidden" stuffs actually do without using wizard. Now I understand how the MFC works, thanks for Schildt.

I think the "from the ground up" books are excellent". I have about 20+ years experience in various languages (fortran, C, C++, Pascal etc). Most of my experience is in straight line programming and was having trouble getting my brain around the MFC concepts. I spent a couple of days with the Windows 98 from the ground up to get the nuts and bolts view of windows programming and another couple of days with MFC Programming from the ground up. The nice thing is that the author follows the same subject matter in the same order with the same examples in all of the books. This was very helpful to me. It allowed me compare both styles and by starting with the API versions was able to see what is happening under the hood, which you won't find out if you start with MFC ( but it's close with this book).

Other reviews have complained about it being tedious as it kept using the same code with only small changes. This is the only way to teach. Any teacher worth his salt will tell you this. You don't need to type in the code as it is provided and you can cut and paste the major code and make your own changes to see various options work. Each piece of code builds on the previous which allows you to see exactly what is happening (you wouldn't see this if each example was completely different from the others). As I said I was able to do a couple of hundred pages in a few hours (it will obviously take longer if you have little experience) and it was definitely worth my while.

The complaint that this book didn't have "difficult to find stuff", is a bogus complaint. Of course it doesn't ( and I guarantee there is NO book that will give you the answer to every possible question), this is not an MFC Bible - it is a learn how to program MFC from the very beginning. It does this very well and covers all the pertinent material necessary to write a very complete program. Any programmer who has any experience at all will tell you will need many books on the same subject as REFERENCES. But without this type of book as a starting point - reference books would be of little value as you won't easily know where to find the information you need or how to use it, if you do find it.

One last observation on these reviews. When one reviewer says "Schildt's code does things in less-than-the-best way", he is obviously not a very knowledgable programmer or only know one way to do things. There is no such thing as a "best way". Sometimes a persons best way, is not a very instructive way. He claims it is too simplistic. That is the whole point of the book. If not "too" simplistic, many people will have a harder time.

I guarantee you no book will make you an expert, only experience does this. It never says it will make you an expert - but that you will learn to program windows using the MFC. This it does very well.

I'm sure some will disagree with me, but obviously Schildt did it right. Just look at all the people that this book helped. There is no way to please everyone, but I think this book comes as close as any is going to.

"You know those pivotal moments in your life that you don't see coming? The ones you wished arrived with a timer going off so you'd know this is it! Well, when the phone rang in February, you couldn't have convinced me that six months later, Mother would be in "the box" and I'd be wearing her pearls, twisting them around my finger exactly like she used to do." So begins "Plantation" the tale of Caroline Wimbley Levine and her flamboyant mother, Miss Lavinia, "the ACE basin version of Auntie Mame." Add to that a practicing psychiatrist husband with more bats in his belfry than the Sistine Chapel, an alcoholic, gambling brother with a perpetually pregnant white trash wife and three uncivilized kids, and you have a book you can't to put down. But Dottie Frank, best selling author of "Sullivan's Island," was not quite satisfied with her cast of characters. She created an intelligent, organized female plantation overseer who sees that the entire family doesn't jump headlong into the Edisto River. Not done yet, the author then puts life into a young dreadlocked Kama Sutra lover who makes Caroline "twitch in places she didn't even know were nerve endings." Caroline has been living in New York City for fifteen years when she is called home by her brother, Tripp, who fears that Miss Lavinia, the Queen of Tall Pines Plantation, has popped her cork. As the only daughter, it's high time, so says her brother, that Caroline gets herself on back home to see about the situation. (Situations are what the Wimbleys call family trouble.) Like any good daughter, Caroline flies south to tend to Mama and by doing so, once again becomes involved in the dysfunctional family antics that sent her dashing off to New York City in the first place. Plantation is delightful. As a former South Carolina Low Country woman myself, Dottie Frank's words were so beautifully painted on the page that I could almost feel the cool, dark waters of the Edisto River and smell the dirt that surrounds it. Southerners will love the richness with which Benton Frank writes of family secrets, tantalizing the reader to become as enmeshed in their "situation" as Caroline, Tripp, Millie and the ever zany Miss Lavinia. This bright new star on the literary horizon writes from the heart. You will put the book down for only one reason: to wipe the tears of laughter from your eyes.

