I read this book many years ago, and while I'm not certain that as a 12-year-old I fully grasped it, it was a fun read, and it has stayed with me since. I'm fascinated to seee that this has been the case with others as well. Having read several of Mr. Bonham's urban-set tales beforehand, this bit of action/science-fiction(?) came as a real curveball, though many of his stories are parables. He tells his moral tales so well that, much like an episode of "Fat Albert", you don't realize you've been taught a lesson until it's all done. Anyway, every time a another piece of vacant land gets paved over in my beloved (insert your state here), I think about this book and wonder how much closer the future depicted herein is inching.

I first read this book when I was 11 and I have to echo some others when I say I loved it but perhaps didn't grasp all of it at the time. I recently tracked down a used copy and I am re-reading it right now. I think it is great and would make a great movie, perhaps on the Sci-Fi channel. Does anyone know if this has been made into a movie? Parts of the book may be dated now, but as far as characters and story-telling I think it still holds up.

And I still remember it today. This is a wonderful science fiction book and worth reading if you can find a copy-I'm just sorry that it's out of print because it was a wonderful story that has stuck with me most of my life.

Scaturro does a thorough job debunking some of the interpretations of history which keep plunking Grant in the "worst President" realm. For those interested in Grant this is a must read. As a Grant fan I was happy to see a defense come out in favor of Grant's accomplishments, however, Grant's shortcomings as a President (be they created by bad luck, bad spin, or bad policy) were manifold and I would have liked a more even-handed approach. Still, I enjoyed the book.

During the 50 years following the Civil War, the presidency of U. S. Grant was completely distored in an attempt to diminish the accomplishments of the Grant era (Civil Rights) and to take away some of the luster from the man who saved the Union.

The Democratic party- particullary of the South- stiffled the great civil rights efforts of the Republicans during reconstruction. As time passed, and voting rights and other legislative initatives of the Granta administration were dismembered by the Southern Demacrats, they constantly sought to sully the memory of Grant. One of the keys to that effort was portraying the Grant administration in a bad light in terms of corruption. This was done by distortion history, and the outright falsification of the facts involved in the Grant administration. To a large extent these distortions have not been challanged.

Grant Reconsidered presents the historical record in a straight fowrward manner: The Grant presidency offered tremendous acomplishments- and really offered a bridge from a slave nation to a nation where all men have the same rights. An outstanding book!!

Readers looking for a history of Grant's presidency will be sorely disappointed. The author assumes that the reader has at least a passing familiarity with previous biographies of Grant and of such events as Reconstruction, the Crédit Mobilier scandal, the Whiskey Ring and the Treaty of Washington. Nevertheless, "President Grant Reconsidered" is an important book that should help reshape debate about these events and rehabilitate the reputation of perhaps the most underrated President in American history.

While not all of the stories in this book count as great literature by today's standards (although some certainly do), the title story in this collection is seriously thought provoking. Some of the best discussions in my 8th grade English class were spurred on by "The Lady or the Tiger," which is an excellent story to use to further the development of critical thinking skills. It also serves as a literary Rorshach test, promoting self exploration and evaluation. Frank Stockton obviously respected children's ability to think for themselves, and his appreciation for the intelligence of the young clearly comes through in these stories. I enjoyed reading this one when I was a teenager, and love passing it on to my students. If somehow, you have missed reading this, I highly recommend it.

Most people are aware of Stockton's Lady or the Tiger story, but many are not aware of the story's sequel, The Discourager of Hesitancy. That's the reason that I got the book, but the other stories in it are fantastic. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes well written, imaginative stories. Frank Stockton's humor is terrific.

I had to read "Lady or the Tiger" for Language Arts, and then write a possible ending to it. I think it was the most amusing project I've ever had to do, it gave me thousands of ideas and I wanted to write down each and every one.
It really got my brain running and I still have ideas for how to make my ending better, and more believable...(somehow I changed this story to sci-fi with my ending.. but it will make 100% sense when I'm done with it)

This book is mildly amusing but if any book called for a careful editor it's this one. It's got geography, history, culture all astonishlingly wrong. Irish as a Germanic language. Athlone 150 miles from Dublin. 1879 a Famie year.