With her second book about the Lowcountry of South Carolina, Dorothea Benton Frank showcases her flair for describing Southern styles, recipes and family traditions. Whether fact or stereotype, her depictions of Lowcountry life teem with hilarity and exquisite scenes from nature. The river Edisto comes to life in all her majesty under DBF's pen. Her characters are well-formed, truly interesting and captivate the reader from page one. I didn't think she could outdo Sullivan's Island, but apparently DBF proved this reader wrong.

'Plantation' revolves around the Wimbley family of Tall Pines Plantation and its mistress, Miss Lavinia. When her daughter Caroline moves home to Tall Pines after leaving her husband, Miss Lavinia is thrilled. Caroline must readjust to Lowcountry life after living the last fifteen years in New York and urge her son, Eric, to get to know the family. Interesting is an understatement when it comes to this family! From Caroline's hard-drinking, fishing-crazed brother, Trip, to Millie, the pseudo estate manager and resident hocus-pocus expert, DBF is an unending well of characters full of vitality and Southern sass.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys witty prose, and especially anyone who grew up with a southern mother. Keep 'em coming, Dorothea, yanh?

Caroline Wimbley Levine was reared in southern tradition, on a plantation that her family has owned for generations. Her brother Trip has strayed a bit but is still part of the "good ole boy" generation that sips their bourbon freely, and never speaks of financial matters or politics when the ladies are present. Miss Lavinia is the Lady of the manor and is about to leave things in the questionably competent hands of her children.

The author gives us characters that ooze with substance and strength. She is luminous in her presentation of family ties and the love between siblings that miles or years cannot erase. There are some amusing secrets to be uncovered as the author weaves a wonderful story of family loyalty and expectation.

I was pleased to find yet another wonderful adventure from the Southern Low Country. After Thoroughly enjoying SULLIVAN'S ISLAND I couldn't wait to pick up another book written by this author. I was not disappointed. I have placed Dorothea Benton Frank on my favorite authors list and so should you. 12/27/01

I thoroughly enjoyed the beginnings of Body and Soul - its descriptions of New York, Claude's relationship to his mother, Weisfeld, and Al; the education of a musical prodigy. But the more I read it, the more letdown I felt. The plot got too cliched, too unrealistic, too predictable. Claude seemed to jump from being a rather inwardly focused person to a more social person without much knowledge of how it happened. His relationship to Weisfeld and Lady were well drawn, but not his relationships with others. He seemed a little too perfect in some ways as well. Yet I liked the mood the book created of the music world, and especially enjoyed the jazz performance scenes.

Have you ever felt that you were invisible or unable to make an impression on others? Has your life ever felt empty or useless? This is how I felt at some points in my life and that is how Claude (the young artist) felt in the beginning. Then, he discovered the pleasure, power, and passion of music. It brought a little, skinny, poor boy in New York from playing in his mother's cluttered basement apartment to playing in front of thousands in some of the most famous stages in the world and amongst the most influential people. Not so much a rags-to-riches story, but one more about of taking something you love and going as far with it as you can...forgetting the pressures of the world once he touched the piano keys--forgetting where time went when you turn the first page.

This is not a book you'll read...you'll simply feel.

Enjoy the journey!

My teacher, knowing I was a pianist, recommended that I read this book for my summer reading assignment. I'm not a realistic fiction type of person, but I fell in love with this book after reading the first chapter. Conroy's style of writing, neither dry and terse nor florid and gushing, makes reading the words a pleasure.

From a pianist's point of view, it is immediately obvious that Conroy did his homework on the technicalities of that instrument and of music as a whole. The thing that impressed me the most, however, was the intensity of his descriptions of Claude's feelings about the piano and about his music. Conroy's description of the "wall" that Claude faces was a wonderful insight as well. I have yet to come across another author whose descriptions harmonize with my own experiences. I understand (or at least think I understand) Claude's feelings and his dilemmas; that is due entirely to Conroy's writing. I seldom find books that draw me in like this one has. It's one of those rare books that have the ability to let the reader lose himself in the pages.

This book came out in Manila, Philippines before the movie, and really helped in keeping me up to date on the plot line. I started from scratch, doing background reading on the "X-Files" so I could understand the movie. Started with the official site, then the fan fiction, and can now be called a novice X-philer. The book complements the movie very well, and I think Chris Carter did an excellent job in expanding the series from its original TV format to the big screen, and now books. Great work!

I've seen the movie and it was great. And so was the book. As I'm an Indonesian and the movie wasn't subtitled well in Indonesian, so I need the book to understand the movie. It was just exactly like the movie. Very good book and I have read it four times but I'm not bored. I suggest anyone who haven't had the book buy it now!

i've seen the movie twice and finally got my hands on a copy of the book. it was wonderful. i read the whole thing cover to cover in under two days. as i was reading it i was in the theater. i could almost hear mulder;s swearing and scully's arguments while i was reading. i highly recommend this book to any X-Phile and to anyone who rarely watches the show or only saw the movie. this is a vivid tale of the movie that is great, sexy, and jammed packed, with gross aliens, government "secrets" and a lot of room for a sequel. The Truth will be revealed!!

I bought this book because I craved a truckload of technical information about putting; the effects of what the golfer does or does not do as well as why putts behave (roll) the way they do.

"Dave Pelz's Putting Bible" does not disappoint on either count.

Mr. Pelz knows putting, there are no two ways about it. He knows it as a physicist and as a golfer, and herein lies my only problem with this book: It is organized in a way that emphasizes the technical forces at work in putting first, while details about the crucial steps the golfer must take in order to improve his putting come much later.

For example, Mr. Pelz refers early and often to a "dead-hands" grip, and to a "pils" (pure-in-line-square) stroke. He hints at what the dead-hands grip might look like, but it is Chapter 11 of this 15-chapter text before any actual instruction about various types of grips for putting, with close-up photos, is presented. And advice on how to develop a pils stroke doesn't show up 'til Chapter 12.

The same is true of the wealth of extremely useful, practical putting exercises which Mr. Pelz has painstaking developed and so thoroughly describes in this book. The result is that the author must repeatedly resort, in the first eight chapters or so, to reassuring the reader that full "how-to" information will be presented in later chapters.

For someone like me, who bought this book because he is salivating, yes, for technical information, but is primarily interested in applying that information to improving his putting game (as I would suppose is the case for most of the book's readers), this poor organization made it difficult to read the book "in order," from front to back. That might be O.K. if the book had an index. Readers could locate information alluded to early but presented farther back in the book, then come back to the "front" to continue with the text as presented. But surprisingly, "Dave Pelz's [380-plus-page] Putting Bible" has *no index.*

It is natural that Mr. Pelz, a former research scientist with NASA, would opt to present his scientific findings about putting -- the product of years and years of exacting research -- first. And there is no question whatsoever that all the information any golfer needs to improve his putting is here.

But even I, starved as I was for the technical nitty-gritty on putting when I purchased this book, found myself thinking, "Enough, already! How do I get started?" by about Chapter 6. And alas, my answer would not come for four more chapters.

All of this notwithstanding, I highly recommended this book. I am confident that this exhaustive text will help me putt better.

I only hope that, in future books, Mr. Pelz will consider presenting the fundamentals and exercises first, and the technical, supporting material which forms the basis for those fundamentals and exercises in appendices, or, at a minimum, in the second half of his books.

I believe many golfers are disappointed with books written by pros which provide little or no basis for the instruction presented. And perhaps the organization of this book is Mr. Pelz's answer to that problem. Nonetheless, I think golfers want to know what they need to do in order to get better first, and to have the "whys" close at hand if they care to study them as they progress. So a minor change in presentation could prove a watershed for golfers and for Mr. Pelz.

And this bears repeating: Serious readers of any text this weighty, regardless of how it is organized, deserve an index.