This book, which is not a travel book nor a psychological treatise although it has elements of both, will bring a feeling of recognition and self discovery to many Irish-Americans like myself. Gannon accurately reflects the upbringing in an Irish home where many things are left unsaid and much of family history is shrouded in mystery. His trip to Ireland to learn more about his parents and his forebears is a treat--enlightening, educational and very funny. It is also dead-on in its take on Ireland and the Irish. It is a fascinating trip that will keep the reader laughing and engrossed. Highly recommended.

I recieved this book as a present. I thought of it as a sort of travel book, but it's something much different. It's a very funny, personal and touching book. It's not a "fact book", and I don't think it pretends to be. But it is very memorable, very funny , and very entertaining. Just a lovely read. At the end I was genuinely moved

This comic has got a number of flaws in it as most readers will recognize relatively quickly, but once you get going you just cant stop, and by the end one finds themselves (or at least I found myself) so wrapped up in the story, that JMS could have injected pink floating hippo's into the story and I would have accepted it and moved on. This is a mental avalanche that just cant be stopped once you get into it. One of the best parts for me actually (and this rarely happens but i assure you in this case its a good thing) the introdcution by JMS was one of the better parts of the book for me. Just a little bit of biographical info that made the whole thing seem just that much more real, personal and poignant to me.

All in all a great book. Highly reccomended!

I echo the reviews below. I was going to fall asleep when I started reading, but then, I couldn't stop. The end bio is very appropriate, it really reasonates, adding another level to the story. Plus, Laurel... What else is there to say? Buy it, read it, experience it.

The first issue (22 pages) was paced rather quickly to try and get readers introduced to the story. But after you learn about the plot, this book travels. It takes you down into the depth of two people on a journey, and all the proverbial baggage they carry with them. The plot is involving, including a sufficient supporting cast that only lasts an issue or two each, but evolves on a storytelling level. It is isolated around a man who simply lost his soul to someone, and is introduced to a world that exists beyond ours, but home to everyone who is cast aside, thrown away, or overewhelmed with abandon. He must travel across the continent to find the person responsible and reclaim his soul before he falls victim to the fate of transforming into what he percieves as a mindless predator , enslaved to his enemy. But nothing is what it initially seems in this book, and everything you think you know halfway through will still turn upside down eventually, or come back to haunt you later. The ending is extremely appropriate and I can say this is the best graphic novel I have ever read.

Probably one of the first examples of journalistic fiction, Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year" is a pseudo-eyewitness account of the London plague of 1665. Writing this in 1722, Defoe casts himself into the role of his uncle whom he calls H.F. and who recounts the events in grisly detail but with magnanimous compassion. Aside from the prose, the book has a surprisingly modern edge in the way it combines facts about a sensationally dire historical event with "human interest" stories for personal appeal. It seems so factual that at times it's easy to forget that it's just a fictitious account of a real event.

The plague (H.F. writes) arrives by way of carriers from the European mainland and spreads quickly through the unsanitary, crowded city despite official preventive measures; the symptoms being black bruises, or "tokens," on the victims' bodies, resulting in fever, delirium, and usually death in a matter of days. The public effects of the plague are readily imaginable: dead-carts, mass burial pits, the stench of corpses not yet collected, enforced quarantines, efforts to escape to the countryside, paranoia and superstitions, quacks selling fake cures, etc. Through all these observations, H.F. remains a calm voice of reason in a city overtaken by panic and bedlam. By the time the plague has passed, purged partly by its own self-limiting behavior and partly by the Great Fire of the following year, the (notoriously inaccurate) Bills of Mortality indicate the total death toll to be about 68,000, but the actual number is probably more like 100,000 -- about a fifth of London's population.

Like Defoe's famous survivalist sketch "Robinson Crusoe," the book's palpable moralism is adequately camouflaged by the conviction of its narrative and the humanity of its narrator, a man who, like Crusoe, trusts God's providence to lead him through the hardships, come what may. What I like about this "Journal" is that its theme is more relevant than its narrow, dated subject matter suggests: levelheadedness in the face of catastrophe and the emergence of a stronger and wiser society.

Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year is an interesting volume that blends fact and fiction quite indiscriminately, as the author intended. It is easy to forget it is fiction as it reads as fact (and it seems likely there are enough actual facts strewn throughout as to enhance this perception). Defoe was less concerned about these issues concerning fiction and non-fiction than modern readers and writers and it is fascinating to see an example of the early beginnings of novel writing. The style could frustate some readers (there is virtually no attempt at characters and only small strands of a narrative per se) but the descriptions of a town in crisis were both gripping and fascinating. An unique volume.

When a subject is gruesome it attracts notoriety. Unfortunately, if it is real, it loses it. This story of the the affects of the Plague in London in 1665 should be required reading for all people of all civilized countries. How the Plague started, how its spread was covered up initially and why, how the government was forced to respond, what happened to the economy and the outlying regions - these things could happen any day in any year in any country. Look at the news archives of the spread of SARS, how the government in (I think) Indonesia enacted house quarantines, how the Chinese economy was distablized. This is a very real warning and will not lose its timeliness as long as people build cities and economies. He is not just describing what happened but giving us warning and ideas for how it can be handled better.

I received this book as a gift a few weeks ago and I cannot stop baking!! It is filled with wonderful receipes, photos and information. The receipes are very easy to follow, even for a novice baker like myself, and the results are just outstanding. My friends, family and colleagues are now clamoring for "my tarts" and "my scones". The orange scones with chocolate chips, on page 254 are my favorite. But I am sure I will find others. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves food, even if they do not bake, as the book is fun to read.

For someone who has minimal baking/cooking skills, I found the book user friendly, with beautiful, lush photographs. As well, Mr. Audureau's humor is very charming and disarming allowing you to feel confident in executing these yummy treats. By the end of the book, you too will feel you can open you own little tart shop in the south of France. Enjoyable read!

Wow! I just got this book and it is precious! Beyond my expectations. The layout is perfect, the pictures and the little personal quotes make the reading enjoyable and easy to follow. I have been going to the bakery for several years and was dying to bake my own apple cranberry muffin!
So I finally did it and I was very satisfied with the outcome, thanks for the authenticity!

This is a well written book that is useful regardless of your sport or fitness interest. The author distills the latest research and clearly explains how to manage your nutrition for optimal muscle recovery. The book also gives clear explanations of such procedures as carbohydrate loading, and explains a variety of metabolic issues. It is incredibly useful, and a must for any athlete or fitness enthusiast! I found it impossible to put down.

...and I own ALOT of books on training. I got this book specifically for muscle recovery after running, but it turned out to be alot more. Nutrition for training, helping you understand how the physiology works during & after exercise, what EXACTLY to do during & after for optimal fueling & recovery. I hike, run, mountain bike, and I'm starting adventure racing. The information in this book has helped ALL my activities, and I highly recommend it. I thought I was going to get a "1+2=3" type of formula for muscle recovery and that's it...but the book actually provides much more. I'm buying it for my adventure racing team members.

This book is a must for any competitive athlete serious about excelling in his/her sport. I'm a novice mountain bike racer who just fumbled his way through his first race season, and for those of us who aren't sponsored and don't have coaches, this book is invaluable. I think as I build experience, this knowledge will help me be competitive against guys with years of experience.

The author is able to relay the scientific aspect of the body's functions during and after exercise to the lay person without making the reader feel lost. The book opened topics that I was familiar with but not terribly knowledgeable about. I now have a much better understanding about how my body uses what I put into it, and how this affects my performance. I'm also able to better plan my training/racing schedule because I know how to properly recover and prepare for the next ride.

If you want to compete, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

  Frank is a journalist, an editor, an author, but more to the point here a out-of-body traveler and a loving human being. He shares his growth and journeys with us that we may see how many more things are possible in this life. He has explored and journaled his dream life, has directly connected with his spirit guidance (which he calls The Gentlemen Upstairs) and has ventured into several "past" lives. Samples of the guidance received in the beginning as automatic writing are injected as appropriate. After his training at the Monroe Institute his life blossomed even more to encompass healing, rescue work and travel to the focus levels described by Robert Monroe in his writings. As co-founder of Hampton Roads Publishing Company he has been instrumental in bringing many New Age authors to public attention.
  The book is literate without being pedantic and is full of many insights gleaned from the author's journeys. Here is a quick summary from a final chapter called Interim Report: "We are immortal spirits temporarily inhabiting bodies... This life is not our only life... We "individuals" are all connected one to another... We as individuals are fragments of a larger being that cares about us and can be trusted... Nonetheless, this larger being sees things differently... The larger being is a source of foresight and wisdom... The larger contacts us... We can contact the larger being... Thus our lives need not be disconnected and solitary... Nevertheless, we may often lose communication (but the connection cannot be severed.)"
  Frank is very easy going in his presentation. This is not a hard sell. He knows you will have to experience these things yourself to appreciate their value and reality. Students of metaphysics will not find anything earth-shattering here. The pace does not have the excitement found in some other books. It is an easy read, a gentle style. Anyone curious about the Monroe Institute offerings will find value here. This book is not "proof of anything," but is instead a suggestion that life is more magical than you may have thought--a finger pointing to the moon.

Frank DeMarco has spent years searching for the meaning of life and sorting reality from illusion. Muddy Tracks is the chronicle of his quest for answers and self-discovery. One day he asked the universe, "Who am I?" and received "Muddy footprints in the grass" as an answer.

He interpreted this to mean that his experiences could show others the path he'd taken, that he was "here to show you that others have passed through what may appear to be a trackless wilderness [and] to encourage others to do some exploring." His own explorations led him to the knowledge that we are all part of a larger being, and that only our bodies die-our souls live on.

Through the larger being, we are all connected. This connection makes phenomena like psychic abilities, out-of-body experiences, ghosts, and distant healing available to all who want those experiences and abilities. DeMarco is guided on a continual basis by spiritual advisors he calls "The Gentlemen Upstairs." That kind of guidance is also available to others.

DeMarco emphasizes that the answers he received and experiences he had were strictly his own. Everyone must search for their own unique answers. His purpose is to simply show what he tried and what happened as a result. He says his intention is to present "a firsthand narrative of what I've learned and how I use it."

One of his primary resources was The Monroe Institute in Virginia, where students learn how to achieve altered states of consciousness and engage in out-of-body experiences. He provides extensive details of his experiences at the Institute in the hopes of providing others with "the tools and incentive to discover first hand that we, individually and collectively, are more than we have ever believed possible."

In Muddy Tracks, DeMarco has written "an honest and engaging account" for all those questioning the meaning of life and reality.

For me, the hallmark of the Monroe Institute is the emphasis on bringing the unordinary into daily life. This book is an excellent depiction of this process. This personal narrative vividly shows the effects of a program at the Institute on everyday living. Reading it made me feel like I was back at the Institute, and it gave me insight into how to incorporate my experiences there into my own life.

Mendel Grossman did humanity a great service in risking his life to bring the world visual proof of the horrific tragedies within the Lodz ghetto during the holocaust. Unfortunately the text of this book is written in such an over-simplified style that the publisher's targeted age range; 3rd thorough 5th graders are easily bored by it.

Aside from a few weak descriptions of these powerful images, I felt besieged by Frank Smith's one-sided listing of war facts. Smith's prose melodramatically recites the war's background from a narrow perspective that seems designed to inflame young readers about the suffering of only one race. With so many other races alongside the Jewish people targeted for Nazi genocide, I felt that a more sober and complete narrative about this tragic time in history would have provide the book with the necessary facts to place it among the best of it's genre.

My Secret Camera deprives its readers of a powerful chance to merge the photography of this Jewish ghetto and a first-hand historical account of this terrible time in history. After reading and owning so many incredible and moving Jewish and non-Jewish authored books about the holocaust, I can only recommend you purchase this book for it's pictures - it's not worth reading.

I bought this book because the boy on the cover bears a striking and uncanny resemblance to every member of my family. Took it home and cried for hours. Unforgettable.

"My Secret Camera: Life in the Lodz Ghetto" combines the photographs of Mendel Grossman with a simple text by Frank Dabba Smith. Grossman was one of the many individuals who suffered under Nazi rule before and during World War II. Using his camera, he carefully documented the lives of the Jews who were confined by the Nazis to the Lodz ghetto.

Grossman's photographs in this book capture many haunting images: the despairing faces of the trapped people, two children harnessed like animals to a cart, people waiting on a bread line. But the fact that Grossman's stark visual testament survived the Holocaust is ultimately inspiring. This is an important book for teachers and parents to share with young readers.