In the beginning of this book Dave is very smart to mention that this is only 'his' putting bible and is not in fact 'the' putting bible. Well, I have to disagree with Mr. Pelz on that one. This is in fact THE putting bible. Everything you need to know to improve your play on the green is in this book. Everything from the mechanics of your stroke, the physics of the game, the mental aspect, rhythm, touch, feel ... it's all here. I think the greatest thing about this book is that Dave Pelz is a very honest person. He tells you up front that simply reading this book will not take stokes off you game. Simply put: You need to practice. But the most important aspect of practice is, as he mentions, the quality and not the quantity. He removes any beliefs in that old adage 'practice makes perfect' and replaces it with 'practice makes permanent'. Because if you practice poorly, you will become a permanently poor player. The book describes many effective ways to go about improving the '15 building blocks' of putting. He gives fantastic drills for both on the putting green and on the living room rug that will improve your stroke, and lower your scores.

I think my favorite section of this book is that which deals with reading the green. After reading that chapter I honestly feel I dropped 3 or 4 more putts in my next round, that I never would have sank the week before. (So I suppose just reading this book CAN takes strokes off your game!) And there you have it. Stop reading reviews and grab this book ASAP! Read it, practice, and have fun. And who knows, maybe in a few years, we'll see you on tour! Good Luck!

This book covers everything that you will ever want to know or need to know about putting. The knowledge that I have gained from this book has improved my putting tremendously. There is nothing like playing with your buddies and nailing most of the putts from 6 feet in. Dave points out the realistic odds of making putts from certain distances. This concept stopped me from being frustrated by missing 15 - 20 footers.

I have used his setup routine and I have practically eliminated all pushes in my stroke. I am finally putting straight. I go through an exercise at my club where I putt 20 balls from 6 - 8 feet, before I read this book I was hitting 9 out of 20. After reading the book and taking in some of the concepts I made 19 out of 20! The chapter on reading greens is a must read for all golfers.

If you don't have the Short Game Bible, run out and get that book also. Both of those books have shaved 10 strokes off of my game. I played 9 holes yesterday and shot 41 on par 36 without hitting a green in regulation. Way to go Dave!

Mcteague, a novel by Frank Norris, is a book which shows how greed can destroy a person's life. Hardworking Mcteague suddenly comes into som money when his wife wins the lottery. He thiks this is cause to celebrate, but he doesn't know how wrong he is. Soon, his best friend turns on him when he feels he has a legitimate claim to the money. A man named Zerkow is driven to murder when he finds that his wife may be withholding very value pottery from him. Almost everybody in the book is devastated in one way or another from their greed. This book is an excellent satire of the evils of greed.

Norris's "McTeague" is a wonderfully detailed account of the city of San Francisco in the early 20th century. His vivid descriptions placed me in the heart of the action of the novel: I could hear the trundling of the cable cars as they passed McTeague's "Dental Parlors"; I could feel the cool Pacific gusts on my face as McTeague fished near the the huge rocks to the west of Lincoln Park; I could smell the stale tobacco smoke and steaming beer as McTeague settled down to his afternoon snooze. If nothing else, "McTeague" is of historical importance. Norris makes a motion picture of San Francisco after the turn of the century and then shows it to the reader with words instead of pixels.

The novel is captivating. As the novel progresses, the beast within McTeague continues to emerge. His evolution sets a trap, inviting you to anticipate his next move and compelling you to read on to see if you are right. Norris thrilled me with all the adrenaline-pumping gore--I was frightened and disgusted but powerless not to continue. The ironic fight-to-the-death ending, although unrealistic, is enjoyable as well.

I sort of stumbled upon this page as I was doing a search for a book on California history. I am the great-niece of Frank Norris (living in San Francisco, frequently driving past Frank Norris St., an alley just off Polk St.) I, too, had to read the novel in high school (along with "Sister Carrie", etc) many years ago -- and loved it (though wasn't sure I would). Seeing the film "Greed" a number of years later cemented my regard for the work of my my colorful ancestor. It's great to read these comments and find how much today's readers enjoy the novel...and realize that it probably will not just fade away, but has probably achieved lasting status as one of the great works of western -- Californian -- literature.